Having a baby Old Style???

honey

eyeopener wrote:

Could somebody enlighten me about this school year thing? Ours is due 25th August.

starlite is right and don't panic. My son was born 23rd July and he is the youngest in his class.

I was worried initially and thought maybe he would struggle and be "behind" older children but he has been fine. (Think I was imagining all other children would have their birthdays in September - therefore be nearly a year older LOL:o)

Plus he has always had his birthday off school which he think is pretty cool.

ancasta_2

I was one of the 5 youngest in my year and it was just a bit gutting when the older people in my year learned to drive earlier and could legally drink sooner and things but i dare say that wont bother a toddler or anyone younger than 17. hee hee

starlite_2

Yeh..my friend was born in august and by the time it got round to celebrating her 18th /21st etc she said it felt like we'd all done it too many times before...
In terms of being behind in class though, i really don't see it being an issue

Pauline_Jones

penrith,

I am with you 100% on avoiding a summer born baby. Before anyone jumps down my throat about it, I was born in June and know many other summer born successful bods BUT the education system does discriminate against summer born babies. I was a reception teacher for 3 years and I know that the kids who had only just turned 4 in september didn't get as long to play or basically develop at their own rate because the curriculum whizzes ahead. We are planning to start trying to conceive in dec cos then baby would hopefully be born september at earliest! I don't know what the government could do about the situation, tho, cos you have to have a cut-off at some point in the school year!

fingers crossed for me to get to 1st september too LOL!

p x

ancasta_2

I'd just like to say how proud i am one of my "babies" has been so well replied too AND been made a sticky.

This has made my day

Lillibet_2

I must be the exception, I was desperately hoping that Spuds due date would be before Septemebr 1st in order to get him into school a year earlier!! No doubt he will be one of the youngest in his class. I know children can struggle a bit at first but we are prepared to put in the time & effort getting him upto speed when the time comes & have extra tutition if necessary. I hope this doesn't sound like we will be pushy parents?

ancasta_2

Not at all. Sounds like you have Spuds best interests at heart.

starlite_2

He he..good luck when you decide to go ahead ancasta.

Sam_Spends_Too_Much

My 1st baby was born on the last day of August 1 hour and 28 minutes before the 'end of the school year'. This makes her the youngest in her year and I do believe she suffers because of it. She is 364 days younger than one of her friends and it shows - both emotionally and educationally. She gets upset that she is not as fast/good as others, she doesn't understand the age gap. Teachers have a tendency to 'forget' that children in their classes can have a large age gap and as such expect them all to behave as the oldest ones do. If someone had reminded me when I was in labour that the I was so close to the next school year, I would of held on - somehow :eek:

Also, on the subject of money saving baby equipment, I'd be very careful on what equipment you buy second hand. You should NEVER buy a second hand car seat, even if its never been involved in an accident, just dropping it can cause a hair line crack that could cause the seat to split in the event of a collision. Also with pushchairs/prams etc, how do you know that you are just the second owner. You could be the third, fourth fifth etc. You just don't know how the items have been treated before they reach you. Cots for instance, how many times have they been screwed together?? This could impair how effectively they are held together resulting in another horror story of a cot collapsing when a baby was asleep in it. I'm sorry to sound negative and I don't want to frighten any prospective parents, but where your childrens safety is concerned, can you really put a price on it?? I'm not saying go out and buy an 'all singing all dancing' Mamas and Papas travel system, there are some very affordable sets on the market, Graco in particular have really improved over the years. And if you buy at the end of season when the fabrics are changing, you can get really good prices. And don't forget to haggle in the smaller nursery shops, I've never failed to get a further discount on goods or free items thrown in.

And I will add, no we're not a rich family, I am a full time mum to 4 kids aged 7, 6, 5 and nearly 2 and I consider they have the best of what we can afford. It might not have designer labels in it, but its safe, serves the purpose and its all bought and paid for

chevalier

Hi there
It is the simple things that help I think, regarding the original post. I put at least 2 disposable nappies in a nappy sack and so I save on nappy sacks.

When you make your own food get lots of ice trays to freeze it into. At first when weaning, a baby may only want a cubes worth, so less is wasted. Also I always introduced one food at a time eg carrot, swede, etc so that if baby had a reaction I knew what it was to. Ie both my 2 couldn't tolerate peas until after they were one because they go terrible gas from it.

I don't know whether anyone has mentioned ebay for baby clothes, well just about anything actually, but if you are willing to put in the time you can get a whole bundle of clothes for very little money. Things like the cot etc you can look in your locality for large items to collect in person rather than to have posted to you.

But I don't know where I would have been without good friends who via their second hand clothes pretty much outfitted my children until they were 18months old. And of course when the sales are on you can always buy for next summer or next winter size wise and store the finds in one of the vacu seal bags.

As to summer babies, the brightest girl in my class, who got 9 A's at O-level and 3 A's at A level (and in things like physics, maths and chemistry) was born in August. My elder child is born in June and is ready to go to school. Being the oldest can also have it's disadvantages, ie being expected to perform better etc.

This is a great thread by the way. I will be sending the link to my friend who has just had her baby.
Thanks