Give him a break, because dad's getting older

About 140 New Zealand men will get the ultimate Father's Day present tomorrow - the birth of a child.

According to "father figures", released by Statistics New Zealand in honour of Father's Day, newborn babies now have fathers who are, on average, five years older than their own fathers were when they were born. The average age of fathers of new babies is 33 years, but one in 100 babies has a father aged 50 or over.

Children would be advised to make a special effort over Father's Day presents: fathers have seven fewer Father's Days, on average, than mothers have Mother's Days.

This is because men generally start parenting later in life and women have a longer life span.

Perhaps the best present of all would be a sleep-in: fathers with children aged under a year old manage 42 minutes' less sleep than the average of 8.5 hours. More than a quarter (27 per cent) of babies born in NZ last year were to fathers who were not themselves born here. This compares with 21 per cent a decade ago.

- NZPA