Who says that women are the only people with a biological clock? What if a man wanted to have children and was growing older, with no solid relationship or “significant other†in place? Should he wait until he finds that special someone? Should he grab the next eligible lady that comes along and accept having a baby mother? Is that what parenting has to be for him? Should he simply not have children since he is single?
According to an interview with The Network Journal in June, 2015, Dr. Conrad Cean, a 43-year old board certified anesthesiologist in New York City wanted to have children but had not be an a serious relationship.  Opting not to continue to wait on “the right one,” and deciding against knocking up a friend, random or jump of he chose to become a parent using in-vitro fertilization and a surrogate. He is now the father of twins, Konrad Fritz II and Kennedy-Josephine Marie.  Cean did not jump into this major life change without thought. He researched the prospect for 4 to 5 years before finally deciding to have children on his own. He had no marriage prospects in line, and knew that even men have a “biological clock.â€Many people know that it becomes riskier for women to have children as they get older, and the chance of birth defects increases as well. Cean noted that the quality of a man’s sperm degrades with age, as well. Another priority for Cean was wanting children while he was still young enough to enjoy them.
The limits of what has been traditionally known as a “family†have changed dramatically through the years. There was an old joke that a family was “standard†if it had a mom, dad, 2.5 children and a dog. Sadly, those numbers reflected the truth of very few actual American families.The 1970s and 1980s saw a rise in single parent families from divorce. Single parent families were not new, however, as World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War had left a large number of families without at least one parent for generations.The 1980s and 1990s saw step-families move from being sitcom fodder to a normal part of each and every community. Adoption became something that was secretive and almost taboo, to commonplace and even en-vogue.Today, in many parts of the nation, single parent families, blended families, and adopted families are more prevalent than traditional nuclear ones.Science is pushing the boundaries of the traditional family unit even further as test tube babies, in-vitro fertilization, and surrogates have become more affordable and popular. While these options were originally there for “traditional†families, the LGBT community and single women have been using them to have children for years.What about the men?Cean is just one example among many, and as the process of in-vitro pregnancies and surrogates becomes more common among professional men, the country will see the term “family†broaden yet again.