Has your summer baby (boy) struggled?

[Mumof3cheeky]

Just that really. I would love to know if your summer born (boy) with older sibilings has struggled in the early stages of school?

DS7 is early August, he's always done well academically & socially. Physically he is a bit behind, but doesn't seem to bother him at the moment. School has an odd arrangement of blending year groups so it's not so noticeable.
DD9 is June born, she's always done well too. I think it's something that really only becomes evident at population level - right schooling & support should ensure they fulfil their potential.

The only reason I ask about children with sibilings as this is ds4 born early June (all others are oldest in class) and I know a lot of other summer born children who despite of being young were still ok and all of them have older sibilings so wondering if that helped?!
Also wondering what the statistics on this if first born summer babies are more likely to struggle?

Yes, in a word. He is doing ok academically, but socially suffers from being very immature in comparison with many of the boys in his class and hasn't really made any close friends.

He has also had a few issues physically and academically which are only coming to light now as any lack of progress has been masked to a certain extent by the assumption that it was due to his age in the class (late August) rather than an actual medical issue.

Primary: Yes with behaviour, not with academics.
Secondary: No with behaviour, maybe a bit with academics (is disorganised, but so are many 14 yr old boys, right?)

Social struggles went with behaviour woes, but I think would have been same pattern even if eldest in year.

My summer born is my first born - now in year 6.

First couple of years he just did ok, academically pretty average, made some friends but did lack in confidence and struggled with some social situations.

Beginning of year 2 it suddenly just seemed to ‘click’ and he progressed rapidly that year. Now he’s doing great academically and socially and no difference between him and his peers. However part of this I believe is we moved to a much smaller school in year 4 which has done wonders for his confidence and he has had so many opportubities for sport and assembly speaking as there isn’t much competition!

Honestly, no. Not at all. His birthday is the 30th of Aug and I was VERY worried about it. I grew up in America and most of my family is still there and they think it’s insanity to put a child in formal schooling a week after he turns four. Their children are all quite bright and I’m impressed by their progress, but some of them didn’t start real school until almost seven! Before that they attended half days only at a lovely play-based nursery with lots of music, art, and outdoor play. Also in America you can choose to hold your child back for no reason and a lot of people hold back summer boys simply bc they don’t want them to be the youngest. A child who’s been held back continues in the same year group so the decision can have far reaching consequences. (I do have a problem with it because it is an option only available to families who can afford an extra year of nursery or childcare—£15-20K or more in some areas—as all nurseries there are private and there are no widely available free hours.)

So yes, based on all of that I was very nervous about throwing my tender babe to the wolves of the UK education system . And actually it has turned out fantastic. Better than I could have ever imagined. The school is warm and welcoming, and they give the kids lots of playtime. I was a phonics skeptic and still am to a degree but the fact is my son couldn’t read a word in August and by February he was fluent. He loves his classmates and his school and he is very happy. I will say that my DS is quite tall and we’ve been told he is progressing faster academically than they usually expect so some kids may be different. He is in Year 2 now and he still struggles a bit with fine motor skills— his handwriting is shit. He also seems a bit less mature socially than some other kids, especially girls, but he doesn’t notice. That may become more of an issue as he gets older.

If I had a real choice I would have still liked him to have another year of less structured exploratory learning. I still believe that in the long run there’s no advantage to starting so early, at least not for a typically developing child who has an engaged family and access to lots of books and outdoor play. It may be different for a child with additional needs or one for who would otherwise spend all day sat in front of a screen eating crisps. Some countries with the best education systems in the world don’t start until age 6 or even 7. I think they all end up in the same place anyway. By about Year 3 you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference academically between a child like mine who learned to read at 4 in reception, one like my sister’s who picked it up at home at age 5 and solidified his skills at age 6 in American kindergarten, or a Swedish child who didn’t start formal education until age 7. But school has so far been such a nice experience for my DS so I can’t complain.

DS & DD both summer born, birthdays 2 days apart. DS has excelled academically, currently thriving at GS, he was probably behind his peers emotionally but has more than caught up. DD struggles academically but mature for her age. If having them has taught me anything, is not to compare.

Early summer born DS here. I think it has been a bit of a disadvantage. Mostly socially rather than academically, but it's hard to separate out the two things - the older children tend on average to start school with more skills (like being able to read), which makes them confident, and the 'roles' in the class are set very early on. DS is now able to do everything that most of his older classmates can do, but he's still always hidden behind the taller, bigger, louder, more confident older boys who make more of an impression on the teacher.

Oh and he is also emotionally less developed (more clingy, less confident to leave parents). But that could just be his personality.

Not at all in my experience, my son has just started year 1 and was 5 in July. Since age 3 he has wanted to learn rather than play, within 2 months at school he was moving up a reading level.

I have an August born ds with 3 older siblings. He’s 5 and in year 1. He’s doing brilliantly socially and is, I’m told, incredibly hardworking, contributes well to discussion and applies himself very well. He’s very slightly behind where they’d want him to be on phonics but can blend sounds. I think this is more due to speech problems though, as he’s been under salt. Apparently 2/3 to 1/2 his class are at a similar level anyway!
He certainly hasn’t struggled with the environment or with expectations.
My September born eldest struggled more socially, so maybe family position may play a part?

DS is late july born, doing great academically, had a very successful 7+ exam. but socially, i think he is inmature comparing to the autumn/winter boys in his class. I hope overtime, he will learn from the older boys, and grow up.

My summer born DS has dreadful handwriting and is socially awkward but is very bright but school doesn't necessarily see this, his general knowledge and vocabulary are amazing but his written work isn't so good. He is a real mummy's boy and I worry about him.

Yes - more so than even DD1 who was born days before cut off date so was very young.

Socially - few issues though as he's grown and class room become more formal those have disappeared. School work has needed a lot of support - has had it and gone from bottom sets in early primary years to top sets at secondary.

Tiredness form older two, Ds and DD1 was a huge issue well into KS2.

We had hand writting issues as well - got suggestions off here how to help and got a teacher late in pimrary who was all over it and made massive improvements.

Doesn't seem to be an issue now he's at secondary.

I don’t have a summer born son, but I did decide to start my summer born daughter at 5.
I worked in a primary school and 75% of the. KS2 pupils (7-11 year olds) who needed academic intervention were summer borns. (on average no more than 33% of any year group). There is always lots of annecdotal evidence of very young boys who fly ( and the most able child I have ever taught was an end of August boy). The statistics told me a different story.
Only you know whether you believe your child will be one of the flyers.
Just remember we start school very young in the UK and the transition to year one has become a much more difficult step in recent years.

My firstborn DS is an August baby, he’s in yr 2 and honestly has struggled academically, emotionally and physically all the way through so far. His reading and writing are definitely behind (though improving), and he is obviously less mature than many of his year, and hasn’t really formed close friendships, plus as another poster said, things like football and running type activities he’s way behind as he’s so much smaller than the rest and is just not sporty.

However, having said that, he is absolutely happy at school, comes home full of enthusiasm for what he’s done/learned, and there has never been a single day when he’s complained that he doesn’t want to go to school!
I hope he will catch up a bit and find his niche friendship wise as he gets older, but right now he is happy so I’m not stressing (much)

I have 8 children, and i would agree that, there can be a big contrast between the oldest and youngest in a school year.
All the best,
Adele jane