My parents had me in their 40s. Now that I'm the average age of a first-time mom, I see the benefits of waiting.

• My parents had me when they were 40 and 45 years old.
• Now that I'm 31, and over the average age for first-time moms, I see the benefit of waiting.

This month, I will be 31; one year above the rising average age of first-time mothers in the United States. At 40 and 45, my mother and my father were well beyond that average when I was born in 1992. So much so that at the time, my teenage (half) brothers joked they would be taking me on college tours.

Besides the fact that I wondered why my parents were some 10 to 15 years older than most in my small suburban hometown, I didn't think about their age much growing up.

I've learned there are positives to waiting to have kids

As I've gotten older, I reflect on it often as I help care for my nieces and nephew and consider when I want to start my own family. While I used to want to have children closer to 30 than 40, my feelings have shifted.

For one, the stigma around "older" parents is not as present today. Celebrities are having children into their 70s, and especially in New York City I meet people all the time having first children well into their 40s. The positives of waiting are evident in my own upbringing.

By having older parents, I had constant exposure to a web of generations for advice and inspiration. My eldest brothers and cousins were decades older than me, which exposed me to different life experiences from a young age. By the time I came around, my grandparents were elderly, so they told me stories instead of taking me places. I cherish those memories as they passed along an appreciation for learning and values that have shaped who I am today.

We traveled a lot

As well as the wisdom I gained from the large generational gaps in my family, I experienced the benefits of my parents' success early in life. Nearing midlife when I was a toddler, my parents had 20+ years of professional experience and savings that gave our family financial stability.

We took trips, learned to ski, and filled our afterschool days with dance, music lessons, and soccer teams. My parents were comfortable financially, as they had time to work and save. At 31, I am still building my foundation and finding the sweet spot in my career, hoping to continue building for my future children.

They were always around

What I remember most vividly about my childhood is my parents' presence. I can count on two hands the times they hired a weekend babysitter or left overnight without my sister and me. In my teenage years, it was frankly annoying that they didn't have more going on in their social lives. I remember asking my mom why they were always around when I saw my friends' parents be part of an active social scene.

"I spent my 20s and 30s living that life," she told me. "I don't need to do it anymore." Instead, they took the time to help me with homework or give me and a friend a ride to the movie theater.

As my parents had already lived so much of their life by the time I came around, they were original purveyors of the IDGAF lifestyle. They kept to themselves, rarely cared what other people thought, and didn't compare us to their friends' or siblings' children. They focused on raising us their way, which I've translated into my own life.

Many of my peers are having babies in their 20s and early 30s, yet I don't feel the need to follow their path. As I've been told, there's no right time to have children, and nothing can ever prepare you for what's to come. From my own parents, I've learned that having children when it feels right will be the right time, no matter your age or what the national average is.