I need grandchildren
on December 2, 2017 at 12:01 amChapter: Innuendo
Location: Joyce's parents' house
Whoof. 55. That is too young. I mean, strictly, the math works out. Joyce is 24 right now and the youngest, meaning she was born when Carol was 31. Her first kid was born out of wedlock while she was in college, so the youngest she could have conceived and then gestated a baby was about 19. So that’s a range of 12 years in which she pumped out six kids… or one every two years. That’s doable. Maybe not advisable, but it’s not impossible.
But I probably should have made her older. Just… give her some breathing room, jeez.
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Were there any multiples, maybe? …well, I guess not given her line in the future about Walky having a history of twins
also so much for that “soundproof room” mentioned in the last comic
Room could still be soundproof if they hid the speakers in the room, I guess.
on the ceiling? (I mean, Walky’s looking up)
If they pushed the speakers up to the wall and pumped up the volume? But yeah, “soundproof” was probably a false reassurance.
Would probably have been easier if you just made some of the brothers twins or triplets.
Originally posted:
March 22, 2003
…Carol, you’ll be 73 when the kid is 18. Why the short life expectancy?
Depends on family history; on my dad’s side, living to 65+ is a miracle. Dad died at 58. Mom’s doing good at 77, and her dad made it to 94. (her mom died in her 70’s, but spent all of that decade with Alzheimer’s, so it’s hard to count that)
You’re right, but that’s still a question we don’t ever get an answer for.
My parents had 6 kids between marriage in 1960 to the last kid in 1973, and yep, only the last kid has gone the traditional marriage & kids route. (2 others had unplanned kids that did not result in marriage) So, my mom was maybe pinning her hopes on that last daughter as well.
I’m still wondering how all four of Joyce’s older brothers have “failed Carol” at having grandkids.
Five.
Joyce is youngest, and in college, which means the others have had sufficient time (in Carol’s mind) to get married and give her grandkids.
It’s four, considering Jocelyne.
Given the environment, I’m surprised Jocelyne never reproduced, as part of her last gasp of trying to be a straight dude.
Not-really spoiler since it doesn’t ever come up except in a quick name-drop in the subscriber comics, but I think Jocelyne was able to come out fairly easily in the Walkyverse
(easily in that she isn’t dead/disowned as a result)
That’s actually not too unusual for a big family.
My my mom’s family had about the same average gap between kids (7 kids from the early 50s to late 60s). Dad’s family had a slightly larger one (5 kids in the same range).
My wife has friends who have popped ’em out at a faster rate than that, and considering their brand of religion, I find her birth rate very plausible. The main reason to make her older would be to lend some weight to her “I’d be dead” calculation, which is a bit of a head-scratcher in light of average life expectancy. Family history might lead her to expect to die by 66 or so, but that’s not a certainty, and she sure seems fit and active for someone who’d be worried about that. Maybe it’s the blood pressure: she is certainly high-strung.
loads of “kids these days” expect to be dead before thirty… not super surprising to expect to be dead before Joyce reproduces =p
I know two couples with four kids each, all very close together, but neither of them started early enough to have them all grown by 55. One couple had kids born in 2001, ’03, ’05 and early ’08. The mother was 37 when the last one was born.
Joyce is 24 and has been bringing in ‘boyfriends’ since she was about…8, one comic says? In any case, it took over a decade to find an actual boyfriend; assuming it takes her as long to have a kid, that would make her mom at least 65. So, uh, her mom does have some reason to be concerned if she wants grandkids, especially given Joyce’s abstinence. Still though, unless her family has short lifespans or poor health (like my granddad’s), there isn’t much reason to be concerned.
If she had the first at 19, at one every two years she’d be done at 29. So there is a bit more of a buffer. I think 2 years is the minimum recommended spacing.
We had 4 in 6 years, so one every 2 years. We were intentionally rushing (we had fertility issues to start, and wanted to wrap it up before my wife hit a certain age).
My mom had her last two in within 13 months of each other.
Joyce’s mom did pretty well with the spacing.
My Catholic grandma had five kids in eight years. And then four grandkids in the next 50, so.
My parents are 62 and still hoping for grandchildren someday.
Not from me, obviously, but my brother is still a possibility. Assuming he sticks with his current girlfriend there’s still about eight more years before she’d be considered a geriatric mother, so there’s certainly time.
Man you basically just described how quickly my mom popped me and all my siblings out..