# How big a generation have you created personally? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299 "2023-11-17T18:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/1 "2023-11-17T18:31:42Z")
To gather data for my factual question along the same lines, I’d like to ask Dopers to say how old they were on, on average, when their kids were born. To participate. please 1. Make sure you’re done having kids. By making sure, I don’t want you to participate if you (and your spouse, if any) THINK you’re probably done having kids, or WANT to be done having kids, but there’s a chance you could be faced with a surprise pregnancy that might result in an unexpected birth. I guess I’m talking to elderly Dopers here, or near elderly Dopers. OTOH, I’m not talking about a merely mathematical chance you could have another kid: if you’re a 70-y.o. widower who hasn’t gone on a date in a year, yeah, it’s not impossible you’ll find someone to impregnate, and your sperm are still viable, but no, you’re good to vote here. Use your judgment. If it would make the news that you had another kid, you’re eligible. 2. Please present your data in approximately decimal form. For example, if my only kid was born in early June, and I was born in late April, 20 years and 36 days apart, I’d represent that as “20.1” meaning 20 years and one-tenth of a year. 3. Natural births only, please. No adoptions, suspected fatherhoods, contested paternities, etc. In actual fact, I have more than one kid, and on average I’m 35.3 years older than they are. That’s our first data point: slicedalone: 35.3. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/2 "2023-11-17T18:34:52Z")
I’ll bite! My average age at childbirth was 30.25. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/3 "2023-11-17T18:35:28Z")
Infinity: ∞ ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/4 "2023-11-17T18:37:10Z")
37.00274 years ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/5 "2023-11-17T19:05:48Z")
43 (May have missed a decimal but it’s pretty close to that, and I don’t have time to make a spreadsheet 😉 ) - - May not count as baby #4 is on the way in under a month. But I can assure the OP we are absolutely 100% done (as a friend, who knows someone with 5 kids said, there is a difference between talking about getting a vasectomy and actually getting one, and we are definitely in the latter camp 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/6 "2023-11-17T19:08:32Z")
42.797 ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/7 "2023-11-17T19:10:46Z")
Three kids, my average age at their birth: 30.1 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/8 "2023-11-17T19:21:07Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > By making sure, I don’t want you to participate if you (and your spouse, if any) THINK you’re probably done having kids, or WANT to be done having kids, but there’s a chance you could be faced with a surprise pregnancy that might result in an unexpected birth. My wife’s mother was 42 when she had that surprise pregnancy. I have a friend whose mother was 47. But you asked about my average. That’s 33.4 ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/9 "2023-11-17T19:37:03Z")
43.6 I have two kids, but they are twins, so easy to figure. Definitely not having any more. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/10 "2023-11-17T19:48:02Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > Natural births only, please. No adoptions I hadn’t realized before this that my son (who we adopted) wasn’t born naturally! Wonder what sort of test tube he came out of. 😉 And what about C-sections? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/11 "2023-11-17T19:50:34Z")
30.1 and 34.7, so 32.3 average, daylight savings. I got snipped after the second, so even not counting my age I’m done. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/12 "2023-11-17T19:52:40Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I hadn’t realized before this that my son (who we adopted) wasn’t born naturally! Sorry. Those are two separate directives. No offense intended. Trying to keep things simple. At a guesstimate, I seem to be around the median number, 35 or so. I’ll tally things up properly once we get a few more. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/13 "2023-11-17T19:59:28Z")
2 kids that satisfy the requirements in the op, my average age at their births was 22.5 ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/14 "2023-11-17T20:42:45Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > Natural births only, please. No adoptions BTW, this exclusion and ‘othering’ is very offensive. Please rethink this. 36.9 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/15 "2023-11-17T20:49:41Z")
Approx 28.8 for 3 kids. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/16 "2023-11-17T21:05:41Z")
One kid. 37.015 My husband is snipped and I’m 40. We’re not having any more. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/17 "2023-11-17T21:21:58Z")
Three births. 34.6 Interesting answers. I was recently chatting online with someone in the US. He is only 5 years older than me, I am 70, yet he has grandkids with professional careers. My granddaughter is 4. So I assumed that most people had started families much younger than I did. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/18 "2023-11-17T21:22:19Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > very offensive Really? How so? If you give birth to a child at age 20 and give him/her up for adoption, I’ll accept that, but if you’re the parent adopting him/her at age 40, I should count you and that parent both? How does that work? The adopted child is only one person, and I need to make a choice of which parent to count. The parent who actually bears the child seems more logical to me. No offense intended. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/19 "2023-11-17T21:27:22Z")
I suppose, to increase the size of your data pool, I can add that, for the mother of my 3 children, the answer would be 32.6 because they were the same kids for her. And they had the same birth dates. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299/20 "2023-11-17T21:29:25Z")
Thanks, but no. Counting some people’s spouses’ ages and not others just messes up the data. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-generation-have-you-created-personally/993299.md?page=2)