And speaking as a cutting edge of Generation X father of an 11 and 9 year old, I would also say have kids in your 20s!
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Having carried very tired four year olds many times; I’d say thank God I was in my twenties.
So when you get divorced at 30 you're not worth that much. 8^P
There’s a big difference between early 20’s and late 20’s.
Out of the 7 couples I know (personally) that married in their early 20’s, only one remains married to this day. Everyone I personally know who have married in their late 20’s/early 30’s is still together.
A couple of the latter group I wouldn’t be shocked at splitting later on, but I don’t expect the 86% divorce rate of the earlier group.
I guess my opinion is quite different. I just got married at 42, and the extra time for maturity and contentment was a good thing. I’d have given nothing but misery to a wife any earlier than 37. That said, my wife is significantly younger than me, and we’re planning for kids, and I’d be first to admit it will be harder to keep up with the demands of parenthood in this 40-something body.
Well I’m almost 40 and never married. I guess I’ll just get a cat. :-)
When it comes time to choose between working it out and breaking up, the folks who got married later have much more practice at breaking up than staying together, so it seems like an easier thing to do.
I think the author is comparing apples to oranges. The author’s point is that people with longer marriages are more likely to survive, which I would agree with, but the same could be said about a couple who married late in life and had a twenty year marriage as could be said about a younger couple who had 20 years in. What about all the couples who married in their 20’s and divorced after 5 or 10 years?
“According to the Office for National Statistics, men are getting married for the first time seven years later and women six years later.”
What is the reference point for this sentence; later than when? What previous ages for marriage are indicated in the article?
Go to college or learn a trade immediately after high school.
Get married within 3 years of having earning your degree or becoming qualified in your chosen occupation. The responsibility you have to your spouse will help you to understand selfless sarificial love and to mature and start acting like a responsible adult. Being single for too long allows one to marinate in self-centered irresponsibility and to develop very bad egocentric habits and routines - its human nature to do this, so why set yourself up for it?
Start having children within 2 or 3 years or marriage. It will help you to avoid becoming reliant on two incomes so that the mother can devote herself to her children full-time without feeling the pinch of a sudden loss of income. You will never miss what you did not have. The financial and other sacrifices required by having children help you to understand even moreso selfless sarificial love and to mature even more and act even more like a responsible adult. Being childless for too long allows the couple to marinate in hedonistic irresponsibility and to develop very bad egocentric habits and routines - its human nature to do this, so why set yourself up for it?
Have as many children as you can handle. Regardless of the effort involved, it will give you much more back! It will help you grow stronger, love more, experience more, and bring great joy to your life.
Marriage and family life helps us grow in our understanding of sacrificial love and in our ability to love sacrificially and give the best of ourselves to others. It helps us better understand the Father’s love, and the sacrificial love of Jesus - and to emulate those loves in a very deep way.
For Christians, it’s always best to marry whenever God brings you your spouse. He knows far better than any studies.
Marriage and kids in your 20’s? Not for me. I’m really glad I waited until I was in my 30’s before doing both. I loved being single. Got to travel a lot at the spur of the moment, enjoy my hobbies, work guilt-free (no kids to dump in daycare) and just figure out who I was before I started trying to figure out who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. If I had married the guy I dated seriously in my 20’s, I’d be a miserable woman today. Instead I dumped him, waited, found someone better after taking time for myself, and now I’m happy...more important, my husband is happy and my son is happy. And I have no regrets.
I tell my younger sis all the time to WAIT. It might not be the best path for everyone, but it was for me, and my (then-future) family, and it’s good for my sis.
I married my Wife at the age of 24. Our 23rd wedding anniversary is coming up August 24th. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Love ya, honey.
I am a "bit" bizarre, and went hunting early explicitly for a WIFE, got engaged at 17 (a few days before my 18th bday) and then married a few years later (when we saved enough to afford a nice wedding - the honeymoon, however, had to wait another 4 years). I met and spoke with her parents the day after I met her. Didn't waste a single date with any girl who was not marriage material (bad genes, bad looks, bad habits, bad influences, bad character) - no baggage, no drama, no regrets. Most may consider that cold and calculating, which is a fair enough assessment.
This approach is certainly not for everyone, and I would not exactly recommend it to most young people (who have no idea who they themselves are, have no idea what they want in life, and do not have the maturity to make a lifelong commitment).