Welcome
to Boomer Parents!
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Serving
those who, for whatever reason, waited to have their
children, or are again parenting in mid-life. |
Good
News, Too
I was nearly 38
before we shared wedding cake. Although we
wanted to have three children, neither of us
panicked about waning fertility. Not until
I had my first miscarriage six months later.
By
Marilyn C. Hilton
Coping
with Mid-Life Infertility: An Interview with Expert Ann Douglas
By Marilyn C. Hilton
Over
45 and Pregnant - What Will People Think?
By
Jan Andersen
Boomer parents: we’re an odd group. We
fit loosely into many traditional categories but into no category
neatly. We’re pregnant, changing diapers, chasing toddlers,
and investigating preschool and grade-school options--while wondering
how we’ll put those children through college. We’re
thinking seriously investing for retirement, caring for aging
parents, managing increasing infertility and overall health concerns,
while trying to maintain our energy, wits, and midlife bodies
and faces. When there’s time, we hang onto every sweet
moment with our kids, knowing that we might not be able to savor
grandchildren.
We shop for toddler clothes and child safety gadgets, and then
hightail over to the camouflage clothes (to hide the mac-&-cheese
feasts and Pilates famines). Suddenly, we can’t read the
dosage information on the children’s fever reducer bottle
without wearing our drugstore reading glasses. High heels have
become suspect. Preschoolers at the park (whose moms and dads
we’re chatting congenially with) fuss over our babies and
then ask, wide-eyed, “Are you the grandmother?” As
we file away the yellow vaccination cards, we’re handed
brochures on medieval-sounding medical tests we must soon endure.
Deciding to start a family--or start again--after 35 is a brave
choice. Having babies at an age when our peers are financing
prom dresses and college tuitions, and turning bedrooms into
home offices and studios, is both frightening and invigorating.
We’re willing to dive into the whitewater without knowing
what’s beyond the falls, trusting the powers that brought
us here safely so far.
If this sounds like you, then you’ve found your fit. Welcome!
We hope the Busy Family section gives you the support and encouragement
you’re looking for. (And if it doesn’t, please tell
us.) If you’re also a writer, please consider contributing
your experience, knowledge, and expertise as a Boomer parent.
We’re looking for articles on a variety of topics for parents
over 35. For details, see our Submission
Guidelines.
Section Editor,
Marilyn Hilton
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