Finish college/graduate school. Get married. I thought owning a house would be nice too, but it wasn’t all that necessary. Waiting a little while before we bought a house turned out to be a good thing for us.
I don’t think anybody was saying that. Some people feel more secure and therefore in a better place to have children when they have certain ducks in a row. I think that’s what everybody is saying.
I wanted to:
*get married (check)
*buy a house (Yeah. That [name]JUST[/name] happened 6 months ago…My son is 3.)
*finish my MA (I finished before he was 1 year-old.)
*have a solid career (I was in my 3rd year of teaching when my son was born…The next year I was laid off. Stuff happens. And now I’m trying to transition from full-time teacher to full-time home school mom.)
So, I didn’t finish them in timeline, but they got accomplished. We were 27 and 26 when our baby boy was born. For us, it was the perfect age 
I dont know that I wanted to have “finished” doing anything in particular before having kids. I didn’t have a timeline for when I expected to have already been married or living in a house or whatever.
I figured I’d let my life play out and when kids happened, great!
I went to college. I spent time abroad. I sowed my wild oats… If I had gotten pregnant during any of that time it wouldn’t have been a tragedy, but fortunately, I made it through fairly unscathed.
I have always loved to travel. My lifelong dream has always been to see everything!
My SO and I share that dream and hope to continue traveling even with kids. We would like to pass on the passion for culture and languages.
We would love to own a house, but that isn’t a reality in today’s market so we will continue to plan out adventures at least twice a year to do as a family.
I’m sixteen. I’m waiting until marriage to do the do (if you get what I’m saying) (wink wink nudge nudge), so I’m thinking that marriage is a given! Besides that, I think I’d like to finish college and have financial security. I want to have babies, believe me. But I want them to be able to have food and toys and awesomeness. Ya know?
I wanted to be married, finish my degree, and pay off my student loans before having a baby. I did all of those things, in that order as a matter of fact. Owning our own house wasn’t a priority, but we did that, too. Before having kid #2, I would like to save up enough money to buy a new car (my current car is too small for 2 car seats.) I’m 26, by the way.
Oh, and our daughter just turned 1 year old on [name]Monday[/name]
@ milasmama: But isn’t every individual’s vision of perfection different? I know you didn’t mean to offend anyone by that comment, but I want to add that most of these posters have these opinions because of their life experiences, therefore, their idea of having a perfect life is most likely different than yours. I’m sure your life experiences have shaped your parenting strategies and such. Whatever works for YOUR family is best. [name]Just[/name] like dindlee said, some people are more secure than others.
I hope I didn’t come off as offensive!
Now, for MY answer:
I’m only 16, so no babies for me anytime soon. I think my main goals are to have a stable income, have finished school, and (hopefully) be in love. Marriage and owning a house aren’t that necessary for me. As long as my child(ren) is happy and has stability in his or her life, I’m fine
At the moment my goals before TTC are:
- Finish getting my degree (which is set to happen in [name]July[/name] 2015)
- Get married
- Be settled into a home (be it a house or apartment or whatever, I just want it to be a nice environment for children)
- Have a decent paying job that I have been at for at least a couple of years
I’m trying to figure this out right now, been dealing with some major baby fever for years, and lately it’s just gotten worse…
- Be Married
- Have a stable relationship
- Own a home
- Finish School
- [name]Andrew[/name] gainfully employed, and I accumulate enough hours for [name]Mat[/name] leave
- Travel at least a bit as a couple
Currently, we are engaged, getting married [name]December[/name] of 2014, we have been together over 7 years. So right now, that knocks two things off the list. We are considering booking our first big trip together for [name]Christmas[/name] of this year, and in 2015, we’ll be taking our honeymoon after I’m done my diploma program. So that could be another thing off the list. I’m totally more than open to travelling with kids, and in fact I think it’s a great idea, but I want some special vacations with [name]Andrew[/name] too. With any luck, we should be buying a home in 2015, hopefully we will be able to start TTCing in late 2015/early 2016, though right now, it feels like that is a lifetime from now.
- Be financially stable
- Be entrenched in a stable career path with excellent mat leave benefits
- Have travelled and seen the world
I did all before we had our daughter. I’m still paying student loans, but it is a private debt with no interest…and amounts to a pittance of our income. We own our home (with lots of equity) and a summer home we just bought, have good investments on top of excellent federal gov pensions (yay [name]Canada[/name]!). I am a lawyer and previously combined private practice with a lot of work in politics. The hours and benefits were terrible. I scratched the itch to run for Parliament (major check in the box), ran some campaigns for cabinet ministers and then went into the public sector where I have one year fully paid maternity leave. I lived abroad for years in my twenties and have had many fabulous vacations. I’m glad I did it all but also wish we had started a bit earlier, we want more than three children and the clock is ticking.
I won’t be having kids for a long long time, but I already have some goals, listed:
- Married
- Have a good education
- Have a well paying job
- Be able to support my family
- Travel