In this episode we're brainstorming ideas and writing an advantage/disadvantage essay for the following topic: 

People nowadays tend to have children at older ages. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

-

Intro: Today, there is a tendency for people to give birth and start families at a later stage in their lives. On balance, it seems there are more drawbacks.

P1: Despite these disadvantages, there are certain benefits which can be encapsulated under the umbrella of stability, both: financial and familial. As a couple progresses in life they should have greater financial resources to draw upon to support their children and reduce the negative impact on poverty. In addition to the financial stability, there’s also stability in the family which should increase as the couple matures. As a result, children born at a later stage are less vulnerable to the negative consequences of divorce and family break up which are less common in older pairings.

P2: Although the aforementioned positive aspects appear to have great strength, there are also significant negative factors to consider. Foremost, as people age, they suffer from a greater amount of genetic degradation which can increase the chances of having a child with a genetic defect such as Down's syndrome. Another factor which can have a detrimental effect on a child’s quality of life is the fact that older people tend to have less energy which means they are less able to cope with and raise their relatively more energetic young child. In the same way, there is also a generation gap in terms of relatability. As the age gap between the child and the parents increases their ability to relate to each other and share the same ideas about life could be placed under severe pressure. This may have negative consequences on the child’s upbringing and development. For instance, there could be numerous intra-family conflicts between youngsters and their elderly parents.

Conclusion: In sum, given the greater number of negative elements in comparison to the smaller number of positive aspects of giving birth at an older stage in life, it is reasonable to conclude that it is more beneficial to conceive and raise children at a relatively earlier age.

-

Get the full episode where Maria and Rory go through the writing process here: https://patreon.com/ieltswfs

Read the full essay with comments from Rory here: https://successwithielts.com/t2e001

Maria's IELTS writing course: https://course.yourielts.net/ielts-writing-course

Listen to our IELTS Speaking podcast: https://fanlink.to/ieltssfs

Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts

© 2021  Success with IELTS