“I don’t know if I want kids, but I guess deep down I do know that I will need to have them sooner or later.”

It sounds like you do know you want kids. But … think about whether that’s true, please. You don’t have to do anything.

This man is understands your age and the reality timelines. It’s probably too soon to ask whether he’s signing on for forever, but it makes perfect sense to talk about his openness to having kids within the next few years. You can admit that if you were 32, you might not be asking. But at 37, you want to think about the possibilities. He doesn’t have to come up with a detailed five-year plan, but if he knows there’s no way he wants kids anytime soon, you can make choices based on that information.

The right time to have the conversation is … well, whenever you’re comfortable and in the same space. There’s no way around the awkwardness. My advice is to tell him that he doesn’t have to have any immediate answers. Let him know this is something you’ve been thinking about, and you’d appreciate it if he could give it some thought too – so that you can talk more about it later.

Remember that at eight months, you might decide this guy is not someone you want a life with at all. You’re not proposing that any of this happens tomorrow. The relationship is still new. Again, you’re just thinking about potential.

– Meredith

Readers? After six months, when does one bring this up and how?