Some anecdotal evidence about summer borns

[duchesse]

My daughter (27th July) will be starting senior school in September aged just 11yr 1 month. She went for her induction day at the pretty selective school she will be attending, during which one of the activities involved the girls sorting themselves out into age order.

My daughter was the youngest of the 34, by nearly 6 weeks (the next youngest was June 15th, with one other earlier in June). The point is that there are hardly any girls born in the summer term. Anecodotal evidence that summer borns tend not to do as well academically even by the end of primary school, or mere statistical blip?

I don't know Duchesse but will be interested to see what responses you get as I'm having a DD towards the end of August, so am fully expecting her to be the youngest in her school year.

Ah Sunshine, if you do a search within Mumsnet, you will find a fair few threads devoted to this topic. It seems to more of a concern for parents of boys, as girls tend naturally to be more mature anyway. There are a lot of anecdoctal reports suggesting that the differences do not even out by year 2 as is suggested by the powers that be, but can persist far longer. We have had to make some pretty strategic decisions about our children's schooling along the way (this child is the last of three, with older siblings born April and July).

It wasn't planned this way but now she's on the way I'm going to have to put some thought into it I guess. Thanks Duchesse.

My eldest daughters (13) birthday is 1st July and my twins daughters (5) are 20th June. They have been absolutely fine and from what their teachers have said are not struggling at all. Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never worried about it anyway .

Of course, there's always the possibility of her hanging in there until September 1st, no?

my eldest will be 9 at the end of July and is the youngest in her year. She has always been v. good academically so absolutely no worries there. I guess socially she does seem a bit younger than her peers at times.
Apparently this is more of a problem for boys than girls - and I can imagine that, my ds is due to start school in Sept and I am so glad he's a autumn born child - no way would he have been anywhere near ready any earlier than now.

Well, my sister's birthday is in July and she got the top first of her year at university.

DP, who is both August-born and male, and should therefore by received MN wisdom have struggled to become even literate, has various post-graduate qualifications.

Thanks to a hot bath, DS1 is a whole year ahead at school. He would have been born in early Sept, but he came along three weeks early, I'm sure as a result of a steaming bath I had.

So he is by far the youngest in his year. Shines academically, but socially a bit immature. I'm glad of his being a year ahead.

I'm August born. Was definitely a bit "younger" than a lot of my friends (had two close friends with November birthdays). I didn't struggle academically but only really came into my own at A level stage and beyond where I did very well.

So many other factors come into play than just the age you start school.

And socially, Mr Inferior has had success with one of the world's more sought-after wimmin

I don't know why I click on these threads. I get alternately irritated and panicky.

Both dcs were August-born (prematurely). Ds is very clever and no problems. Dd is just finishing Reception - but has only been going full-time for the last three weeks.

I accosted the headmistress on the 'summer born' issue, and she said that, when all's said and done, you have to deal with it. It's annoying, but someone has to be the youngest in the year. If July/August children were allowed to start a year later, all the June-born parents would be howling.

What is the least helpful thing is when you get some smug twerp posting on here, or saying in RL, how they specifically planned for Esmerelda/Tarquin to be born in the Autumn. Even worse, someone once asked me why I conceived in December...

Another August born here. I was 11yrs and 4 days when I started at secondary school (just about scraped into that years intake). TBH I didn't really notice a problem between me & my friends (but then I always was a speccy swot ).

DD is a May born (in yr 1) and even though she is one of the younger in her class, emotionally she is no different to the older girls in her class - in fact some of them are so highly strung they will snap once day!

Fircone - honestly, see above. My sister and partner are really no slouches. And DD2, born right at the end of June (due July) is doing really very well too.

anecdotally - a lot of the people I know with PhDs have September/October birthdays.

However, there are lots who have summer birthdays too.

My DS is a July birthday and in a class of girls too - he was definitely slower than his peers with reading - but now in year 2 he seems to be keeping pace with no problems.

I think bright kids will do well wherever they are - but maybe the ones who struggle a bit might get more discouraged if they are the younger ones in the peergroup - maybe boys are especially prone to this.

Since we're being anecdotal - my birthday is February and I was a year ahead at school: so a whole eight+ months younger than even those summer-borns in their "correct" year.

Academically, no problems at all.

Socially, LOTS of problems early on: I somehow didn't "speak the same language" as the others & had just the one friend, who - not coincidentally - was in the same position as me save that she was even younger; evened out & was fine from around 15.

I just thought it interesting that out of 34 children, none were born in August, only one in July, and two in June. If the intake were completely random (and obviously here the sample is small and liable to throw up anomalies), you would expect to find 2-3 born in each month, which clearly isn't the case in my daughter's year.

My birthday's the 23rd July and I did rather well at school...

I have to point out I have never seen any health warnings against indulging in a spot of unprotected sex during October.

My two late July-born daughters are top of their classes at school and on the G&T register yadda yadda. My Feb-born DD is cruising along nicely near the middle of the class.

I was born late August and was always the youngest in my class. I did OK through primary and from the age of 12 onwards I did very well.

Starlight- this is Devon we're talking about, not London. I can't believe anyone plans 11 years ahead down here... And we and most of the people we know only decided last November where we would be applying for our children.

I have read somewhere that Autumn babies tend to end up being better at sport - being that bit bigger and stronger to start with means they do better and so enjoy it more - like a positive feedback loop.

And that Spring babies are supposed to be happier - something to do with increased daylight when they're tiny tending to mean mums are happier.

I was born in May and I'm crap at sport and have a history of depression...