Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Wow, this kind of thing gets me worked up. Rod Stewart and his third wife, model/photographer Penny Lancaster, 39, announced today that they are expecting their second child together and his seventh overall.
“We were thrilled and delighted to be able to tell Alastair that he was going to be the big brother to a little baby, expected just before Mummy’s 40th Birthday,” they announced.
This is jolly and all and we wish everyone involved the very best, but Rod the Mod is freaking 65 years old and doesn’t need any more kids.
I am sure the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who has been a rock star for well over 40 years, can afford another child; and I would guess at 39, assuming she’s healthy, that Penny can handle the process just fine.
At 65, though, Stewart still has a four year-old, Alastair, to raise, and it just isn’t fair to the new child to have a father who will be 85 when he/she is 20. Fathers don’t exist just to provide biological juice and monetary support – their job is to actually PARENT: interact, impart wisdom, and play with their children.
Perhaps Rod has taken better care of himself than other British Invasion era rockers, but at 65, the odds are not great that he will live to see his seventh child reach adulthood. And it isn’t just about surviving, either. It’s about being vigorous enough to be there in body and mind, to help with homework, to coach baseball (or in Rod’s case, soccer), to do Dad things!
I speak from personal experience on this, too. I had two kids in my twenties, got divorced, remarried, and had two more kids – one at 41, one at 45. Well, I didn’t have them, my wife did. I sometimes feel guilty about being 65 when my youngest is 20, but I try very hard to take care of myself, to remain active and youthful, and there is a vast difference between 45 and 65, even with all the help and support money can buy.
At this point of his life, and with as many children as he already has (Kimberly, 30; Sean, 29; Ruby, 23; Renee, 18; Liam, 15; and Alastair), another child is just about ego.
