Jobs, pensions, frozen sperm? Surely teens have enough worries? | Yvonne Roberts

Late motherhood is not a lifestyle choice, but an economic necessity for many

Youth is fast morphing into an incubator for the worries of older age – and where’s the carefree fun in that? Twelfth, 14th, 16th birthday? Time to save for your mortgage, pension and the Everyman test for Alzheimer’s disease.

Last week, a new responsibility was added to the premature ageing of the adolescent. According to Dr Kevin Smith, a bioethicist, the instruction to young men who are coming of age ought to be, don’t just masturbate, bank that sperm! And freeze it free on the NHS. He argues that this might reduce the chances of having a disabled child later. The (slight) risk of conceiving a child with disorders such as autism and schizophrenia increases the older the father. The average age of fatherhood in England and Wales is now 33.

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