Facing fertility, step-parenting and teens in trouble

At Noon we often talk about children – having them, not having them, what to do when they come to bits. It’s a midlife pinch point.

Childlessness: When you don’t have children
Step parenting in midlife
The end of a life stage

Childlessness

First up, a fifth of women aged between 40 and 60 don’t have children, yet the narrative around women’s lives is still too often centred around offspring. Not at Noon. Our expert on fertility Julia Bueno talks about the sadness and the pain she sees in her practice, and how she advises women in their Noon-time in coming to terms with grief over lost children, the babies they never had or the menopause.

Step parenting in midlife

Then there’s step parenting. We have plenty of written experience from our Noon community mums. Rather than the bad press it usually gets, it can be a joy.

We also know many of you are struggling with parenting teens in lockdown. It’s been grim for them. Our parenting expert Alicia Drummond has advice on teen anxiety while on a more optimistic note, we celebrate the unexpected boon for parents in gaining extra time with older kids with a piece from Clover Stroud.

The end of one life stage

Whether we’ve had them or not, Noon marks a time when the reproductive phase of our lives ends – a time to move on from patriarchal definitions of what gives women’s lives value and define them for ourselves. Midlife is a time to revisit our dreams, make the last decades of our lives really count, move away from caring responsibilities into our own wisdom and power.

Enjoy the conversation!

— Eleanor Mills, Founder of Noon