The number of older parents is on the rise as people are waiting until their 30s and 40s to start having babies, which has widened the age gap between parents and their children. For the most part, the benefits of this trend outweigh the drawbacks.

随着人们等到30多岁和40多岁才开始生孩子，年龄较大的父母数量正在增加，这扩大了父母与子女之间的年龄差距。总体说来，这种趋势的好处大于缺点。

The widened gap in age between parents and their children may bring about financial and emotional benefits. Parents who decide to have babies later in life may have climbed the corporate ladder, received promotions, and are therefore financiallysecure to raise children. With that financial security would come the emotional privilege. Older parents seem to be more stable, relaxed, and less stressed-out than their youngercounterparts. Since older parents are more likely to have settled down professionally, they are able to allow themselves to spend more time with their children.

父母与子女之间年龄差距的扩大可能会带来经济和情感上的好处。决定晚些生孩子的父母可能已经爬上了公司的阶梯，得到了提拔，因此在经济上有抚养孩子的保障。有了这种金钱保障，随之而来的是情感上的优势。年龄更大的父母比更年轻的父母似乎更稳定、更轻松、更少压力。由于年龄更大的父母更有可能在工作上安定下来，他们就有更多的时间和孩子在一起。

However, the choice to put off having babies may have negative implications for both parents and children. For parents, it is physically challenging to raise a baby when they are, say, over forty years old. The delayed parenthood is quite unfair for the children , too, because their parents probably will not be able to live long enough to see them grow up. Most importantly, when the parent-child age difference is 40 years or more, parents will very quickly become a burden to their children who are just starting their career as young adults. In this case, children might be forced to care for their older parents from a very young age.

然而，推迟生孩子的选择可能对父母和孩子都有负面影响。对于父母来说，当他们，比如说，40岁以上的时候，抚养孩子，这从身体上说是很有挑战性的。延迟为人父母对孩子来说也是相当不公平的，因为他们的父母可能不能活到足够长的时间来看他们长大。最重要的是，当父母-孩子年龄差异是40岁或更多，当孩子刚刚成年进入职业生涯，父母很快就会成为他们的负担，在这种情况下，孩子可能在很早的时候就得去照顾年长的父母。

For all these disadvantages, I still believe the greater parent-child age gap is a good thing, because it contributes to the economic and emotional well-being of children during the most important years of their growth. Meanwhile, with the improvement of medical technology and social pension system, the potential risks the older parents may experience and the burden they may give their children have been greatly reduced.  

尽管有这些缺点，我仍然相信父母和孩子的年龄差距更大是一件好事，因为它有助于孩子们在最重要的成长时刻的经济和情绪幸福。与此同时，随着医疗技术和社会养老金制度的完善，年长的父母可能面临的潜在风险以及他们可能给子女带来的负担已经大大减少了。