My daughter is 26 and VERY well educated (PhD in a heavy science field). She and her husband are expecting. Among their peers, there is a trend to children early in the MARRIAGE! Interesting generation of young people coming along.
The late boomers/early X'ers learned a hard lesson. They were taught that they could have it all only to discover when they tried to have children in their mid to late 30s that they were duped.
The younger generation have seen their older sisters and aunts struggle with fertility and have taken heed.
They watched a lot of older folks making mistakes. They saw selfish, empty behavior of some of YOUR peers and later heard their lamentations of regret.
The new generation is great. I went back school a few years ago at age 27 to finish an engineering degree and got to interact with them and was impressed. The amazing thing about America is its ability to propagate itself through the generations. These kids are different from preceding generations (as they all are) but they’re 100% American.
To better plan one’s life, it’s best to have children early. This gives parents time to plan for the college expenses and then their own retirement without having all this happen at once. It also means parents are younger and stronger when their children are in their difficult teen years. Plus young parents have more energy for their young kids.