Youngest child in year woes

Spendless

ash28 wrote: »

Our grandson had the attention span of gnat when he started school - he's
not much better now. And his handwriting is still crap!

Having got a mid year born son now in yr 8 who is considered above average in most subjects and talented in a couple of others, who I can say exactly the same thing about, I'm tempted to think this has little to do with when birthdays fall and more to do with being male. The mums of DS's friends report pretty much the same thing.

Janepig

Spendless wrote: »

Having got a mid year born son now in yr 8 who is considered above average in most subjects and talented in a couple of others, who I can say exactly the same thing about, I'm tempted to think this has little to do with when birthdays fall and more to do with being male. The mums of DS's friends report pretty much the same thing.

DS is in the "older" half of the year (birthdays September to March) and the boys in his class, DS included, are like lunatics. I don't remember the boys in DD's class being as bad as this when she was in year 2. Birthday parties are a riot (not in a good way) and by about a week into the new term the whole class were kept in at playtime and given a lecture about their behaviour by the headmaster! DS has started all his years of school like this, he'll push to see how far he can go with his new teacher and then settle in fine once he realises what the boundaries are. He's not a bully or anything, I'm not concerned like that, but he has terrible trouble listening to a word anyone says :D.

Having said that though, at least we haven't got the nightmare of the !!!!!y behaviour that started with DD's classmates in the reception class (ie, one child taking over playground games and deciding who could and couldn't play; who could hold hands with who, etc....). At least DS will play with anyone and everyone - and it usually involves as many kids as possible piling each other in the yard.

Jx

cottonhead

I know others wont agree but in my opinion I think the whole worry about the month your child is born in is not as big a deal as some make out. There has to be some sort of grouping system and yes there is nearly a year between the oldest and youngest but its not just a the age thing that makes a difference. Kids with older siblings usually behave differently to those without as do kids who have been to nursery v the ones who stayed at home. The confidence of the parents and how many opportunities they have prior to school make a difference too. The way I see it is - if all the kids start school at the same time ( regardless of there being a few months between them in age ) they all get taught the same. Some kids will pick it up quicker than others but not just because they have been on the planet a few months more. In the line of work I do I encounter many parents who think summer babies are too young for school and want to defer them starting. Some kids really are immature but the majority are fine and thrive better starting school with their peers than starting later in the year as a ' new kind' and having to fit into already estabablished friendship groups and will have missed the first terms work, so will be behind a bit right from the offf which only reinforces the parents belief that they are too young and so it spirals.......
After a while the age gaps are less and less important. In fact a recent study showed that summer babies usually do better in the long run. Something to do with the exposure to the sun when they were small !

FunWithFlags

cottonhead wrote: »

I know others wont agree but in my opinion I think the whole worry about the month your child is born in is not as big a deal as some make out. There has to be some sort of grouping system and yes there is nearly a year between the oldest and youngest but its not just a the age thing that makes a difference. Kids with older siblings usually behave differently to those without as do kids who have been to nursery v the ones who stayed at home. The confidence of the parents and how many opportunities they have prior to school make a difference too. The way I see it is - if all the kids start school at the same time ( regardless of there being a few months between them in age ) they all get taught the same. Some kids will pick it up quicker than others but not just because they have been on the planet a few months more. In the line of work I do I encounter many parents who think summer babies are too young for school and want to defer them starting. Some kids really are immature but the majority are fine and thrive better starting school with their peers than starting later in the year as a ' new kind' and having to fit into already estabablished friendship groups and will have missed the first terms work, so will be behind a bit right from the offf which only reinforces the parents belief that they are too young and so it spirals.......
After a while the age gaps are less and less important. In fact a recent study showed that summer babies usually do better in the long run. Something to do with the exposure to the sun when they were small !

I think that the issue really is that for a lot of children it isn't "a few months", it can be almost a full year. For example, I am a summer baby and when I started school, there were children in my class who were a full year older than me (give or take a week). I had just turned four while they were just about to turn five. At that age, a year does mean there could be a difference developmentally and also in terms of the time the child has had to have the opportunities and experiences prior to school like you mention, a younger child will not have had as much time to experience things. For example, I went to playschool at three like lots of children in my area (entry at anytime through the year) and an older child in my school class who had also been to playschool could have had a full year longer than me experiencing different things and different people (given that they turned three and entered playschool almost a year earlier) so looking at it like that, on my first day of school, I could have been a year behind the older children.

I'm rambling lol but what I think I'm saying is I agree it's not just the age thing that makes a difference but I do think age does have a big affect on how ready a child is to start school.

LandyAndy

My elder son was born on 3 August. At the age of 4 he was more than ready to start school.

He's just gone up to read Maths and Physics at Durham so I'm guessing an early start didn't do him much harm.

sassyblue

I've got a 31st August 6 year old and l am struggling with my little one at the moment. He gets daily spellings, reading books (changed when they've finished the book) and some weekly maths and english homework and he doesn't want to do it after an already tiring day. We do what we can, if he doesn't want to write his spellings we'll sound them out instead. If we push him hard he'll be put off learning for life so we're going with the flow. He is fine at school and doesn't slack there and that's the important thing.

I remember what was going on in Year 1 at this point last year and l know he would be more than capable of that but because of his birthday he's pushed a bit more.

He's a bright boy anyway so l know he'll catch up at some point but yes it's hard! :cool:

jellyhead

LandyAndy wrote: »

My elder son was born on 3 August. At the age of 4 he was more than ready to start school.

He's just gone up to read Maths and Physics at Durham so I'm guessing an early start didn't do him much harm.

Everyone's different though. My eldest was assessed by the ed psych as being 9 months delayed. If he'd been one of the older ones in his class it might not have mattered, but with being the youngest it meant he was significantly delayed when compared to his classmates and he needed to be statemented for one to one help.

He's managing his A levels okay, but I don't think the younger ones really catch up until year 2 or 3. That's catch up on their age disadvantage I mean, not catch up to the rest of the class.

S_Wales_Saver

Having DGDs (twins) born at the very end of July, I can understand some of the problems. They are happy at school, though one gets very tired and grouchy, but they are expected to behave and show a level of maturity that matches how they look. In their case that is a lot older than they are - one generally wears age 5-6 clothes, the other 6-7! And not at all overweight, just very tall. When one had 'an accident' in nursery, clothes had to be brought from the adjoining junior school.

My feeling is they'll cope in school and it will get easier as they get older. It's adult perception that causes difficulty, and small children should never be made to feel they are not keeping up whatever the reason. At this age they need encouragement, not criticism.

Tupperware_Queen

My youngest is an august baby. He struggled for a long time, and despite me giving him extra help, he has always been 'behind' . However, when he did his sats this summer he did well, and I am happy he is coping well with secondary school.

I had very little help for the early years, but in hindsight, this would have been more help for me than YS