I was married when I was 18.

When I was 22, I had our first daughter.
When I was 23, I had our second daughter.
When I was 29, I had our first son.
When I was 41, I had our third daughter.
When I was 44, I became a Grandma.

Sue

Parent at 30 (I'm a late bloomer), grandmother at 47 (my daughter is not). :-)

26 when only son/child was born

57 but still young when gs as born

22 had first son
27 had second
30 had third

Not a grandparent yet...

First child at 21, first grandchild at 41!! Young enough to really have fun with him!

My DD was born born on the 19th of the month. I turned 25 on the 25th. She was due on my birthday but came early.

Hoping for grandkids.

Had our son at 21
Had first daughter at 23
Had second daughter at 29
Grandma at 54

None of our kids got married until they were 30.. Yahoo! Glad they were all established in good jobs before getting hitched..

I don't have kids....but my cousin was a grandma at 30. No great grand kids yet, thankfully, the kids didn't follow in mom and grandma's footsteps.

Parent at age 32 and now again at 34.

Mom @ 26; grandma @56

Mother at 23
Mimi at 53 (but I have step GK's that are older)

Parent at 29. The grandkids can wait a while.

My 1st child was born in July 1972 and I turned 22 that October (she wasn't "mine" then), but she came to live with us in Jan.1975 and we adopted her in 1979!

I had our son a couple of months before I was 30yrs. old

I became a Gramma in 1992, so I was 42yrs. old

Daughter number one was born when I was 20, and grand daughter number one was born when I was 55.

Moni

I was a mum at 18, a gran at 37 and a great gran at 59.

Karen UK

The women of my maternal line are not very fertile. My grandmother had one child, my mother, in her early 20's. My mother had her 'only' when she was 36. My DH and I were able to adopt our DS when I was 30. DS and DIL had their DS after five years of marriage, when I was 64.

I'll be 70 shortly after a second G-child is due in the early spring. DIL's parents are the same ages as my DH and I. These grandchildren will only remember us as *old people* -- if they remember us at all.

I am especially sensitive when I see young women who want families thoughtlessly postpone it, thinking they will always be able to have children. Late-in-life childbearing isn't always healthy for the mother or the child -- or even possible. Children require a lot of energy and love. Many 'late' children will not have the love and support of extended family for long.

33, after being married for 12 years.

Jodi-

I was married at 27 and had children at age 29 and 34. My daughter is 24 and my son is 19 and I have no grandchildren yet. I do have a wonderful granddog, though.

I was 21 when I had my first child - a son
24 when #2 son was born
26 when #3 son was born

My youngest son made me a gramma at 48 - the other two don't have children yet, although they've been married a long time - school and life got in the way, I guess.

21 when son was born, 24 for daughter . GD was born when I was 51, GS when I was 58.

I had a child at age 30 and another when I was 33.

I was 61 when my first grandchild was born.

became a stepmom at 49
no stepgrandchildren yet

Chisue, I have to disagree with you about young women being "thoughtless" when they postpone having children. People in their 30s can be very good parents.
My mom had me when she was 37, I am their only child.
I had DS 8 days before my 34th birthday, he is an only.
DS is 34 and no grands in sight.
One of my cousins had her only at 46. He is now 16.
I remember both of my grandmothers. One died when I was 14, one died when I was 32. DS was 24 when my mom died.

Daughter # 1 was born when I was 25.
Daughter # 3 was born 19 months later when I was 27.
Son was born when I was 32.
I became a grandmother at age 45 and this year, at age 73, I became a great-grandmother.
I have grandchildren ranging in age from 28 to 6 and I hope all will remember me with loving fondness . I don't feel that I'm too old to enjoy the little ones!

No kids here.

I think people nowadays put off having kids till they are more established. Kids aren't the first thing couples think of when they get married. As well, most women want to have kids before such and such a date, before they get too old, where it becomes a health risk. Usually by 40.

My hubby's parents had 6 kids, and he came along when his mom was 40 and his dad was 54, and this was 56 years ago.
There were 21 years between hubs and his oldest brother.

First daughter at 25
Second daughter at 28
Son at 30
Third daughter at 35
Granddaughter at 55 and two more granddaughters at 57

25 when DD was born
28 when DS was born
44 when DGS was born

I became a parent the first time at age 32, and a grandparent at age 65.

I agree with Linda. It is unfair to knock older parents.

Postponing children isn't thoughtless. It is more often a well thought out wise decision. Sometimes it is simply a matter of not finding Mr or Mrs Right until later.

A lot of these younger parents didn't plan for their children. They just happened and quite often before the parents were ready to have them.

The older (mid 30s - 40s) parents I see are much more likely to be more about their child's well being than about themselves. They've gotten the partying, the traveling and their own adventures behind them. They tend to enjoy their children and not be in such a hurry to see them grow up too quickly.

It's just my observation and I know there will always be exceptions but I see older parents do more traditional things with their children like going to the park, the zoo etc. I see the younger ones carting their kids around like accessories to loud venues, places where children would not be seen all that much previously. Weekends are spent doing what mom and dad want to to not what the child may enjoy.

That is what I often see around here. I don't know how it is where others live.

1st son born at 21
2nd son born at 24
3rd son born at 25
4th,son born at 27
1st girl born at 29
2nd girl born at 31

1st grandchild born at 50

june

I was 23 when our first daughter was born

25 when our second daughter was born and 33 when our son was born.

My first child, my daughter, was born on my 22nd birthday. Her daughter was born when I was 52.

Son was born when I was 18
DD was born when I was 22
"Received" DSD when I was 38
Became a stepgrandmother when I was 43
Became a biological grandmother when I was 46

We have seven grandchildren and a new baby expected in September. Their ages? 24, 18, 17, 16, 14, 13, 10 and the new baby. Can we say that he's going to be spoiled ROTTEN!? LOL

I think some of you are misunderstanding Chisue's comments. It can be difficult and perhaps impossible to get pregnant if you wait too long. That could be 30s for some women and 40s for others and even early 50s. And late pregnancies are deemed to be more prone to complications.

About 7 years ago, I heard two women doctors who are sisters on a tv show warning about the same thing. I do think it is best not to have babies when we are too young or not ready, and I certainly waited myself. But when my daughter got married at 32, after a 15 month engagement and then talked about waiting 4 years to start their family, I had a long talk with her and told her about the warnings from these doctors, who also wrote a book with that advice in it.

Sooooo, they had a baby about 16 months after they got married, and another one about 3 years later.

We have friends whose kids have waited till or past mid 30s to start a family, and some have done so. Others are still trying.

I think young people today try to plan their lives better with the help of birth control pills. It seems they all need a master's degree to move ahead, and so they delay for the career and to pay off tuition debt. All that education, debt obligation, and career building result in delaying babies. I just hope that those who delay do not delay too long and can still have their babies when they are ready.

On the other hand, I recall two 50-something year old women I knew of who thought they were well into menopause with the cessation of their periods. Only when they went into labor did they realize that they had been pregnant, not menopausal. What a surprise!

Married 2 mo. before my 24th birthday
First DS at age 27
DS had DD when he was 17, I was 44.
First Great grandchild at age 67

My first DD at 29
Second DD at 33

Have 13 grandchildren ages 10 to 29
Three Great grandchildren ages 6, 5, and 3.

I don't have any but the commentary about having them sooner or later is interesting. I have some friends who didn't get married for the first time until their late 40s. They had twins when they were 50. Two other couples I know didn't marry for the first time until age 40 and had 1-2 kids in their 40's. A friend of mine was only able to have one child though she started working on this in her 20's. Her sister also had issues. Her daughter wasted no time because of this - getting married as soon as she graduated from college and having a baby within about a year of getting married. She now has a baby and an unemployed DH - quite a challenging way to start married life.

I always thought my parents were so "old" when they had me. My mother was 40 and my dad was 45. That was quite uncommon back then - not so unusual now.

I'm almost 60 and still no kids. I hope you all realize how fortunate you are.

Having children is very a personal matter and very much a blessing. There is no right or wrong time that fits everyone.
I became a Mom when I was twenty-four though our daughter never lived outside my womb. Our son was born just two days short of two years later when I was 26. We had another daughter when I was 28. I became a Grammy when our son's wife had their son when I was 51.
My sister was 33 and 36 when she had their two daughters. She's eight years older than I am and married 5 months after I did. She's not yet a Grammy, nor are her daughter's married.

Became a grandparent at age 72. My kids are late bloomers. My daughter was 42 when this grandchild appeared.

I was mommy at 16,would you believe planned,yes was having family problems,I knew my mother couldnt afford to take care of 2 daughters ,father was very abusive so hubby and I decided to have a baby,I know now it was dumb but dad left mother,she died a year later.I would have been on own anyway.We'll be married 40 year Aug 1.
Grandma at 50.

I was 23 when DD was born. Only child. I became a grandma on Jan.28, 2010 in my heart, but legally(adoption)not until Aug. 10, 2010! I am 59!

Sometimes postponing is beyond an individual's control.

I'm 27, and while I'd dearly love to be married and thinking about kids, I haven't yet found anyone I want to share my life with. For me, it's more responsible to wait until I have that, rather than have kids with someone I'm unsure about simply because of my age.

Married at 18 ( way too young, but that was common in the early 60's.)
My first son was born when I was 20, another at 24. Divorced, remarried and had my last child at 32.

I became at Grandma at 47 and now have 7 grandchildren.

Married at 22
DD#1 at 24
DD#2 at 26

I will be a Nana in less than 7 weeks at 50!

I was trying to say that it may be a mistake for young women to postpone starting their families merely because they believe they can always have children 'later'.

I'm not saying women must bear children young, with or without loving partners, simply because they are most fertile then. I'm saying that it is a mistake to think that 'later' is going to be just as easy -- for mother or child, short term and long term. The reasons for 'sooner' do have some real benefits -- for mother and child, and because 'sooner' means longer with extended family, while Grandma and Grandpa are more likely to be physically functional.

I'm senstitive because I could not conceive -- in my twenties! We were able to adopt when I was 30, but our DS lost both his (by then aged!) grandmothers before he was eight. Our DGS is likely to lose all of his grandparents as a young child, never having known us as the vital adults we were.

Many classmates of our DS have postponed children while they got advanced degrees and went up corporate ladders. Suddenly they are nearly 40. Now they can't conceive or are going through frustrating and very expensive infertility treatments, often to no avail.

I also see some who had their children soon after college who are now preparing to return to careers -- no, not at the 'top', but they have the families they wanted, and they will have careers. (Once this economy rebounds, we hope!)

I only mean to say that we can't fool Mother Nature as successfully as some think. It came up because this thread is about Grandparenting. My DS didn't get enough. I'm afraid my DGS won't either.

29 when I had Rachel.
30 when I had Lance.

Mother at 18 and 22
Grandmother at 55 and 57

perfect....allowed DH and I 14 years between our youngest leaving home and grandparenthood to do the things we didn't do before having kids...travel and such. Bonus in that we had the money then also. Now I feel totally ready to help out with daycare and such.

My mother was 42 and my father was 43 when I was born. They already had one grandchild. I loved having older parents...they were more settled...had more patience.

I was a few days short of being 34 when my only child was born. I had been married almost 15 years. Waiting was the best thing I have ever done.

I have no grandchildren. My daughter is in a long term relationship...going on 9 years and plans to get married in a year or so, but they both agree, they aren't having children. I fully support their decision.

Good for you Marilyn C.

When I was married to my first husband, his Mom thought it was awful that we didn't want kids. When I was in the hospital getting my tubes tied (at 22) I told them I was getting my appendix out.

Making that choice was the best decision I have ever made, and have never regretted it for a nano-second. My mom is actually glad I didn't have any....she knows I'm not maternal. (Except animals....I'd do anything for them, and would take in every one I see).

My first when I was 20 at one time I was twice as old as he and my mom was twice as old at me at the same time!!