Daddy at 40, what does it change?
Lengthening studies, career to build, quest for identity and professional mistakes, difficulty meeting the future mother of his children or reconstitution of a family after a divorce: every man has his reasons for deciding to make a baby after 40 years. Muri choice or circumstance of life, paternity is in any case an upheaval in the life of the future dad, whether he is 20 or 40 years old. But when the happy event is conceived later, the apprehension and the management of the difficulties take place under a different angle.
After 40 years, the future dad is more mature
He is laid down, knows what he wants and no longer seeks himself as a man. Men are usually mature later than women and after 40 years, they approach life serenely, with some hindsight on events. The future dad has matured his choice, this is the period he chose to become a father: he took advantage of his existence, was able to satisfy his desire to travel and was realized through his work. His couple is established, he is more available, he does not feel the need to go out with his friends every night.
For men already dads, a second or third child at age 40 may be the result of forming a new family, usually after a divorce. The future dad already knows what the coming of a baby in the life of a man and within his couple: he has the experience of his previous fatherhood and the assurance of facing this upheaval. It's the baby of maturity, a renewal, a second life.
A father first
But becoming a dad is an important and upsetting step in a man's life, no matter what his age. How to handle crying? Will I know how to take care of my baby ? Will I be a good father? The anxieties of a 40-year-old man may be the same as that of a young dad, moreover if he experiences fatherhood for the first time. You have to learn to live with three, to meet the needs and expectations of a toddler who can not satisfy them for himself, to shoulder his responsibilities. If we are a priori less patient and support less things at 40 than at 20, especially with respect to crying a baby, depending on each, being a father can be scary or wonderful ... often both at the same time! On the other hand, other questions can emerge, that a future dad of 20 years will not arise: what will my friends say? How will I be perceived by society? How to be considered as a dad when men of my age are "big" -papas? Even though more and more people assume their paternity late, the look of society is likely to be burdensome for the parent.
A baby pampered ... who would live longer!
when baby happens after 40 years, the parents have already experienced a lot of things on a personal level but they have also faced the pregnancy and its difficulties that can occur with age. First baby or last born of a sibling, it is often the last arrived of the family and his birth is experienced as a chance and a culmination. These babies are children invested, pampered, they represent the fulfillment of the life of a man.
And to make future quadras fathers feel guilty, know that an American study * published on June 11 in the journal PNAS (Annales de l'académie des sciences américain) reveals that being born to an older father could increase longevity: older fathers would pass on their children chromosomes more conserved at their ends (telomeres), a protective factor against aging.
* Delayed paternal age of reproduction in humans is associated with longer telomeres across two generations of offspring. Eisenberg DT, MG Hayes, Kuzawa CW, PNAS, June 2012. //www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/06/05/1202092109.long
