Yearend Baby

[Castle House]

:laugh:


Ya.. I agree size will mislead others perceptions .. even sometimes we as parents also tend to forget that.. as my kids are really tall... :faint:

So, when we coach and guidance them, we move ahead instead..

[kwokwc]

dd3 is a dec baby. However, I don't think she is of much slower as compared to her peer now. She is 2.5yr, end of the yr she will be 3. However compared to her class children, she is the few who are toilet trained. Personally I don't think she got any problem in class (childcare too). In fact, she stayed with the toddler class early this yr until Jun then she is 'promoted' to pre-nursery, same as the rest of the kids born in the same yr. But the teachers are impressed with her. They find her not any slower than any other kids from pre-nursery.


In fact, dd2 also yr-end baby. I have not find her slow too. In fact, I think she is mature since young. I think it also depends a lot on the child themselves. Don't worry, when they start primary school, whether yr end or yr start, I don't find much difference.

[smartmummy]

When I send to my daughter to nursery I also thought to send playgroup.But I sent nursery.First 6 months she and I struggled.But now she is in k1,she is doing well.She born in Aug 7,but very playful and imotional character.

My son Born in Oct 24.From baby onwards I teach very concenly.cos he also need to study with Jan born children.But he pickup faster.I sent him playgroup.I think depend on their ability and how we coach them from born onwards.

[Castle House]

Seem like quite a few mummies have yearend bb.. and their developments are on par with their peers.. and that is a real consolation to me.. :thankyou:

[janet88]

Castle House:

Seem like quite a few mummies have yearend bb.. and their developments are on par with their peers.. and that is a real consolation to me.. :thankyou:

Hi,
My daughter is a Nov child...and in P1 this year.
I find that she is a little slow in picking up...where her subjects are concerned, she does need time to recall what has been taught. When she finishes P1 in Nov, she's not even 7. But it's tough getting her to learn her spelling.
Maturity wise, she is quite ok though...maybe bcos she is a girl.

[toddles]

I think the danger for me is treating dd like she is 3 when she is not really 3 yet, and the differences btwn a Jan and Dec baby can be quite stark from ages 0-4 i find. kind of expect more from her, expect her to behave maturely etc, when she’s still in her terrible twos…


sometimes i have to force myself to step back and remember that she’s only 2+, still in many ways a little girl, and not a ‘big girl’ as we like to tell her…

[MummyThreeStreams]

My first two kids are year end babies. The difference for DS1 was not so great coz he’s tall, and we started him in nursery a bit later. but the difference in maturity was perceptible. Now he’s in P1. I would say there is not much difference.


The difference was more stark for my second one and his classmates when I started him in playgroup the year he turned three. Some of his classmates were almost three but he had just turned two! He is physically much smaller than his friends and less developed overall. His teachers don’t ever put him down though. Any trained teacher would not do that. It is not fair to compare a 26 month old with a 36 month old.

DS3 is a Jan baby. Let’s see if he will have an advantage!

[rosemummy]

Come to think about it, while the diffference may not be apparent by the time the child is in P1, a child born in the beginning of the year does have an advantage, all things being equal. I just remember that the top student for all the different cohorts when I was in primary school were all Jan babies. My brother was in the top class throughout in a top secondary school and JC. The youngest in his class had always been born no later than Jul / Aug. I noticed that because I remember my primary school partner telling me that as a Jan child, she has a natural advantage over me, a Dec child.

[Pen88n]

A coin has both sides: what is seen as a disadvantage for a year end kid may be an advantage as well.


For one, by sch time, they get to learn what the other kids are learning - that is to say, they learn things earlier. Don’t parents wish their kids can learn things earlier?

Next, when the year end kid may have to start off by working harder than a start of year kid to catch up. This may prove to be a valuable experience for the kid to know about working hard to get what he wants in life.

In actual fact, there is very little difference between year end and start of year kid. Even kids with a little age gap also hardly has much difference once they are grown up. As we grow older, the difference become even less significant. What makes the difference is more the kid’s character.

[bebebub]

I have 2 year end gals - 2nd half of Dec.


dd1 was 3years and 2 weeks old when she started a 3-hourly nursery program. Apart from being smaller in size, i think she coped well with the lessons and her learning. She was already toilet trained when she started school, and she did not have any separation anxiety issues (as compared to some of her classmates who started at pre-nursery). However, the teachers did comment that she was rather quiet at the beginning, but by the end of her nursery program, she caught up with the older kids in her speech development. She topped her class for P1 n P2. Hehe, now at P3, can't say the same :nailbite: And it has nothing to do with her being a year end child.

dd2 is now 2.5 years old. Apart from being smaller than her peers (always at 50 percentile), she's doing fine. Besides Sunday school, she's not attending any classes at the moment. Ideally, I would prefer not to send her to school until she turn 4. But alas, I caved in to pressure to enrol her in a nursery program in Jan 2012, after she turn 3.

I think as long as they are happy and meeting all the necessary development milestones, its ok. They will catch up one way or another. And I agree with one of the fellow forummers, if any preschool teachers are telling you that your child is \"slow\", then it's time to change school/teacher.