There are loads and loads of summer born children who do really well from the first moment in reception, to the end of school and beyond. No one is saying that there aren't, nor that any of the summer born children of MN parents are doomed to do less well, or that any individual parent has somehow failed their child by having a summer born child.
And of course lots of things other than month of birth impact achievement too and often more than month of birth - so things like mothers educational attainment level, level of support and involvement in education etc etc.
That said, it is also true that statistically, summer born children as a collective group, do less well than those born in the autumn. This means that some children are affected by being young in the year, whether that's emotionally or physically or academically.....some find it difficult at the start and don't ever close the gap, for all kinds of reasons. These are simply statistical facts and cannot be denied.....they don't mean that every summer born child will struggle or achieve less well, just that collectively as a group they do slightly less well. Some people seem to find the idea offensive or ludicrous or untrue, but as a collective statistic it is correct.
So what does that mean for deciding to conceive? Well perhaps something or nothing. It might sound important to some people and some people might then choose to try to conceive an Autumn born baby, although whether they will achieve it or not won't be fully within their control. In my mind,nthis is no different to any parent making choices about things they value and think will benefit their child. So some people will move house to get their children into a different school becaus they feel it will make a difference, whilst others won't consider that important and won't. Others will choose to take their children on lots of holidays or holidays in term time, because they value those experiences and think they will benefit their children, whilst others won't choose to spend on holidays or holidays in term time. Some parents might decide to save hard for their children towards university, whilst others might not. Some might decide that their children ahouldnspendnlots of time with family because it will benefit them, whilst others won't value this so much. The fact that some people choose to do things doesn't mean those who don't make those choices love their children less or that those children will have better or less good lives. Likewise, we know that many many children who are summer borns are hugely successful and that being summer born doesn't correlate with poor school attainment for all children at all. B the countless examples on here illustrate that......but they don't refute the fact that statistically, as a whole group,number borns achieve less well in school at each stage.
Other things in individual children and families will probably outweigh the birth month factor....so having caring, interested parents, or clever genes will usually have a bigger impact, which is why it is absolutely fine that most people don't give birth month a second thought. It is a factor, but only one amongst many.
Perhaps some people are keen to have control over as many things as they possibly can, whilst others are a little more relaxed, and this is reflected in attitude towards this issue.
No one is suggesting that those with summer borns have failed their children or their children are destined to do poorly, but some people do seem to respond very defensively.
As with all these things, tellingnthebworld loudly that you have made a choice or accessed something which might benefit your child which isn't available to all, is never going to go down well with other parents. They will be immediately defensive of their choices or dismissive of the impact of the choice of another.