To wish people would just say their child's age

[kaytee87]

Not a taat but about many threads. In lots of threads the op will say things like Year 5 or KS whatever to describe the child's age and I don't have a clue what they're talking about as the schooling system is not the same the U.K. (or indeed the world) over.
AIBU to wish people would just put the child's age?

I think the school year makes a difference e.g. a 5 year old who is in reception has only been at school a few weeks as opposed to a 5 year old in Y1 who has been at school over a year. Putting the age too would probably be a good idea now that MN is more international.

@CecilyP I've honestly never seen it on aibu or chat. Are you seeing people saying it in Scotnet?

I wonder if I can use the months thing to appease DS's teacher when he's being naughty. "Aw but Mrs Teacher he's only 96 Months!"

No, Kaytee, I have never been on Scotnet. I have seen it on the education boards but also AIBU.

Just annoying is "27 months". Just say 2 years old FFS. I might start saying my son is 238 months old. Nearly 20 y/o makes me feel old!

Ha, maybe I should read the thread next time, but at least I know I'm not the only person it grates on!

Well, I find MN is all about the Londoners anyway!

FWIW, I understand the system in Scotland as it’s closer to the system where I am in Ireland. And if I’m totally honest, I don’t really care about mothers in London who don’t even know that other places do things better/ differently.

Maybe they’re right to post in such exclusionary and incomprehensible year terms.
Whenever I read Y10 or something, I click off, because I cannot be arsed trying to figure out what’s she’s wittering on about, and I certainly don’t want to waste my time talking with some LondonCentric hen.

I feel that months are still relevant if a child is 24 to 35 months. Eg my 2 year old is still in nappies; is he behind? Conversely, my 2 year old has a vocabulary of 5,000 and you can have an adult conversation with him; do you think he's gifted. It makes a huge difference if they are just turned 2 or almost 3.

I said the same thing this week on another thread:

People do make the ages thing harder though by giving school years. Someone starts a thread about their DD in Yr5 and I have to work out, ok, So reception you turn 5. So 5 more years after that. Ok, we're talking about a 9 or 10 year old. Why not just say she's 10 to start with?

I still don't think it's that confusing.
Totallypearshaped read your post back again and swap the 'London's for 'Ireland' and ask yourself whether that's acceptable.

I still think of school years in 'old money' and have to count up in my head from the year they start if someone says 'Year 7' or whatever.

Never mind weeks and months, my child is 6126 days old.

@CecilyP my son is 26 months. I just say he's not long turned 2. In a couple of months I'll say he's 2.5, then almost 3.

Don’t limit yourself pearshaped. I’m sure you don’t want to talk to Birmingham, Bristol and Burnley based MNers either.

So what is KS1 / 2? Where do they fit in?

The school system in NI is different again, Reception= Nursery - 3/4yr olds, P1=4/5 yr olds, P7=10/11 yr olds and 1st year= 11/12 yr olds

Oi! What's wrong with Bristol

KS1 is years 1 and 2: roughly ages 5-7
KS2 is years 3/4/5/6: roughly ages 7-11
So “young primary” and “tween”

Not being UK based, I agree. As an aside it drives me absolutely batty hearing people refer to any child aged 3+ as a toddler. They’re not a toddler, they’re a CHILD. I have Mums on my instagram calling their 3-5 year olds toddlers

Why are years 1-2 called KS? Bloody confusing. Saying dd6 in year 2 would help.

There is a big difference developmentally between a 24 month old and a 35 month old, even though a child would be 2 years old in both cases, which is probably why some people use ‘months old’ references until the age of 3.

People think and remember things in terms of school years. I know that I do! Even when it might not be related to what’s going on at school. For example, “I remember that happening, I was in year 2”. Or “I went to school with that person and they were in the year above me”. Rather than saying, I was about 6 when it happened or they are a year older than me. I think it’s just ingrained in us. Similarly, Americans will talk about when they were in grade 6 or whatever....I have no idea what they’re on about!

Most of the mumsnet users use this school system and don’t realise that people from other countries don’t understand.

Still don't know how US grades work. Is grade 5 the same as Y6 or Y4? Or P5?

5th grade is roughly the same as the English year 6. I have found the Simpsons quite informative on this issue!

See it bugs me when what the post is about isn’t related to school, it’s relevant if it’s a school based post... but people do it in threads about other things and then I’m having to think, yr 10.. is that 14 or 15?

That’s after of course I’ve had to reread it because my first automatic go to is that my brain swaps yr 10 to 10 yr old...