In modern society, delayed parenthood is nothing unusual. This trend is in my view principally caused by people’s attitude towards career and the development of fertility treatment. In this essay, I will discuss these and analyze how this trend affects society and family life.  

From the perspective of personal interest, there is a clear incentive for the pregnancies later in life: to increase the lifetime earning potential (为了工作多赚钱). Currently, increasingly men and women are career-oriented, thus delaying marriage to their 30s or even 40s to seek more education and secure a better job. This is especially true in some women, who believe that early marriage and childbirth will hinder them from advancing in work. High technology has also contributed to the flexibility in fertility (生育技术使人们无需担心生育能力退化而早早产子). Unlike decades ago, when women worried about waning fertility and gave birth early, nowadays, couples can choose egg freezing, which enables them to wait until the right time to be parents.  

Exactly because of these reasons above, when a couple finally decides to have their own child, their family life gain certain perks. This is because older parents, in most cases, have already achieved their career goals. With a stable income, they tend to be more tolerant and focused in parenting, thereby a positive growth environment for children and a harmonious parent-child relationship (对家庭：成长环境好、家庭关系和睦). Although the individuals have seen virtues in the delay, this is not necessarily the case with the whole society. More precisely, the low birthrate would inevitably translate into the aging of population, and the graying society, in other words, means a lack of productive labors in the near future (对社会：老龄化严重、劳动力缺乏).