I resent my mum’s choice to have me in her 40s, I was picked on & dressed as a frump, I had my kids as young as possible
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WALKING through the school gates Rae Radford turned to give her mum a hug and joined the throng of other school children beginning their first day of secondary school. “Hey what’s your granny doing dropping you at school?” sneer a trio of year seven girls.
![[Woman with long blonde hair wearing a pink jacket.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NINTCHDBPICT000964682132.jpg?strip=all&w=902)
It’s a comment that Rae was totally used to, even at the age of 12. It was not the first time she’d heard that comment and it wasn't the last. The reason is simple Rae, 62, is a late in life baby, born when her mum was in her forties. While the average age of first time mothers is getting older with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealing most women wait until they are just over 30 or 30 years nine months to have their first child, Rae, now 62, is keen to urge the next generation not to wait to procreate.
![[Photo of a woman holding a toddler.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NINTCHDBPICT000964682141.jpg?strip=all&w=926)
“My mother was 40 when she had me,” she tells Fabulous. “We never properly bonded and I was constantly teased about my grandmother's being my mum. “Being raised by a late in life mum can have a devastating impact.”. So scarred was Rae by her older parents, with her dad being 40, that she took steps to make sure her own children wouldn’t experience the same.
![[Photo of an older woman and a younger woman sitting together.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NINTCHDBPICT000964682126.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
“I had my children early in life, I was determined to not make the same mistake in my generation,” she says. “It was the best decision I ever made.”. “My children are my friends; we share similar hobbies and we’re properly bonded. “Whereas later in life mums often do not have the energy to keep up to their children and cannot connect.
![[Woman in pink robe bottle-feeding a newborn baby.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NINTCHDBPICT000964682139.jpg?strip=all&w=720)
