If you're 25, you might be totally abundantly settled... or, you might be having that quarter-life crisis people talk about. If you went to university, it's about two or three years since you've graduated. You're not quite twenty, you're not quite thirty, but no matter what you might think gazing upon younger counterparts, you're young. Nevermind, though, because this is the age British men want you to have a baby.
A survey conducted of 2,000 adults, both men and women, found that men's ideal age for women to bear children was 25. Women, though, would prefer to wait until they're about 31, according to a study from Vouchercloud.
Men said that, ideally, they'd like to become first-time fathers at 29, which, interestingly, indicates that men are sort of set on a four-year age gap in relationships. Both sexes agreed that two kids is the ideal quantity, showing that the whole 2.4 kids thing really has stuck around. (Plus, you can get one of each gender that way, right? Oh, it doesn't work that way?)
Though the survey teaches us that men are defying crusty old stereotypes of being family-phobic by wanting to have babies two years before women do, we're going to raise some eyebrows about vouchercloud.com's method and line of questioning.
First off, the company was asking childless respondents aged 18-39, so male respondents requesting very young mothers might not have any inkling of how tricky it is to raise a child, especially when the mum isn't ready for a kid. Plus, a lot of people might have been responding out of regret that they didn't get going on the family front earlier. It's sad, but you could see how, having not started one themselves, they might end up with romanticised notions of the family.
Secondly, the survey's a little bit biased. Though it asked men what age they wanted to become dads, women weren't asked what age their ideal first-time dad would be. Does it just not matter? Presumably, just because men don't have that nonsense worry of their fertility falling out of the sky aged 34, and because having a baby doesn't impact so hugely on their bodies, women aren't allowed to give a crap what age a first-time dad should be.
We might not be anywhere near planning our own family yet, but the prospect of a man in his mid-60's huffing and puffing his way around the garden, trying to coral the toddlers up to ready them for bathtime, doesn't exactly imbue us with glee for the future. Better survey next time, please survey-people.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.