Sir, My mother began her long, slow and sad decline into vascular dementia after a series of small strokes at the age of 75. Had I been born when she was 60 years old I would, when she became ill, have been halfway through my teenage years and heading towards important school exams, and with my whole future an exciting prospect (“Is 60 too old to become a parent?”, letters, Jan 19).
Does any woman really want to run the risk that her child could end up as a carer in the years when an adolescent needs not only freedom from parents, but also the confidence that parents are still there as comforters and carers when things go wrong? Or when a child just needs a cuddle? If they are happy to run the risk, then the word “selfish” springs to mind.
L. Alexander
York
Sir, The upper age for parenthood should not focus on the mother alone. I would suggest that the aggregated age of the parents should be 90 or less. The older one parent, the younger the other; that should give the child a reasonable prospect of having at least one parent alive and sufficiently active during his or her minority.
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Valentine Le Grice
London SW3