Men are Conscious of Time Too
Men know that they have a biological clock like women. Although it may not tick as loudly as our female counterparts’ clock, the male biological clock is just as profound as the female biological clock.
Although many men, if not most, do not sit at home planning their wedding and family, very few of us want to be that old father at little league games and kindergarten recitals. Many men fear playing pickup basketball with their young son and slipping their disc trying to show their “youngin’” how they used to do it two decades earlier in their twenties.
However, new data suggests that as the male biological clock begins to tick louder, more risks are involved in reproducing.
According to PsychologyToday.com, “New research, reported in the (New York Times; August 22, 2012), confirms that as men age, they are more likely to father a child who develops autism and schizophrenia…The study, published online in Nature (August 22, 2012) by Kari Stefansson and his team at Decode Genetics in Iceland, demonstrated that 97 percent of the rate of new mutations, accidental changes in DNA that can prevent a gene from functioning properly, can be attributed to the age of the father.”
Men are notoriously bad about not wanting to put down the player card and settle down. We were taught that a male biological clock did not exist, and we should settle down only when we were too old to keep up with the younger generation.
However, this new study proves that the male biological clock is a more serious issue than first believed.
Men, just like women, cannot put off starting a family until their careers are established. We must begin to realize that our early adult years are not just for frivolous play because scientific and medical consequences to our offspring might be the result of our procrastination.
We must begin thinking about our future when many of us are just enjoying the fruits of today.
The scientific consequences notwithstanding, a younger father might make for a more productive parent as well when it comes to relating to our children and being able to keep up with our children.
Raising children is a full-time job, and children deserve a father who can provide the adequate amount of energy required in raising a child.
Too many of us want to wait for the perfect time when we are financially established in order to give our children the “perfect” childhood, but when we do so we might actually be failing to give them the most important thing, a healthy childhood.
