Dirty nappies and sleepless nights come as part of the package for new fathers, but what might be a tiring slog in your 20s and 30s could feel ten times tougher aged 50 and beyond.
David Bowie, 53, and his wife Iman have announced they are expecting a child. This news comes hot on the heels that 55-year-old film star Michael Douglas is expecting a baby with his fiance Catherine Zeta Jones.
But they are mere spring chickens in the fatherhood stakes compared to James Doohan, otherwise known as "Scotty" in Star Trek, now 80, who announced earlier this month that he is expecting a child with his wife, Wende, 43.
Bowie, Douglas and Doohan do have the advantage of being comfortably off. Bowie's personal fortune is estimated at a whopping £500m. And all three men have been fathers before so they have some idea of what they are letting themselves in for. For most mere mortals the main worry for other older fathers is the financial aspect, according to Adrienne Burgess, author of Fatherhood Reclaimed.
She says: "As a man reaches his mid 50s he is likely to be nearing the end of his earning power. The problem is that children will be coming to their teenage and most expensive years when the father is likely to have retired."
She adds: "An older father may want to spend more time at home and vow that he will spend more time with his young family but in reality he is likely to still have to work hard in order to make sure his children are well provided for. Research shows that money is a big issue for older fathers and to some extent being an older father is something that only a minority can afford to indulge in." But Oxford communications director Tony Watson disagrees. The Kirtlington dad has two girls from his first marriage and when they were 18 and 16 remarried. Three years later he had a son Charlie.
Now 56, he said that money was never an issue when his new wife wanted a baby. "I am not looking to retire and although I wouldn't call myself well-off, we aren't struggling. We really didn't think about things like that."
He also disagrees with Burgess' theory that: "Any older father having a baby is running the risk of leaving the child fatherless before the child is ready to let him go.
"Charlie rejuvenates me. He makes me younger and after all you're only as old as you feel. I never used to go to football matches but I do now. He's definitely good for my health." But Burgess does believe that older fatherhood can work better now than ever as attitudes have become more relaxed.
"In the past older men tended to marry younger women who held old-fashioned views. The reason the marriage worked was because they shared these old-fashioned views. Consequently their children grew up in homes where parents were out of date and the children felt their parents were out of touch.
"But times are definitely changing. It seems that people who were liberal in the 1960s and 1970s are not becoming markedly more conservative. A lot of them still have liberal attitudes and are not out of step."
Tony does agree with her. "I do think you become much more liberal the older you get and second time around I am much more experienced. I know how to deal with schools and teachers. I am not so in awe of people now. "But times have certainly changed. I take Charlie with me on some of my business trips. My father would never have done that because it wasn't the done thing then. Now we all go the pub together but when I was a first-time father, children weren't allowed in.
"Also, the older you are the more likely you are to appreciate and enjoy it. It all makes for a better family relationship," he said.
David Bowie would certainly seem to follow this pattern. He even joked that people probably thought he was back on drugs because he has been grinning so much. He is planning to take time out for the baby and although he will play some shows this summer, he has no plans to tour.
Douglas has also vowed to slow down and spend more time at home with his second child. He has a grown-up son from his first marriage. Getting fatherhood right second time around is often a motive for older fathers.
Burgess says: "There are many men who are making up for what they perceive as a failure from their first marriage. They might not even realise this. Many men suffer from worry and anxiety about becoming a father again in later years because they were unable to hold together their first marriage.
"There are many men who are reluctant to enter into parenthood again and may have a child for the woman. One man I interviewed said he had two lovely children already but could see being with his present wife forever and felt he could not deny her children."
Story date: Monday 28 February
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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