I'd sworn off blogging in order to meet deadlines, but then this morning, I read yet another story extolling the benefits of late-in-life fatherhood. The piece, on ABC News' web site, focuses on pols, from Senator Chris Dodd (see photo above) to Senator Fred Thompson, who had children after age 50...or 60, and quotes them approvingly on the impact fatherhood has had on their careers. For example:

Thompson, who has often said he has been "blessed later in life," told ABC News that his two children are "a large part of why I'm running for president of the United States."

Okay, maybe Thompson really did become wiser and more willing to serve his country (versus his career) after having kids. Maybe it's cynical of me to wonder whether he isn't using his photogenic kids as props (while squirreling away his much older children from an earlier marriage...presumably to an age appropriate mate. Had to say that.)

But, it just is striking how the media treats older mothers so differently. They're often depicted as exhausted, or as women grabbing at their last gasp of fertility (unless they're celebrities, in which case we're supposed to marvel at how young they look.) In fact, it was precisely such negative stereotypes that prompted Elizabeth Gregory, an academic, to write
her book, Ready.

At a press luncheon I attended a few months earlier, Gregory spoke frankly about wanting to write the book so as to counter some of the negative imagery surrounding older moms. (She is one herself). I just read the galleys of the book. It's not a scintillating read and is far from impartial or scientific. I also disagree with some of her rosier assessments about how the workplace is changing to accommodate mothers, but it does underscore that many older mothers feel that being older has had some real benefits.

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