.jpg)
There's still a lot of stigma associated with being an older mom, typically defined as becoming a parent after 35. But according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, having kids in your 30s is not the exception but the norm.
Previously, the most common age for women to have children was between 25 and 29. But last year, the birth rate was slightly higher—103 births for every 1,000 women, as opposed to 102—at ages 30 to 34. The average age for women to have their first child in 2016 was 28, compared to 26 just two years prior. Last year was also the first year that the majority of women ages 25 to 29 (53.8 percent) had no kids, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.
This change has come largely because women are waiting longer to start families, the Associated Press reports. The most common reasons for women to postpone motherhood are the desire for financial stability and emotional preparedness, according to a 2016 Fertility Centers of Illinois survey.
Women who don't rush into parenthood may be onto something. Older moms are less likely to yell at their kids or physically punish them, according to a recent Danish study.
The new CDC report also found that Americans are having fewer kids in general. 43.4 percent of women ages 15 to 50 are child-free, according to the Census Bureau. Yet a study published in Sex Roles earlier this year found that people continue to consider child-free people less satisfied with their lives and even less moral. Hopefully, now that these choices are becoming so commonplace, people will realize that being an older mom and remaining child-free don't have to take away from living a fulfilling life.
