Is it "ideal" to have kids between 18 and 24?

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I heard yesterday from my stepmum that she went to her grandson's 18th the other and it baffles me because I think her eldest son had him possibly at 21 I guess. My step brother is 22/23 and still hasn't got kids like his elder brother. I never occurred to me whatsoever at that age to think about those things and I wasn't in any long term relationship.

I do know of others who started these things early like people I work like one colleague at 36, who has a 15 year old, 10 year old and a 5 year old. Another in her late 40s, has a 30 year old as her eldest son and another who has a 17 year old who had recently got pregnant. The thing is even in my middle and late 20s, kids were barely on my mind to think about but now it's as though I'm feeling bad for not doing these things in the 20s because other people did and some of their kids are 10+ or 15+ years old.

Most people have their first children between 25-30 I think.

18 is way too young for that.

I wonder how many people have kids early because kids were not on their mind like they didn't think or care about using protection & then wound up pregnant It's something to consider

well it is pretty much ideal biologically but not so much financially. I would of had a kid that young if I would of been able to afford it. I wanted to get married and have kids at that age roughly. Getting married and having kids has been on my mind ever since I was a kid. I knew I wanted to be a husband and dad when I was a little kid.

Yes but not everyone can do that and some people don't even want to get married at all!! !

Didn't you ask about this already awhile back?

I had kids young and it was not ideal for me or for them. I was immature, lacking in money, unprepared to be a parent... the list goes on. I did my best, but it would have been nice to be able to do better for my kids than I did.

It was common for people my grandparents age to marry young. My dad's parents married at 17 right before my grandpa went off to fight in ww2...he was a kiddie cruiser. But people were different back then, life was different back then. You could get a job right out of high school and support a family on that income, not so much these days.

Personally, I think anyone would be crazy to have kids at 18 these days. You can't even afford to get an apartment or car these days at that age. How could you support children? I had a hell of a time with it when I was young and basic things (like food and diapers) were so much easier to afford back then. I can't even imagine how hard it would be now.

I am 35 and have never had kids.

I am starting to possibly maybe reverse my stance on having children and being a mother!! !

Why?

Because I want to see how I do with parenting and prove that I can actually be a GOOD mom!

Unless one is well-established careerwise and financially, I do not recommend attempting parenting at that age.

I'm 50 and I've never had kids.