IELTS/ PTE/TOEFL Writing Tasks, The Essay
Writing Task 2, Essay
The Essay Question:
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
More people decide to have children in their later age now than in the past. Why?
Do advantages of this outweigh disadvantages?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
The Essay:
It is true that the phenomenon of delayed parenthood is seen in current times, unlike the past. I believe this is largely due to the fiercely competitive corporate world, accompanied with the breakdown of joint families and it has positives and negatives aspects to it.
Working people face so much of competition that the foremost goal in their life is establishing in their career before they resolve to have a child. By the time young people feel they are comfortable professionally and financially, they are often older. Additionally, with more nuclear families, there is no support in bringing up children and hence young adults wait until they can save enough money to have children.
However, late parenthood is proven to be a bane for women who often have complications in conceiving, pregnancy or childbirth. According to research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the number of stillbirths is 1.2 to 2.2 times more in older women. Furthermore, parents who have progeny later in life, often have lesser energy levels vis-a-vis young parents, who can run after children and keep up with their demands. An older father or mother with depleting vigour and vitality, find it tough to balance the pressures of work and offspring.
Nevertheless, a baby coming at an advanced age in life will benefit from the patience and maturity acquired by elder parents, as compared to young parents. Going through the myriad ups and downs faced by them, such parents emerge more tolerant.
To conclude, according to me, the decision of giving birth to a child is now happening at a later stage in life owing to the growing ambition amongst people and certainly the disadvantages of it are greater than the benefits.