Howie

I talked to my dad about my concerns. Apparently they have been trying for seven years (ever since they got married) to have a child, and only now was technology up to date enough to help them. They realize that age will be a challenge, but having a child means enough to my stepmother to go ahead with it. While I said that my dad is worsening in condition, it's miniscule in comparison to most adults his age. He's the most active, fit and healthy 60 year old I know, and if any one that age can raise a child, its him. I'm still a little concerned about the outcome, but I'm confident that everything will turn out just fine.

I don't know if this is the right place for this, but since it involves my stepmother and not my own mother, this seemed to be the best place. I'm 16 years old, an only child, and my parents have been divorced for as long as I can remember. My dad remarried when I was 11. My dad is now approaching 60, and I just found out that my stepmother (almost 50) is a month pregnant after many visits to a fertility specialist. The child won't be born until I'm 17 and that'll be about a year before I go to college, and I live with my mom, so I'm not concerned about how this will effect me. I'm more concerned about my younger sibling. I have watched my dad get older. He's far more physically fit than anyone else his age that I have ever met, but two years ago I watched him struggle through a 60 mile hiking trip, and he's worse now than he was then. I see him living well into his 90s, but not in the shape he's in now. My concern is that a kid will be too much for my dad, or my dad will be to old to be much help. He'll be almost eighty when the kid gets out of high-school, and frankly I don't know how well a 76 year old can handle a high-schooler. As I've said, they went to a fertility specialist, so I'm sure they've put some thought into it, but am I right to be concerned about the parenting abilities of someone that age?