August or September baby - does it really matter?

[Newmummytobe79]

I'm due on the 31st August so couldn't be more on the cusp of the school year if I tried! I've had people say to me 'ooh - you want to hope for September so it's got a head start at school' or 'hope you come early so you don't have baby at home a year longer than you have to!'.

I was one of the older children at school and loved the fact I turned 13 first,could learn to drive first ... and got served legally in a pub first! So would opt for a day late if I could decide!

In all honesty I don't really care what date baby arrives just as long as he/she is safe and well ... and I do think you can argue which school year your child enters if it's end of August/begining of September.

Just wondered if you ladies had any opinions?

x

I was fab at sport and respresented schools at lots of sports fixtures. Absolutely fantastic at Swimming and Piano and top set academically for all subjects at secondary school - and yep you guessed it - my mum was a teacher! It meant that my birthday parties were well planned and only reason why people couldn't make them was because they were on holiday. My sibling however, who is an October birthday usually had one or two friends turn up for his party (which was after school!) as the rest were too ill and those who did turn up usually coughed and sneezed all over the party food!

And also - July/august = Leo - naturally talented at sport and leadership etc.!

I find birthday parties a nightmare in August because all their best friends are always on holiday and we can't get in touch with their casual friends from school to invite them unless we organise parties six weeks in advance (I only have contact details for their two or three closest friends).

Actually the one thing I would try to do if I'd had the choice would be to have the DCs b'days a decent length apart - I can't bring myself to have two parties in a fortnight but they increasingly don't want to share, and venues that can fit both groups of friends together are few and far between.

my dauhter is born on 1st sept and that means she will be in nursery for 2 years

Well, much as I like the quote that I read on mumsnet "the plural of anecdote is not data" (!) I am a September birthday and thoroughly useless at all sports!! Pretty smart academically, but dp are too. No common sense to speak of, untidy but very creative and a loyal friend. What are the month of birth statistics for those characteristics. I suppose dc3 has it all stacked against him/her statistically - third and final born and later in the school year. Could be a boy too - triple whammy! But you know what, we are in such a good place as a family, all very happy about our new forthcoming arrival, and I promise to show him/her flashcards during third stage of labour and will wallpaper the nursery with the financial times. Do you think we'll be okay .

I was an August baby, the only benefit I can think of is that I never had to go to school on my birthday. I never work it now either. Academically I always seemed to struggle at the start of the year then around February things would click. That was fine until my A-level but taking 6 months to start understanding things at A-level was too late and I couldn't catch up. Whether that's down to the month I was born, how I was taught at a-level or the way my brain is wired I don't know.
I was also very shy as a kid and my Mum felt I as too young to start school at 4, even though I was in the Christmas intake.

DD was born at the end of July and again seemed very young to be starting nursery at 3.2. It took her a long time to settle in. Again it's hard to tell whether this is down to the month she was born, or personality. She certainly seems very young compared with some of her classmates.

DC2 is due in October. We made the decision this time to try to aim for a child born at the start of the school year.

Bible, I know what you mean, but I also had that "catching up" feeling and I'm sept born.