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One of my girlfriends surprised us all a few years ago by announcing that she and her partner were having a baby. This was more of a surprise than baby announcements usually are because A) she’d always said, quite sternly, that she did not want children and B) she was 42 when she made this announcement. Part of the reason she hadn’t wanted children before was because she felt it would interfere with her career. She never thought she’d become as successful as she had by that age, so she never realized she’d get to a place where she was settled enough at work and still young(ish) enough to have a kid. But it happened. I’ve learned through her some of the interesting experiences of having a toddler when you’re in your forties. She absolutely loves it, but there have been some surprises.
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Career demands are higher
Interesting enough, the reason my friend felt ready to have kids is that her career is going so well. What she hadn’t anticipated is that that is the same reason she often faces conflict. She rarely can just pass off a project onto somebody else when her kid needs her attention: she’s the only one who knows how to do it. Every task she has is top priority and something for which she’s just the best woman for the job.
