MM Dads in focus
‘Older mums’ have long been the subject of debate and discussion, but now it seems that dads are giving them a run for their money…
Modern
dads?
It seems that you can’t open a newspaper at the moment without seeing pictures of men who have either become fathers for the first time at a relatively advanced age, or who have become ‘second time around’ dads. While figures suggest that men who become fathers in their
50s and 60s are still relatively uncommon (statistics show that only 4.6 per cent of new dads are aged 45 or over), there seems to be a culture - particularly among male celebrities – of opting for late fatherhood. George Clooney, for example, the former ‘eternal bachelor’,
recently became a dad for the first time at the age of 56, when wife Amal gave birth to twins Alexander and Ella. Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood (70), meanwhile, was pictured a
few weeks ago, rolling about on the grass with his gorgeous year- old twin daughters, Alice and Gracie, while fellow rocker, Mick Jagger (74), already a father of seven, welcomed number eight – Deveraux Octavian Basil – with girlfriend Melanie Hamrick in December last year. It seems to be that, while a woman's ability to reproduce greatly
reduces after a certain age, men can go on creating children as long as they can have sex. We’ve all heard the old joke about Charlie Chaplin fathering a child at 73 but being too old to pick it up, but why are so many older men opting for fatherhood? Well, one of the main reasons for this trend may be linked to the
rise in the number of divorces, with more men either remarrying or getting into a new relationship with younger women, meaning that they are becoming fathers again at a more advanced age. Just as with older mums, however, older fatherhood also comes
with its own risks: • For a start, men over 45 may have kids, who have a higher likelihood of neuro-cognitive disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia
60 Modernmum
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