about summer born children and school

[chilled7up]

My DS a summer born (July). He is 3 and due to start Reception next year. I know that one year will make a massive difference in his development, but I feel he'll be too young and immature for school. I worry that a bad start will damage his confidence on the long run.

I'm I being unreasonable to think that parents should have a choice and should be able to decide whether a child should start school a year later? I know we can defer reception and go straight to year one, but that won't make any difference, just delay the problem.

So, JumpingThroughHoops if a child's success is largely parent related, how do you explain away research that shows August born children do less well than autumn born children?

Surely the proportion of children with parents who highly value education doesn't differ greatly between summer born and autumn born children?

I am an august baby, and I "crossed my legs" wth DS 2, who was due Aug 27th and came Sept.

but, lets not panic here as there are pro's and cons

CONS
you start school a baby, and may well struggle

but, I am also sad that my younger one will be a very babified environment for another 12 months

he will be at pre school playgroup for 2 terms plus 1 year
he wll be at nursery for another bloody year

I am actually a bit gutted for him, as he is waiting 12 months for a really exciting step

and fopr another 12 months, we will be skinter as harder to work when you only have 3 hours of childcare again

so 50:50 IMO

Some good news for summer babies- they are less at risk of developing psychotic illness. Education isn't the be all and end all.

yay!!!!!!!

Hi,
My DD is end of June and started reception last year. At the time she started she was still napping in the afternoon and I was worried about her being too tired. For first term we didn't plan anything after school and she came home ate immediately and would go to bed early, this seemed to work for her and gradually we brought her bedtime back to something more reasonable and then started picking up activities.

She did have a speech delay so I did worry about how she would compete with her peers as some were already 5 when she started, but she has done brilliantly and thrived on the learning and is in the top group in her class. In Early years they know that the children will be tired so much of the learning happens in the morning when they are fresh and alert and the playing seems to take place in the afternoons.

Hope this helps.