Off-Topic: Advice from parents with August children?

[Lisa71]

First, just start trying and enjoy it. Our kids are adopted and have Jan and April bdays. I am a Jan baby too and it is an advantage to be older in school for most kids..but not all..my sister is a nov bday and was always the youngest and smartest in her class. My friend wanted an October baby and got December and I know a baby born almost 10 weeks early...and she is doing great..so there you go. Your baby will be unique and you cannot always plan a bday.

 

[Sparkly]

I have an august baby and I hate it! I'm in the UK and we only have one school in take. its the 1st September after their 4th birthday so Theo will be 4 and one week when he starts full time school. I hate it! I feel like I've lost him a whole year early. its horrible, I feel like I've lost him way too soon. if he was a week late then I'd have had him at home for a whole extra year! he's going to be so diddy when he starts school.


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Really? I was born in March and started school in January. That's how it works I thought?

 

[la79al]

DD2 was born the end of August. She makes the kindergarten cutoff by one day but they start school mid August so she will be 4 for the first 2 weeks of kindergarten. DD1 was born mid May and is currently the third youngest kid in her class so DD2 will most likely be the youngest by far. Her birthday parties are going to be a problem. Right now, they are around Labor Day, no one is ever home. After school starts, she will be too early in the school year to have any school friends at her parties. This summer, we went to the beach and she was too small to ride the rides she wanted to ride but big enough to know she wanted to ride them. She was too young for swimming lessons and summer camps this year but will be one of the oldest kids in the 3 year old group next year. Being pregnant over the summer wasn't that huge of a deal. Really, it was one summer. I probably wouldn't wait if I were you. You don't want to risk having a baby closer to Thanksgiving/Christmas/cold and flu season. And while I love having a kiddo with a May birthday, it looks like you don't want to wait that long. Good luck!

 

[drinkme]

DD2 was born the end of August. She makes the kindergarten cutoff by one day but they start school mid August so she will be 4 for the first 2 weeks of kindergarten. DD1 was born mid May and is currently the third youngest kid in her class so DD2 will most likely be the youngest by far. Her birthday parties are going to be a problem. Right now, they are around Labor Day, no one is ever home. After school starts, she will be too early in the school year to have any school friends at her parties. This summer, we went to the beach and she was too small to ride the rides she wanted to ride but big enough to know she wanted to ride them. She was too young for swimming lessons and summer camps this year but will be one of the oldest kids in the 3 year old group next year. Being pregnant over the summer wasn't that huge of a deal. Really, it was one summer. I probably wouldn't wait if I were you. You don't want to risk having a baby closer to Thanksgiving/Christmas/cold and flu season. And while I love having a kiddo with a May birthday, it looks like you don't want to wait that long. Good luck!

My ds has a very late august bday. The day before the cutoff. We tried kindergarten with him and it didn't work out. He was no way ready. So we put him in kindergarten again the following year. So he had 2 full years of kindergarten.

I do notice the difference on maturity levels of the kids who weren't held back a year. My kids are teenagers now and there really is a difference in maturity level for the kids who weren't held back. There are 4 kids I know of who have that really late august bday and they just aren't on the same maturity level as the rest of their classmates. Now those are just the kids I know of. I'm Sure there are other students who have that late summer bday and they are fitting in just fine. These are teens I'm talking about.

My parents put me in first grade at the age of 5. I never went to preschool nor kindergarten. I always felt a step behind the other kids. Not academically but everything else. Also I graduated from high school at 17. I didn't go to college right away. That would have been a disaster.

 

[rachael95]

Even if you got pregnant this month, there would be no guarantee your baby would be born in August. My DS was due April 15. He was born Feb. 29. You could also end up with an overdue baby rather than a preemie.

That being said, celebrate your kid's birthday whenever they want. My nephew always hated that his birthday was close to Christmas which meant his friends could never really make his b-day parties and he couldn't ever do anything outside. So one year, my sister decided to celebrate his b-day for him in July.

My DH and my anniversary is in August. We don't like how hot it is when we want to do something for our anniversary. So we celebrate it in October if we go on vacation. It's whatever works for you.

As for starting school, get to know your little one and make the decision then. It depends on the child as to which is better about when they start. You wouldn't decide before they were born that they HAD to be a civil engineer, so they had to go to a particular school for college. Why decide before you know them whether they can handle starting school earlier or later?

 

[wallskm]

This is an issue fresh on my mind as I have a 4 year old with a June birthday and am making this decision now. The decision is so stressful that we are waiting until next month to try for our 3rd. Hoping that if I do get pregnant next month that the baby will come after September 1st! I have been worried about what is the best for my son and am now leaning towards sending him- I feel like I am getting a lot of pressure to hold him back from people that don't even know him, they only know that he his a boy born in June. My gut says that he will be perfectly fine though- he can pretty much do everything on a kindergarten readiness checklist and the things he can't do I feel like he will pick up over the next 9 months before he starts. I just hope that I won't even have to worry about this with my next baby. My 2nd is a December baby so no decision there. Our cutoff is September 1st.

 

[arminnie]

I was a late August baby. Went to school half days thru 3rd grade because the school system was overcrowded.

I graduated HS at 17 - should have finished a year earlier as I only took English and two college level courses my senior year. Graduated from college at 20.

It never hurt me to be young. My degrees are from Tulane and Stanford so I had no trouble getting into a good college.

 

[Gracie09]

Both my daughters are summer babies. One end of July, one end of August. The cut off here is October 1st. They will both be going to kindergarten next year when they turn five. They are academically and socially ready. They have gone to preschool for two years and to repeat for a third would be a waste of their time. They do have ieps but one has more physical issues and the other a learning process issue that will always be there (likely auditory processing delay ).

I personally am not a fan of red shirting the kindergarten year unless there is a reason.

 

[blessedby3]

(I don't plan on having more than 2 kids total).

Oh goodness...you've done it now!! I see quadruplets in your future
LOL
When I was pregnant with my 4th baby (and 40 getting ready to turn 41) I was scared to death that I would end up with twins. My DH is a twin and they say that older moms have a higher chance of having twins (dont know if that is true or not). I just knew we would end up with 5 kids instead of 4
Thankfully we were blessed with ONE sweet little girl

She is a late birthday too as far as school in our area. Her birthday is Sept 28th and our cut off is Sept 30. We held her back and she started K this fall and turned 6 a little over a month later. People have opinions all across the board, but you have to do what is best for YOUR child.

Dont sweat the school issue now. I remember when I was getting close to my due date and I was begging the Dr. to induce so my child would make the cut off (as I was worried about us being older parents and needing her to get started with school as soon as she could...lol). The Dr. agreed and we induced (I had to be induced with all 4 of mine...never went into labor on my own) and she made it before our cut off...but when the time came...we held her back anyway as she was not ready.

Just get started trying and you get what you get. Good luck to you!

 

[mrsdaly]

I am an August baby, so is my sister, and so is my son (born 2012).

I think it was a great time to have a kid. Sure, the summer is hot, but once you have him, the weather starts to get comfortable and you can go for walks together before it gets too cold and you need to think about bundling him/her up. I never had issue with keeping up at school, and neither did my sister. I wouldn't be concerned about it. Every kid develops at their own pace so you will have to cross that bridge when you come to it, regardless of when they are born.

 

[mjkacmom]

Oh goodness...you've done it now!! I see quadruplets in your future
LOL
When I was pregnant with my 4th baby (and 40 getting ready to turn 41) I was scared to death that I would end up with twins. My DH is a twin and they say that older moms have a higher chance of having twins (dont know if that is true or not). I just knew we would end up with 5 kids instead of 4
Thankfully we were blessed with ONE sweet little girl

Our 4th pregnancy was a surprise, and yes, older mothers are more likely to double ovulate (men have no bearing on higher incidences of twins, it's all on the woman's side). When we found out about #4, it never even crossed my mind that it might be twins.

OP, I was one of the few who got pregnant right away each time (even with our happy accident). Honestly, after seeing parents struggle over the redshirting issue with late summer/early fall babies, I'd wait a month! The cutoff is 10/1 here, and I've seen many hold their kids back, one who had to hold her child back in 2nd grade, and my one friend, who's dd was overdue, and born on 10/2, was so happy she didn't have to make that decision.

 

[scottish mum]

I have an august baby and I hate it! I'm in the UK and we only have one school in take. its the 1st September after their 4th birthday so Theo will be 4 and one week when he starts full time school. I hate it! I feel like I've lost him a whole year early. its horrible, I feel like I've lost him way too soon. if he was a week late then I'd have had him at home for a whole extra year! he's going to be so diddy when he starts school.


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I'm in Scotland and and my dd is an August baby and she started school 4 days after her 5th birthday. She has a cousin that was born 1 day after her but lives in England and she started school a whole year earlier than my dd

 

[bethy]

I have a late August baby and 9/1 cut off. I wouldn't choose to have a baby then again. Whichever way you choose about when to start school it can be a very tough decision. And unlike some PP for us it was not clear which way to go when the time came. Honestly she is now 12 and I still don't know if we made the right decision or not.

So chances are most kids could go either way and be fine. BUT in my opinion neither scenario is great : being the oldest or the youngest - each can have unique challenges. I'd wait a month if it were me just to lessen the chances and likely take the decision off the table.

 

[sscheier]

I was aiming for a spring baby when trying to get pregnant because I live in Arizona and did not want to be pregnant in the summer. It is horrible if you live in a hot climate. It ended up taking longer then expected and my son ended up being born at the end of July and yes I was miserable the last month.
He is 12 now. He is always one of the youngest at school but has no issues with it at all. Having birthdays during the summer was sometimes difficult to invite people but pool parties are fun. He will graduate high school before he turns 18 which some people have expressed concerns about but I don't think it will be an issue at all.
Good luck!

 

[jen73]

we have 12 year old twin boys born Aug 3 and yes, they are the youngest in their class but so far, it has not affected them whatsoever. What's even funnier is that they are tall boys and no one can believe they are "just" 12...we constantly get asked what high school they attend...lol

Here in Texas, a lot of ppl will hold their boys back due to maturity or wanting to be bigger on the field (football).

Being 9 months pregnant was miserable but well worth it...lol