29 and Pregnant: Not Another Lifetime Movie

A recent front-page article in the Washington Post uncovered something incredibly un-newsworthy this week – it seems that college-educated men and women are actually having children before they hit 30.

Clearly, the Washington Post writers never looked at my 10 year high school reunion blog or my list of Facebook friends because let me tell you, I’ve been feeling like a slouch lately for not having had my requisite 2.2 kids yet… did I mention I just turned 28? And since my hometown features a large Mormon population, most of the parents among my fellow Toros from the Class of 1998 have three kids and counting.

In the past year alone, no fewer than 8 of my friends had kids and they join the ranks of many other colleagues, acquaintances and BFFs of mine who have already given birth. Let me also make mention of the fact that most of these people are not simply college educated, but also have advanced degrees in social work, law, business, occupational therapy and medicine.

While I absolutely think the Washington Post is right that more 20-somethings in my generation delay marriage and subsequent children because of factors like higher student loan debt, difficulty breaking into the job market, changes in career focus, anxiety due to their parents’ divorce(s), greater geographic movement and plain ol’ fear of commitment, I would hardly characterize a 29-year-old parent of a toddler as an anomaly.

Is this just another proof of the pendulum swing late-Generation Xers are boldly taking back to the family structures of the 1950s or have things never really changed that much?