...to be annoyed that people are so negative about an August baby?

[KathrynAustin]

DS2 was born end of August 2007.

After my fisrt scan we were thrilled and told everyone our due date of 27.08.07. I was pretty shocked when lots of people responded with "Oh no he/she will be the youngest in the year", "...they'll have problems at school etc etc".

Obviously none of this had occured to me and it was b**y annoying that everyone focused on it.

I have a colleague who planned coming off the pill so that her babies were born in September/October, so that they would be "...the cleverest in the class...". Arghhh.

I know that being the youngest DS2 will be up to a year behind some peers, but why don't we wait and see rather than label him now?

We go to weekly playgroups and the converstaion often turns to children's ages & birthdays. I've noticed that when asked I now say "Unfortunately he was born end of August..." before the mother can comment about our "bad timing".

My personal concerns are that at 4 years 1 month my eldest was still having the occasional accident, and the Mon-Fri in full-time school seem really long for a young child.

Our local primary has recently stopped staggered entry into Reception, so it is September for all.

Anyway, has anyone else encountered this? On a selfish note, 1 year less nursery fees is an attractive proposition!

Kathryn

I have a late June ds and a neice who is very late August, so that's my stand set out! My neice is in the top class for everything at school, my ds hasn't gone to school yet but is doing very well (in my OBVIOUSLY unbiased opinion!). Me and my bro were both January babies and our academic histories are entirely different.

I understand the research - just gotta deal with it I suppose!

Ugh my niece is an August baby (she'll be 13 this year) Yes she has struggled slightly in comparison to her classmates but nothing that would hold her back, she isnt stupid , if she was in the year below she would be considered on par, this has evened itself out now she is at secondary school. However she is maturity wise very much "younger" than her friends, but im glad she's not obsessed with makeup and boys, she has all the time in the world for that!!!

Oh and that "ugh" wasnt a "ugh August child" comment it was a "please dont let it get to you and dont apologise for it" comment!!!!

Can't be bothered to read all the replies, but my birthday is 31st August. I was the youngest in the year at primary school, and had a friend 6 hours younger at secondary school, so wasn't quite! However, I am cleverer in some subjects than my brothers (Oct and March babies) and they are better than me in others. Nothing to do with birthdate!

MY DS1 is an August baby, 21st 04. He started school in September, and is in the top 5 in his class, despite being the youngest

VW and Stillen, my experience of my DS being at SN nursery would bear out your theories. We are currently fighting to keep DS back one year, Kent have a blanket refusal policy - whatever happened to 'every child matters'?

I just had to post - I hate it when people make this generalisation.

I was born mid August and one of my earliest school memories is getting told off for helping others when I'd already finished my work! My brother is also mid August and he didn't do too bad either - we both got a healthy crop of exams, degrees and post grad qualifications between us.

Interestingly one of my closest friends, who went to Oxbridge, told us her parents planned her to be one of the eldest in the school year but she is without doubt one of the most insecure "I am never good enough" people I know as she has clearly been pushed from a very young age.

hi Marmaduke - we are in Kent too and this is the reason when DS1 (non SN/although on SN register at mainstream) finishes state primary we are moving him to an independent school to redo year 6 and then stay there until year 11. He needs that extra year to mature, to improve his reading, writing, numeracy skills etc

My other DS's SN nursery are fantastic (the other DS is Sept born) and i am extremely grateful that he will be in education until he is nearly 19 instead of just turned 18.

Sorry, can't be arsed to read entire thread, but would add that friend has August boy. She takes him out of school 1 or 2 afternoons a week. He's not obliged to be there for the entire 1st year!

Only read the Op. I'm an august baby, I love it. All the sunshine and life in the world, far better than a winter birthday I reckon (and most of my dcs are winters so I know all about it).

I read much better at the age of 4 than many of the others in my class, so don't pay any attention. I loved school and never had any problems with the work. Of course boys often find it harder maybe you could do some additional work with him beforehand if you are still worried.

You didn't say how old your ds1 is but I've found that second children tend to pick things up much quicker as they want to be like their older siblings.

The only downside of my birthday was that I didn't often see my school friends at my parties as they were away or my mum didn't have their contact info, of course she should could have been super organised like I am and handed invites out before the end of term. Oh and the weather is usually lovely in August so cheap easy to organise outdoor parties.

Don't be down on his birthday, it's a celebration, some people always like to play the oneupmanship card

Choppychospter - we have a similar situation with cousins. They are 11 months & 8 months older than DS2 but will be in the same intake.

The older cousin talks, counts, is potty trained and knows his letters! The difference between him and DS2 is huge! DS2 is typical boisterous 20 month old, he won't go near a potty, babbles constantly but cannot say a lot.

I know DS2 will be different by the time he's 4, but is cousins will have matured too so I do recognize that there will be very different abilities in the class.

A meta study on the topic Birth date effects

I confess to trying around the time for DD to be a Sept birthday and got lucky with a mid-Sept due date. But then I got pre-eclampsia and had to be induced 9 days early so ended up with DD being born on my birthday in the first week of Sept.

But as others have pointed out, if you know it can be an issue, you can be prepared for it and the comment from your colleague about the 'cleverest' in the class is clearly futtocks.

I think I can safely vouch for the fact that it is entirely dependant upon the ability of the child, not when their birthday happens to be. My birthday is 22 August, husbands 30 August...son 22 July and daughter 18 August. Husband and I both high achievers (modest!)My little ones are not even at school yet but both have excellent speech and both socially adept. Third due September !

Interestingly I have had lots of positive comments about a 'September' baby which I find annoying because my own experiences but heigh ho....

I know lots of 4 1/2 year olds driving their parents mad because they are really ready for school but not due to start until September....

stillenacht I was wondering what area of Kent you were in as we have similarly aged SN boys...I'm in West

i'm an august baby (well old woman now!). the only thing that bothered me about an august birthday when i was at school was that everyone seemed to be on holiday on my birthday so organising parties was difficult.

oh well, tis usually always sunny on my birthday!

i don't remember being behind at all at school and now i can tell people that i left school at 15 because i am a genius!

ds was born in october which just means an extra year paying nursery fees, great. i'd much rather he was at school.

Hi Kathryn,

how very silly and rude of people to say such things to you. I've campaigned (unsuccessfully ) on this issue for 2 years but wouldn't say such a stupid gossipy negative thing to a new mum/pregnant mum. Everyone's child is going to have problems of some kind at some point and it's rarely the problems you might predict when they're born. In my case, however, it was precisely his August birthday (!) and I'm deferring entry for my son who will start reception at 5.0 in the Bradford area. Sadly, I'm in a tiny minority to be offered this choice and this is very upsetting to me. Someone has to be the youngest. But under no circumstances should the least mature child in absolute terms have the added blow of being forced to be the youngest because of an accident of the calendar.

If you look at the statistics on August birthdays, I'm afraid they speak for themselves. If you are feeling brave and keeping in mind that your son is an individual not a statistic, Google "When you are Born matters" - a report by the Institute of Financial Studies which prompted the Government to commission a review suggesting that year-deferment should become the norm. But if your son's language and social skills are either mature or average when he starts, I'm sure he'll cope and then have his chance to thrive.

By the way, could we please have a ban on "if they are bright it is ok" comments please? Because 4.0 is way to young for most boys to be at school full time. It is too soon to know who is bright and who is not bright. thanks.

Oh, and it's to hear people say "I'm August born and did great". It really is good to hear of positive examples. Keep them coming!But if you say "I'm August born and really clever and therefore this is a non-issue" then you're just ........wrong.

If it's any consolation KathrynAustin, I was born at the end of July and was always ahead of my school peers behaviourally and educationally . Then I went to university and got a little too stuck into the fun stuff and somewhat less stuck into the book stuff . Anyway the stats are not a life sentence.

Have been just told an excellent reason for having babies in August. Maternity wards are less likely to be over busy and turning people away, because of all the people avoiding august births like the plague! Yay!! I might not have to give birth in a corridor!!!

my eldest will be 6 in august and will start year 2 a couple of weeks later.
he is the youngest by far but he is very happy at school, i panicked when he 1st started because he was only just 4 when he started school but i can hyonestly say if he was just in reception now and not year 1 i think he would be bored of school.
his speach was behind at first but he has more then caught up. his teacher said if hed been born a couple of weeks later hed be by far at the top of his class but now hes average. the teachers love him as hes such a chilled child and the fact hes happy when hes at school at the minute is enough for me.
hes progressing well and made lots of friends.
the only real problem with august babies is being so god damn huge in the heat aargh!!

YANBU!

My DH is late August so we can always celebrate over the Bank holiday.

He also has a double first from Oxbrigde. He is scarily clever and says he loved being the youngest in the year.

My DD was due in August but was 18 days late so wasn't born till September. So as a result she was 5 when she started school. On the other hand my GD her DD was born on 13th August 2001 she was just 4years and 3 weeks old when she started school. She has done really well at school she and another little boy whose birthday is a few days before hers are top of the class in everything. Whereas, some of her little friends who in some cases are 11 months older than her are struggling quite a lot. I remember when excitingly telling people my DD was going to have a baby and it was due in August the comments I got about she will be sorry as the child will be one of the youngest in the class. Our nephews DD is also an August baby and she has done really well at school she is still only 13 and already has done some of her GCSE's.

Marmaduke - North West