My dad’s age makes people feel uncomfortable.
I can sense their discomfort as they struggle to find the right words, whilst quickly doing the mental maths.
His age is so shocking, that I am yet to come across anyone my age whose dad is a similar age to mine. For context, I am a few days off 27 and my dad is 83 – which means he was 56 when I was born, a common age to have, well, a 27-year-old.
Celebrities are miraculously continuing to produce children well past what we believe their expiration date is, much like Robert De Niro, who became a father for the seventh time at the age of 79. The thing is, in Hollywood, this story of late fatherhood is no abnormality. At 92 years old, Clint Eastwood has a daughter who is the same age as myself, and Rupert Murdoch had children well into his 70s.
Watch: Steve Harvey shares the reality of having an older parent. Post continues after video.
But, in my world, it’s not.
Having a newborn when one could already be a grandfather or even a great-grandfather is deemed, for lack of a better word, repulsive for many. We’re quick to believe that fathers with deteriorating health and death looming ever so close are downright selfish, and should they even be having sex at that age, with younger women that can carry their child?
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