Write about the following topic:

Nowadays, more and more people decide to have children later in their life.

What do you think are the reasons for this? Do the advantages of this trend outweigh the disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer 1: (Advantages outweigh the disadvantages)

These days many couples decide to have babies at least a few years later since their marriage. I believe career, social changes, escalating living expenses, and increased life expectancy are some of the major reasons behind this trend. In my belief advantages of having children later in life outweigh its demerits.

To commence with, a growing number of people, including women, are now serious about their career development. This is perhaps the primary reason they do not expect to have children in the early stage of their marriage. It is intuitively obvious that with huge competition, unemployment and economic crisis, people around the world are constantly worried about their careers and salary. As a result, many decide to postpone their first childbirth. Secondly, women empowerment and social changes have altered the old way of life where a woman’s sole responsibility was to look after the children. Since many wives are working these days, they decide to take babies after they reach a certain position in their career.

Furthermore, social belief regarding giving birth to children has changed dramatically, and people are more concerned about the living expenses than the number of babies they have, unlike in the past. Finally, enhanced life expectancy has also contributed to this trend as people believe they can wait a little longer to have their first baby.

Undeniably, people who choose to concentrate on their career first and then have babies can take better care of their children due to ample career and economic freedom. Having offspring early in life can escalate the expenditures and financial responsibilities of parents. Moreover, if they do not spend enough time with children, they grow up with psychological issues. Thus,  by having early children, young parents might put their careers at a risk as well as the future of their children. Reversely, having offspring in early life have few advantages. Such parents have new members in their family and their isolation would be extirpated and they will become more family-oriented.

In conclusion, despite the pleasure of having a new baby in the early years of marriage, parents who decide to have babies later can focus on their career, fulfil financial goals and have sufficient time to spend with the family.

[Written by – Faisal ]

Sample Answer 2: (Drawbacks outweigh the advantages)

With paradigm shifts in social beliefs and people’s fascination with careers, they tend to become parents at a later stage. Several reasons are responsible for this, and I believe that it has more negative consequences.

To begin with, the average year when people get married those days has increased significantly. As a result, childbirth is naturally delayed. According to a recent survey, many young people who start their career after their graduation are more focused on their jobs than having their own family. Besides, many young people are undecided whether to marry or not. Eventually, when they get married, many of them are already in their mid-thirties, and they take some time to settle and have some financial stability before having their first child. Furthermore, the old belief that a girl should manage a family and have children earlier have changed, and more wives work in offices than ever. The decline of the joint family has also contributed to this trend as couples solely decide to have a baby, unlike in the past.

If we notice the severe detrimental impacts this trend has, we would surely try to reverse it. The most cynical outcome of this trend is the number of couples who struggles to become parents. It is scientifically proved that the infertility rate among couples is higher who try to become pregnant after their mid-thirties. Some of the couples eventually break up their marriages due to this, and it brings unfathomable social problems. Furthermore, having a child in the early years of marriage make the couple more family-oriented and this eventually help them have a better future.

To conclude, late marriage, nuclear family structure, and more focus on jobs are the main reasons people become parents at a later stage in their lives. I think this trend has more adverse results than its positive outcome. So it is expected that married people would carefully consider different negative and positive aspects of having babies later in their life.