Summer babies

[desertmama1]

My son was born at the start of July and is due to start reception next year. I can't help but feel there is a lot of judgment about summer born babies. I wasn't educated in England so this is all new to me. I feel like I have done him a disservice by having him in July!!! AIBU?

Depends on the child. My DD is June born, now on year 1 and she's keeping up with the ones who just turned 6 with academic work. She is physically very different, doesn't run as fast, isn't as confident with throwing her body about as some of the bigger kids but I think thats her rather than age.

Judgement? My two are both summer babies, nobody in real life really cares! Some summer kids do seem very small when starting reception, but the vast majority of kids have had some sort of preschool experience after turning 3, and reception is just a small step forward from that. Both of mine seemed so tiny when we applied for school in January, but by the time September came they were ready for school and thrived and kept up with their older classmates.

Completely depends on the child. I have a July and an August child. The August born was fine through school, the July one less so in younger years but did fine later.

I actually found the hardest points in schooling with summer born is the first year or two and then the GCSE and college years. My August born wasn’t quite mature enough to study well for GCSE’s but grew up loads through college and she was last of her friends to be able to learn to drive (we’re very rural so this is a significant milestone for youngsters here).

A good school will compensate for the difference in maturity through the year group though.

I've taught Reception and often you can see summer-born children are a little more immature. But how well a child does and the progress they make at school depends far more on natural ability and how much support they get from their parents than when they were born. I've seen September/October children struggle and July children be ahead.

Anecdotally, I'm a summer-born (August). I have 12 GCSEs (A-C), 4 A Levels (3 Bs), a BA (Hons), an MA, a PGCE, currently studying for a PGDip. I play five instruments and speak three languages.

So just being summer-born doesn't mean they are doomed for life!!

Whos judging ?

My DD was born in June, at her parents evening (telephone call) her teacher said she is already exceeding what is expected of her in her current year.

It totally depends on the child.

One if mine is July born . Always top of the class at primary. Now top sets in year 9. She is mature for her year group too. I think its more to do with the child than the year group

I’ve never heard of anyone being judged for having a summer born baby!!

These threads will always be full of examples of summer born people who have gone on to do fine academically (my brother in law is one such person in fact). The fact remains that research does show that statistically summer born children don’t do as well academically, especially early on when the difference is more obvious. But, there’s nothing you can do now about when your son was born! And, as I said before, there are always plenty of people who do fine despite being young for their year so it’s not written in the stars that he will fail his GCSEs or anything like that. Just being aware and being prepared to help him overcome any possible disadvantage by putting extra effort in eg with reading and so on is all you can do 🙂 don’t panic!

I see it more on MN than in real life. I was born late summer, took a number of GCSEs a year early, did a third language GCSE in nine months whilst also doing 4 A levels, top grades in all of them, followed by degree and MA at very well regarded universities. I went to an ordinary state school too. My nephew's birthday is the last week of August, he's in the top few academically in his class. I think sometimes it's something people say to justify why their children aren't top of the class, when actually there's nothing wrong with that anyway, people and therefore children have strengths in different areas and development isn't at a fixed rate either.

My end of August child did really well academically but struggled with sport and confidence all the way through school. I don't know if it was just down to his personality, the fact that he was a first born or if it was because he was nearly a year behind some of his peers. I've always thought if I had my time again I would keep him back a year.

I would never judge nor have I judged. Mine are late May and late August. When they started school they were definitely notably “less grown up” than their peers and quite small for their year group too. I was very worried. They are now in yrs 1 and 3 and the elder is excelling in some areas, despite socially seeming a bit younger (IMO). Younger son is doing fine too.

Some summer born children might find things hard going for a bit but for most I think it’s fairly short term and in the vast majority of circumstances it all works out ok.

But I can believe that if you look at long term outcomes of, say, 1000 August borns and 1000 september borns the latter might do slightly better. But the home environment and genes are also important IMO.

Anecdotally I know several autumn born kids who have struggled at school.

My DD has a late June birthday and is now studying for a Masters having already got a very good degree. In the year she started school they changed to 2 term entry so she started at Christmas, not September, although I would have sent her as she was doing fine compared with her peers that did start. From reception through the whole of school she would say she hasn’t been disadvantaged by her birth month and now as an adult she loves her mid year summer birthday.

For balance I also have a autumn born DC who started schooling in the September and I wouldn’t say their experience was any different

You know you can ask to delay entry to reception for a year just because your child is summer born. Some counties are more sympathetic than others. There's a flexible school admissions for summerborns

Group on FB

In Scotland summer borns are mid year... I also know quite a few people who have ended up with August born premature babies, so realistically it's not worth overthinking, it's not like we can control conception to say, yep this is the month.

Health wise summer is better than autumn/ winter

Not all sports work on academic years either, some work on calendar years so Autumn borns are at a disadvantage...

I don't think it's a UK thing, I think it's a 21st century thing. No one cared about this in the past - if anything people liked to push their children a year ahead in school. "Skipping" a year was seen as a badge of honour for a "very bright" child. Now parents will go to lengths to keep their child back a year so their kid can tower clumsily over their peers - all very odd. Just forget about it. Someone has to be the youngest. PS: My summer born children did better academically than my winter born.

I have never heard or read about anyone judging summer born babies. Some children will have to be the youngest in their year - there is not getting away from that. I seem to have a lot of summer born friends (and I am summer born myself) and we all have successful careers and happy lives, so I wouldn't overthink this too much!

This is a new one on me, judgment on the month a kid is born? Wtf.

Nobody cares apart from you as a parent I guarantee it.

@MustardMitt

Nobody cares apart from you as a parent I guarantee it.

this^

My youngest dc was due on 1st September, but was a week early. I was very sad waving him off to school when he had just turned 4 (older two were September and October, so it felt way too soon), but he is actually doing very well and I think he would have been a bit bored in the year below. He’s in year 5 now and doing well academically and in terms of maturity. He is actually one of the tallest in his year and has never seemed small. He isn’t very sporty, but neither is my eldest ds, who benefited from a September birthday. It was a worry to me when he was very little, but it has turned out ok.

I used to teach maths, and it did seem to be the case that the bottom sets had disproportionate numbers of summer-borns. However there was no obvious skew in the top sets. I think those who struggle anyway have even more of a battle if they are also the youngest, but the bright ones do well whatever time of year they're born. I also know summer-borns who got off to a slow start, but caught up with their peers by mid-primary.

People told us we'd planned well because daughter was due in September - she turned up in August. She was entirely ready for school at just turned 4, and so I was relieved that she did get to start then.

There have been some interesting skews observed in team sports - the kids who are bigger and stronger are more likely to be picked for teams early on, so get more into their football or whatever, while the younger smaller ones decide early on that it's not going to be their thing. Hence you can end up with a skew towards the first part of the year persisting into adulthood.

I’ve got a summer born in reception and she’s up there in terms of the academics and is very capable but I do think the autumn borns just don’t need to try quite as hard. At this point 9-10 months difference is a big percentage of their lives but I think personality makes a big difference too.

DS is summer-born - we've decided to delay his school start by a year. If you look at the research you'd be daft not to, unless you have an unusually confident child or can't afford another year of childcare.

My DD is summer born and keeps up well up with her peers now often doing better than ‘older’ kids in class. Equally my DS is literally one of the most successful people I know on every single level (and my work means I know some pretty successful people) and she was summer born and pretty much always youngest in her year.

It is a thing tho unfortunately. My MIL literally cheered when she realised my SIL’s first was going to be at the beginning of September as it was just ‘so much better’ which was pretty nauseating (shame it never translated for my BIL though huh).

I think as a whole autumn borns do better. There will always be those either way though that buck the trend. I know the top three GCSE results in my year at school were all v.late August birthdays.

Zero judgement though!