Summer born children seem really behind?

[Shouldnthavedoneitthen]

So everyone in DS’s class now has their work online for all parents to see so I’ve had a look (yes maybe I shouldn’t have but It’s a boring life at the moment)

I’m shocked to find that all of the kids doing really well are the ones who had birthdays in September/October time and the least well are those yet to turn 6. (Year 1)

Of course this makes perfect sense, the older kids have had nearly an extra year of life to learn things than the youngest but it is plainly obvious... maybe ds’s class is an anomaly but is this the case in most schools? Do the younger ones ever catch up? How is this fair on them?

I feel sad, DS is a late August birthday. I knew his writing and reading needed improvement but the difference is shocking...

Yeah, it's a thing, particularly with boys. It's why I'm delaying my LO starting school by a year.

It can also have an effect on their future mental health and sporting prowess, and also their social and emotional development. Professional footballers are generally Autumn born too.

There are a couple of Facebook groups- summer born children in school (title from memory as I'm not a member) does a lot on how you can get good support for your child in school. Flexible school admissions for summer borns tells you the research and options for delaying start- possibly no use for this child, but could be useful if you've any younger summer borns.

Don't worry about handwriting etc too much. The physical strength and coordination needed to hold and move pencils adequately is not fully achieved until sometimes 7 years old. I'm a childminder and for preschoolers do lots of work with tweezers and pipettes etc to help improve hand strength. Children change so much between 0-7 and in many countries not schooled until then. I know it's really hard not to compare to others - glad I can't see anyone else's children's school work as I'd look too! At 4/5 most learning should still be done through play. The benefits are not immediately obvious as you don't have finished compositions, but their brains are busting away and will benefit creativity in the long run.

*busying away

It all evens out. You don't get people being behind at work because they are summer born do you? Just don't worry about it.

My August child is top of her year. They all even out. She is year 3.

My son is summer born and has never once been behind.

I have a summer born yr1 boy. His handwriting is coming along very well and a lot better than a lot of kids in his class (girls and boys, summer and winter), his maths is okay (I was rubbish at maths.. and winter born), his reading is very good). Speaking to his teacher she said you could never tell he was a summer born baby.

The comments about footballers being mainly autumn babies is a bit 🤔 if you look into it, they are fairly shared out across the whole year, I wouldn’t say anymore in autumn versus summer

You will get lots of people pointing out their individual stories but on a population level summer borns in the U.K. do less well academically certainly throughout primary. Some lag in secondary as well in some studies. They are also more likely to be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD - again as naturally being less ready developmentally for what is being expected can create a cycle of the child appearing to be atypical and frustrate them.

Same effect in winter borns in Australia who are their youngest children in school years that start in January. Some of the sporting ones are also to do with how a sport works it’s age groups and when it selects to to them.

My summer born has to start school when the Uk still had a January start. Got dumped in with no staggered start and by the time they got settled it was towards the end of the summer term. Bit of a wasted first year of school really.

Can also be a hidden lag. My same kid has had mental health difficulties. GPs can’t prescribe anti depressants/anxiety drugs to under 18s and you’re left to navigate CAMHS and waiting lists. By the time they are 18, a-levels will be over and we can’t face CAMHS again. Whereas some kids can access support in the next school term as they turn 18.

I sound negative but there is nothing to be done and they are fine and more academically inclined then their winter sibling.

People do tend to worry a lot about summer born Vs sept-nov born kids. There is a tendancy to forget the months Dec Jan Feb mar Apr.
Children born in August aren't a full year behind all of the children in the class. Only those that are born at the beginning of the year.
Don't sweat it and just so some extra handwriting practice in the time you have at home now.
There'll be sept-nov kids at home whose parents are doing nothing with them during this time at home, so summer born kids could have this time to catch up.
They do have 11 years to catch up to the kids born sept-nov before it really matters. So many things could go wrong in any sept-nov kids life go set them back too. It's not all based on what month someone is born in.
Plus your kid doesn't have to have a rainy bleak birthday for most of their birthdays and can have nice BBQs

It evens out in the end. I have one summer born and one born in autumn and they are now both adults!

While you can often tell the difference at 5 vs 6 in yr1 by the time they are 17 v 18 in yr13, the only thing that will bother them is that they are the last to buy alcohol legally and learn how to drive!

At a population level they are disadvantaged. But you'll always get the outliers who go to Oxbridge, but that's anecdote not research. Interesting programme on radio 4 about this here www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0938k8v

When DS was in year 1, all the children on the top table had birthdays between Sept and Jan. By year 4, they were between Nov and Aug (the Sept / Oct birthdays had moved down). So IME they do catch up.

Population wise they fare slightly worse, it’s true.
Individually, they can do very well.
Attainment and achievement has a stronger correlation with parenting than schooling.

Mine were ahead of the cohort when they started school and the gap increased throughout primary and early secondary.

The most noticeable difference was size. They were a head shorter than many and had to learn to hold their own quite quickly. The youngest was tiny and others tended to treat her like a baby doll - teaching staff included. Today she’s a feisty 21 year old who holds her own very well but still gets ‘babied’ because she looks about twelve.

The oldest took a confidence drop moving from a tiny independent school nursery offering French, piano and ballet to a state primary where it was a bit more of a free for all but she recovered when she realised words are far more powerful than brawn.

I have a summer born boy (boys seem to mature later around the Yr 6 levels, too).

He was a very early talker with a huge vocabulary (people commented consistently from when he was 18m) and I assumed he would race ahead when it came to reading.

But he didn’t. He wasn’t really getting it until half way through Yr 1. Writing likewise. I was a bit surprised but shrugged.

He just wasn’t ready, developmentally. Once he was, he flew.

The gap due to age becomes less and less as they go through school and becomes relatively more about ability.

But the bigger picture tells us that overall it has a lasting effect. But not massive in each individual.

@Mummyme87

www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/news/hall-of-fame-footballers-more-likely-to-be-born-before-christmas/

They're assessed in school year groups and compete against their school year. At 8 years old, a year makes a hell of a difference physically.

I don't think you can tell from written work. My summer born 6yo is in top group for English and maths, reading amazingly well but her work looks atrocious (particularly during lockdown), if you compared it to others you'd definitely think she was behind.

@MummyMe87

My last link includes all nationalities, which skews it a bit. There's a succinct summary of some of the issues regarding the summer born selection of footballers in the Northern Hemisphere here:

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/07/dont-let-summer-birth-stop-a-football-star-in-the-making

From there you can research more widely if you like.

Summer borns statistically do worse throughout school unfortunately. We're deferring DS (preemie, July born).

However, there'll be things you can do to help your DS progress - ask the teacher.

There’s still a small gap in achievement between summerborn and the rest of the cohort at GCSEs. Obviously that doesn’t mean that plenty of summerborns don’t do just fine - my DH is an August born doctor with 2 degrees - but we’ve kept our July born son back. It wasn’t an option for our June born daughter, & she’s done absolutely fine, but she is a different kettle of fish.

The height thing is also interesting as children born June to September are statistically taller than those born in winter months

I'm summer born. Academically I coped well. Socially I struggled, particularly around 4-7 and from 12-14.

DD is now 10 and in year 6. She was a July baby.

She has always been either on target or exceeding expectation.
I was an August baby, and I was always fine in school.

Oh man, I’m having my third by section on 25th August! This is something I’ve continually worried about.

Even wish I’d waited a month now before TTC.

I have two summer born children one was behind but now caught up in year 4, my middle son born in August was ahead in many areas when he started school. Every child is different no matter what month they were born.