Girls should forget university and have babies instead !

She's quoted in the Telegraph as saying: 'I don’t want the next generation of women to suffer the same heartache’

"the next generation of women"!!??

For pity's sake!! It hasn't affected an entire generation! I doubt if it ever will.

Ye gods! The things people do for money.

What needs to be discussed anyway? Surely the knowledge that fertility declines with age is just a plain fact that can be imparted to young people?

Tcha. Such silliness tries my patience.

Hmm, I see that the article says that women are "let down" by lack of discussion of the subject of falling female fertility with age. Really? How come I knew then? I bet most gransnetters knew too.

I thought male fertility declined with age too, though not with the cutoff point that females have. I also read somewhere that in the developed world at least average the sperm count is going down.

I don't think there need be anything obvious about not giving such 'advice' to young men if (and the if is a big word) it is thought necessary to give it to women. It's not as if women who are intelligent enough to go to university couldn't work out for themselves, if they thought about it, that having kids in their twenties or early thirties might be a good idea if they want them at all. If they don't think about it, I can't say I have much sympathy when their declining fertility whacks them in the eye, so to speak. It's not as if the problem is never talked about so they can't have any idea.

She has though put her connections to good use instead of relying on the bank of mum and dad as a lot of these 'gels' do

I don't know what her CV contains but she is maybe one of those girls who has managed to forge a career despite not having the coveted degree that others appear to think is the only way to get on in life.

Very true, Jane. But I only get to see the ones that someone's pointed out on here.

Lots of minor celebrities are given column inches to air their not-very-well-thought out views, like Richard and Judy on whether they should have the right to kill each other.

The Honourable Kirstie Mary Allsop has had a somewhat privileged life, entree to high end suppliers via her mother's company and lots of connections made at public school.

While she seems a perfectly pleasant person on the television, I don't think her cv indicates any experience in anything other than arranging expensive or pretty objects and recounting a few anecdotal stories about her friends.

Can't really understand why she's being given so many column inches - unless it's all part of a conspiracy by certain newspapers to discourage women from achievement outside the home.

It sounds like she's got a mish-mash of ideas, just like everyone has. Was it worth writing it down? I suppose she got paid, and it gives people something to read.

www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/10868367/Kirstie-Allsopp-I-dont-want-the-next-generation-of-women-to-suffer-the-same-heartache.html

This is the original article in the Telegraph.
As usual the Daioy Wail have put their own bigoted biased slant on it.

To be fair to Kirsty , that was only a small part of the article.

A lot of it was about the pain of losing her mother last January, and about how things surrounding the aftermath of a death could be done differently.

She didn't advise girls not to go to university. She just suggested, because of declining fertility after the age of 35, it might be better to have children first and then concentrate on a career and/or education.
She had seen a lot of her friends suffering heartache because of the difficulty of conceiving in their thirties, and thought that there's a lot of pressure on girls to go to university, establish a career, find a partner and have children before the biological clock stops ticking.

Obviously the same advice wouldn't be given to men, as they are fertile for much longer.

MiceElf

Absolutely

That is definitely the best way of looking at such twaddle, mice.

I was enjoying myself far too much in my 20s to want to tie myself to a husband and family, but by the time I was 30, I was quite ready and loved being a mum. Many friends have done it the other way round and there's nothing wrong with that either.

MiceElf

I wonder what the response would be if someone had given the advice to young men....

In no way would I wish to agree with KA, but we married at the end of my first year at university, I had my first child just after my finals and the second two years after that. When our daughter was two, I started work and didn't stop until I retired thirty years later. It worked for us, but I don't really see how it is relevant to anyone else....

I can remember one of my mothers neighbours coming round for coffee when I was home during the university vacation and saying that her daughter had considered going to university but decided that she would rather get married and have children. It was all my mother and I could do to stifle our giggles until she left. I graduated, married at 24 and had my first child at 28.

I do not think many women choose not to have children until they are in their late 30s. But people pair up later and often decisions to have children are governed by economic uncertainty. DS is a university lecturer. Young academics are nearly all working on short term contracts. He and his wife wanted to wait until he had the security of a permanent post before they had children. As a result they were 36 and 38 when their first child was born

Well, I can see both sides. It is however quite possible to go to Uni and still have children when young- if you go to Uni at 18/19, then you are still only in your early 20s when you finish- and can still get a few years experience before starting a family still in your 20s.

I disagree with her too- but I find it sad that so many young people, parents not just women, wait till their late 30s to start a family- as if it was the last priority. Physically and mentally, it is much safer and easier to have children in 20s rather than late 30s and 40s- and then go back to the professional ladder then. Horses for courses- indeed. I am glad I had children early (22 and 25)- especially now as a granny, as it means I am still young enough to enjoy our grand-children. Children born to older women, especially second generation on- will probably never have the joy of their grand-parents.

It is jinglbellsfrocks, my daughter is also very happy. That was the point I was trying to make: children will end up making their own decisions (hopefully).

I have no daughters, and I had no brothers, but my parents had exactly the same expectations of us as they would have had of sons. University, a satisfying job and marriage at 29, leading to child rearing at an age when I could be expected to have greater maturity . Ok - it all led to divorce at 45, but I'm far from unique in that!

It was really quite a shock when DD 1 said she would be going to uni. I even cried a bit.

That's all I ever wanted to do Hollydaze. It's worked fine for me tbh.

Horses for courses I guess.

I knew what you meant, jingl

Daughters (and sons) have a tendency to do what they want - or hasn't she learned that yet?

My mother told me that my role in life was to marry, raise children and run a home - and I believed her

I gave my daughter the opposite advice and suggested she went to college or university and get some good qualifications that will stand her in good stead her whole life; she chose to marry and raise children instead.