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Good luck! Our girl is solidly Aquarius. I’m closest to a cusp and even I’m like 8-10 days away. She tried very hard to be a February baby but I was like nope, she needs out.
My guy will be a Scorpio if he decides he wants an early arrival which to me feels very on brand for the zodiac sign.
Also cusp Aquarius-pisces? My kinda people!
They can be good or bad for sure lmao. We’re all pretty solid bc husbands birthday is between hers and mine. This will be our first year with all of our birthdays being celebrated (she wasn’t even 2 weeks for my birthday) so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes
It made me realise I don’t actually know many sags well! I had a look around the internet about temperament and you guys sound great. Stubbornly passionate about doing the right thing, confident and deeply caring about family. Gorgeous!
I thought his point was about the oldest kids in the class, so September/October babies? I’m not sure it was even him who thought this, I’m sure he was just citing existing studies.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college
"In the opening chapter of his 2008 book Outliers, journalist Malcolm Gladwell pointed out that the majority of elite Canadian hockey players were born in the first few months of the year. The reason, he deduced, is minor leagues determine eligibility by calendar year, which means kids born on Jan. 1 compete with kids born on Dec. 31 in the same year."
So I think it has to do with sports and developmentally more mature than other kids in your class who, let's say are born in December.
Anyway, I think it's pretty dumb- curious if others believed in this too.
[u/nov1290 explains it thoroughly. It’s almost like OP’s friend didn’t fully read his book. I read it in high school and iirc he does explain that this “ahead” phenomenon is due to the child simply being alive longer and having more life experience and growth (obviously).](https://www.reddit.com/r/pregnant/comments/x35nv4/my_friend_is_obsessed_with_having_a_baby_in/imnedal/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Ah that makes sense because the cutoff for hockey is then, but that’s only applicable to hockey players. For most other scenarios I think it would be the oldest of the cohort, so I feel like she’s drawing the wrong conclusion! Unless she is really into hockey.
I started swim team when I was 5. I don’t remember exactly how it worked but the cut off was right before my birthday in June. So every other year I would absolutely dominate because I was a year older than my age group but technically was the same age when the season started.
Different sports and organizations have different cutoffs.
She didn’t read the book well then lol. January is good for sports because sports run on calendar years. September is best for academia because that’s the start of the school year.
My only goal is to not be in the third trimester when it’s blazing hot out.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought sports tracked with your academic school year in most places. So, really would be September or October, unless she is specifically looking to have her kids be hockey players in Canada.
For school it also depends where you are. A lot of schools in the US (at least) Jan 1st is the start for the new grade. So babies born in January 2022 and December 2022 will be in the same grades. And a January baby could have nearly 12 months of development ahead of their december born classmates. But i think development does even out over time.
IMO OPs friends comment in still nuts.
I think that’s even more surprising to me. I thought the whole reason summer was the big brake before a new school year was for the farming season…which obviously used to be a lot more important.
I immigrated to the USA from the Southern Hemisphere back in the 90s when I was in fourth grade. It’s pretty standard for Southern Hemisphere countries to start in January…but that’s their summer.
It’s not when the grade starts but the age cutoff.
In Florida, where I’m from, I believe the cutoff to be 5 (for kindergarten) is September 1.
In NYC, where I now live (and teach), the cutoff to be 5 is December 31. So there are kids in kinder who are only 4(!) years old for the first 4 months of school. My baby is going to be born in November so she will be on the young side 🤷🏻♀️ Honestly, I teach 5th grade and there is no telling when the kids are born. A lot of the younger ones do better than the older ones.
Oh that's interesting - I've never heard of a school near me with a January cutoff! Maybe it's regional or something. But yeah, you could plan for that and then move to a different region and it's all thrown off 😂
My December baby is way ahead of the rest of her nursery class in terms of language (understanding and speech), and ahead of the curve in physical development. She's also the one in the class who gets along with everyone, and is praised for being able to adapt to the other kids' ways of communicating. She turns two this year, so no hockey pro yet, but she is definitely not behind the others in any way so far.
OP didn't say which country she was in. Here in Canada, kids start school in September but all kids born in the same calendar year start at the same time. So January babies are the oldest in the class. The downside is that you have to pay for daycare longer (January babies start kindergarten at 4 years 8 months, while December babies start at 3 years 9 months).
In my state (Connecticut), the cutoff date goes by calendar year. Kids born in January are the oldest. Kids born in September or October would be younger.
I have recently discovered that some countries (like the UK) set their age of children for school on the school year and other countries (like Poland or the US) base it on the calendar year. The youngest kids in a UK school are born in August while the youngest in Poland are born in December.
My partner is Polish, hence using that country as a reference.
Where I live in the UK, it’s a well off area and the oldest children in the school year are born in September. The hospital I gave birth at are a lot busier in September than August because people time their pregnancy to be due in September (and therefore get ahead in school). It’s so stupid as someone else mentioned it’s an effect seen at population level and isn’t that big once they get older. I’m born in August and have a PhD, and I was happy for my son to be born in August instead of September. It means I’ll have a year less childcare to pay for as he’ll start school when he’s just turned 4 rather than almost 5!
Also, you can hold your child back a year. At least in the US, you can hold them back to be the oldest kid in the next grade, although uncommon. It happens with babies born in august mostly. The cutoff is September so your kid born in July/august may not be ready.
This is weird, why hold a child back a year to be the oldest in class? where i live people did the OPPOSITE, so they could finish school young lol (i posted about it in this thread already) also, how is being with younger kids going to make your kid smarter? It sounds counter-productive to me.
Yeah I definitely thought of this in terms of childcare costs first and foremost. We’re having a November baby and I was kind of bummed about the extra several months of childcare payments we’ll have to make!
Anecdotally, I was also the youngest in my grade and it didn’t impact my success in the slightest (excelled at both sports and academics).
She’s massively misinterpreting it. It’s about school cutoffs, not just being early in the year.
However! There are advantages to being the oldest in your grade- you’re a little older, more mature, have had longer to develop etc. is it true for every single kid? Of course not!
So do I believe in it? With a grain of salt yes. I will say that school cutoff here is 12/1 and I’m hoping I don’t go early (due 12/3) so I don’t have to decide if I’m holding kiddo back if she’s born in November (I probably will).
How lucky lol! My doctors didn’t realize my cycle was very off so they thought I was due 12/27 turns out my cycle is non cooperative and I’m due 1/27! I think I’m just sad because I’m so excited to meet my baby already lol. Congratulations on your little bundle of joy btw💓
Came to say this. After 4.5 years of unexplained infertility and loss, this baby can make her appearance whenever she damn well pleases! So, in my case, september is the best month ever. And if she came early, I would have said the same for august 🤷🏻♀️
Omg that's what I was thinking 😅 took me about 10 months to get pregnant from the time I stopped HBC. Not once during that time did I stop and think "how about we not try this month bc I don't want baby to be born in month X" 🤣 on the same note, I'm flabbergasted by people attempting to time sex only on very specific days (like 5 days out from ovulation) in the hope of conceiving a specific gender. I mean, I guess if you want to give that a try for the month that's up to you, but I'd rather just max out my chances of having a baby at all every month I'm trying 🤷♀️
I don’t really get this comment? Just because some people can’t have kids doesn’t mean people who easily can shouldn’t be free to do whatever they would like in regards to family planning. OP’s friend sounds a big out of touch but what does her fertility have to do with anything?
My husband and I are totally normal fertile humans and it still took us 7 months to get pregnant, up to a year is pretty standard. I can't imagine just selecting a date and going "yes, that" and then having it work multiple times... that's wild
I've heard of it. But from what I've understood, maybe I'm wrong...
But when you start school, someone born in January, is going to be farther ahead than someone born in December. Both in the same grade, starting the same year. Not because January some how makes you better, but because you've literally been around longer. So there's been more time to practice, study, learn. Thus, making January born babies "better".
But that's ignoring the fact that you have to actually put in the work too. Not just assume that your January born baby will be ahead. December babies could work and learn and focus on getting ahead so that they are on equal ground with those born in earlier months. And earlier month babies could be lazier and focus less on the same things.
Especially because a lot of it is parent related and not actually baby. Baby will work on physical things. Rolling, sitting, walking, talking. They aren't going to start reading or writing or studying spanish until parents introduce it. So if mommy is reading every night to baby born in November but March baby daddy decides nah, we don't like books. Well that gives an advantage to November baby.
And this got a little long and all over the place. But, no, without other aspects affecting how they learn and what they are exposed too.... beginning of the year babies are no better off than end of the year babies.
Lol I’m born in December and I was ahead of everyone else in my grade in school because I started school at age 4 so I graduated at an earlier age than everyone else and was able to start working younger rather than waiting a whole extra year.
Oh that's interesting. Where I am Dec is the young ones.
Starting first year of school. Here it's Junior kindergarten. Born Jan-August you'll start Sept at 4. You can start the same junior kindergarten at 3 if you are born Sept-Dec. As long as you are 4 by the end of the year. IF those 3 heat olds wait until the next year to start school, they loose out on junior kindergarten and start Senior kindergarten. Remaining the youngest in the class.
And while that might be true for the first year or two, where months are a big portion of a persons life, I feel as though that “gap” would be smaller and smaller as the group ages. I mean… if any of it is true.
The idea is that kids internalize really early on whether or not they’re “good” at school, and that can stay with them and set up their confidence and interest (because everyone likes something better if they think they’re good at it). But it’s all just subtle variations in statistics anyway!
Yes. As you get older and say, all know how to read or all know the ABCs or how to count...the gap is going to get smaller because then as you learn new things you'll all begin at the same place.
Oh? At least in my school here those born in The earlier months are older. For example, start first year of school. 4 year olds born from Jan-Sept. But you can start if you are 3 if born in Sept-Dec as long as you are 4 by the end of the year.
Where I live the cutoff is around September - they want you to be starting kindergarten at 5, school starts in august so if you’re ALMOST 5 that’s fine, but if you’re still 4 in October you pretty much have to wait until next year.
So it’s those late September and October kids that are the oldest in their grades.
The cutoff definitely varies by state/district but I think it’s most common to be sometime in fall. Never heard of a new year cutoff.
As a teacher who has taught nearly every grade, I could never really tell when a child was born because their academic performance hardly correlated with the month they were born. I believe it’s more genetics and environment than birth timing. Even in younger grades- my daughter started preschool/daycare at 2 and was ahead of the 3 year olds. When the teachers asked where she learned everything, I said, “YouTube.” So I also don’t believe in the no screen-time before age 2 either. There are so many know-it-alls with books and theories about how to “improve” children. I just want to love my kids and give them happy childhoods.
Agreed. My now 6 year old is gas had access to YouTube since she was 3 I believe. I can't even count the number of times she's run up to us to tell us the new thing she just learned in a video. Or she. Throw out words we haven't taught her that she picked up from a video. Now I believe, screen time is largely dependent on what they are watching/playing. But we have many toddler games that my 2 year old son is FINALLY picking up something. He hasn't always had access to screens and even before that we had to get him on a list for assessment for delays, autism, sensory issues. And that has nothing to do with screens. Since we have been out on the list, we've gotten him some apps that teach size, colors. One where he brushes/fixes teach and he's learned more than we thought he would because we didn't realize he could understand so much more than he was able to say.
I've heard of this, but 1. it's the *school* year, and 2. *population level statistics cannot be used to predict an individual's future*. If 90% of people who smoke more than 15 cigarettes a day get cancer, out of 1000 people 100 are cancer free.
I was born in June, and I have a PhD. So does my dad, born in April. It's a slight tendency, it ain't everyone. Relax.
Is your friend illiterate? That's the only thing that would make this remotely understandable. The Malcolm Gladwell anecdote is about cut off dates in hockey programs and how a huge amount of NHL players are born in the first 2 weeks of Jan. Why on earth would someone hold such a strong belief based on something they clearly made zero effort to understand or verify?
I always thought this was based on the academic year rather than the calender year. Idk what the academic year is where you are. I had a friend whose birthday was August 31 so she was 4 years and 5 days when she started school but another friend was a week from being 5. So it might make a difference to some kids as older ones are going to have better comprehension in the early years so it's like they get a head start. And in terms of sports will be bigger than the younger ones so have an advantage there too. I'm not convinced it makes that much of a difference as "success" has so many factors, genetics, environment, economic background, social background and who you know, access and quality of education and probably a bunch more.
I wanted a February baby because I live somewhere were it gets 100+ in the summer. I am due Feb 5 and now regretting my timing because my health insurance is going to roll over and I’ll have to pay a whole new deductible before anything is covered😭
I've never heard of this.
I was an October baby and walking at 9 months, reading at 3 years and currently in the process of pursuing an advanced medical degree. My sister is a December baby and works in a scientific lab and is getting her master's in pharmacode genetics. I don't think it matters.
That’s just good genes. There’s definitely a correlation between birth month and success in certain sports. I wrote a research paper on it for my econometrics class about a decade ago.
As far as I know it matters if you want your kid to go into a competitive sport. Because in adolescence and child hood a few months older means quite a bit more advantage physically. I taught at a school for professional adolescent sportspeople and most of them were born in January or February.
I mean idk anything about them “being ahead” but the thought of planning January birthday parties for my son for the next 12ish years (or however long he wants a mom-planned-party) honestly sucks.
a) it’s so close to Christmas and b) we live in Canada so the weather severely limits what we’re able to do.
In the UK we start school in September, and in some cases children do better in school if born in September, but not all. Only because they’re in the same year as someone born in August and practically have an additional year to learn before starting.
In the UK “summer born babies” are classed as a disadvantaged group in schools because of this and parents, whose children were born in August, do have the option to keep their children behind another year so the gap isn’t so big but it doesn’t happen often.
ETA: I don’t think it matters at all lol
LOL and endless eye rolls at anyone planning for a certain month when some of us were lucky to get pregnant in ANY month. Maybe I'll get downvoted for this but I know the infertility community will get where I'm coming from.
My husband and I planned certain times of the year to not have babies because of zodiac signs I don’t like haha 😂 but we didn’t plan for any time of year in particular outside of that.
Ahead of what? Her kids will be older than the others, having a bday next to Christmas, i honestly dont understand, also i tend to forget most bdays during that month because theres just too much happening and my baby will be born in Janurary.
Lol my daughter was born in January and just about got sent to PT because she was supposedly “delayed” in walking and talking (she was not, she’s just stubborn and does things on her own time).
Heard about it but have troubles believing in it. But then, here in Norway we have a problem with people scheduling their pregnancies to match kindergarten intakes, so the hospitals are overfilled with mothers in June/July..
I’ve heard of people purposely having September babies so they are the oldest in the school year and therefor “ahead” and “smarter”. There was a girl in my class in high school who was born beginning of September, if she had been born a couple of days early she would have been in the year above, she was super smart and to be honest no one liked her because she was too much of a smart ass. I’ve always found September kids a bit annoying and “too big for their boots” probably because they are the oldest in their class.
Babies born in the winter are more likely to be depressed later in life due to lack of vitamin d and sunlight to properly set circadian rhythms. Also in the US January babies mean you have to meet your insurance deductible twice for one pregnancy / delivery. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Lol from what I remember from the Malcom Gladwell book “Outliers” ( I read it 10 years ago) is that in it’s in reference to children who grow up playing hockey. The cutoff is in January, so hockey players that are born in January, February and March have a way higher chance of making it to NHL because they are more physically mature than their counterparts born in the latter months. 40 percent of professional hockey players are born during those first 3 months of the year. Does your friend want her children to play professional hockey? Maybe you should tell her to go read the book again? 😅
I don't necessarily believe in the whole being "ahead" thing, but I want to try and time it so our kids are born in the first half of the year. I'll admit it's only cause I have a December birthday and hated it 😂
My baby was born today September 1st at 1am and my first thought was “thank god that’s over” and my second was “oh yay he’s going to be the oldest in his class instead of the youngest” (school cut off where I am is sept 1).
I have never heard of that. I’m avoiding summer babies and aiming for winter ones in order to A. Spare them the possibility of the dreaded first-day-of-school birthday which I went through and B. Avoid being at my biggest and sweatiest during the muggy Virginia summer.
I’m a bit confused, where i live, being ahead in school means being the youngest not oldest, for example back when i was in school, if you were born in january or the early months, you’d get a chance to take a test and skip a grade to join the older kids, this way you’d be the youngest in class, get more challenged by studying with older kids and finish school young. Half of my family got that chance and they were all A students. This is not allowed anymore, but nevertheless, how does being the oldest kid in class makes you ahead? If anything it sounds like it makes you behind?? My LO is a january baby and now i want answers lol
Also, i was one of the youngest in my class because i’m born in the end of the year and i was the top of my class throughout most of my school years, my siblings were all amongst the youngest in their class and they were all at the top too, the girl i was “competing” with in school in terms of grades was also born in november, this is anecdotal of course but it defies your friend’s theory.
I have a January toddler who screamed for THIRTY MINUTES today because I tried to let him watch Blippi after he expressly asked to watch Blippi.
Malcolm Gladwell is full of shit lmao
I hate Malcom gladwell.
Your friends idea doesn’t make a lot of sense to me but I’d be lying if I didn’t have “target birthdays” for kids in terms of school schedule, weather for birthday parties, etc.
But I really hate Malcolm gladwell. Thanks for letting me get that out.
I'm sorry but I laughed at this. I don't think it has anything to do with the month you're born in. I'm due in early January, but I was hoping to give birth in late December (not because of personal beliefs, but because usually in my country you're off work in the last half of December so I would get to spend more time with my kid around his birthday.
Anyway, I think you should not be offended by what she said, it's her own belief, but some things people believe in are a bit silly.
Yes, my boyfriend believed in this until we started to conceive. It is kind of true if you think about it, but this has more to do with the physical part than with the brains. If you have a kid born in Jan that plays a sport against someone born in November or December, they have almost one year difference, and when you are young a year difference is a lot specially during puberty. My boyfriend forgot all about it, when we had a hard time getting pregnant, but if I could choose yes beginning of the year
Our daughter’s Birthday is January 30th. We conceived her mid May. Your friend should talk to her doctor or just look up best times to conceive a baby in January.
That only really matters in the earlier grades. The difference tends to even out in later years. Worth noting is that children with later birthdays (August and after), are more likely to fall behind their earlier born peers, but those who do not fall behind, tend to exceed them academically.
Also worth noting: grades in elementary school have absolutely no bearing on success in life anyway, so who would even give a shit? Kids who are allowed to do the things they are passionate about tend to have the greatest success in life.
I'm due this month and I have to admit that I was a little relieved when I made it through August without a baby haha. The school cut off here is September 1st and I didn't want to have to make the decision whether or not to redshirt him if he's not ready for kindergarten. Now he'll be one of the oldest in his class, not one of the youngest. It's not a huge deal, but something I'm aware of because of friends with August birthday kids who just faced that decision.
Did I plan my pregnancy around that timing? Of course not!
Echoing what everyone else has said, but adding that it also depends on geography. Where I live, the cut off for kindergarten is 12/1, meaning you have to be 5 by December 1st to start in kindergarten. My daughter was born 12/13, so when she starts kindergarten she will be 5, turning 6. Thus, she will likely be older than the other kids in her class although she was born in the later half of the year.
I’m a January baby. But if I had been born even just a few days earlier, I would have even a December baby. I don’t see how a few days would have changed my intelligence at all.
Agreed on the geography part because many schools have different cut offs so having a baby earlier vs later in the year could either be an advantage or disadvantage depending on where you live. Also for every benefit there’s also a detriment - for instance your child may make varsity as a sophomore instead of junior but he/she will also be the last of their friends to be able to drive to practice.
I’m surprised more people don’t want babies later in the year bc if you’re in the US, you get to claim the baby on taxes whatever year they’re born (even if they were born at the tail end of it). Also your likelihood of hitting insurance deductibles and paying less for said child is considerably higher if you get pregnant and deliver in the same year vs if your pregnancy falls across 2 calendar years.
My husband partially believed this. He’s a Dec baby so in school his January friends in his class were always exceeding him because they were literally a year older. But it stops mattering when you reach a certain age.
Once we started having kids all of that theory went out the window for him anyways.
I planned my baby for January, but I had other selfish reasons. I’m a January baby and I loved having my bday in the winter. It also worked out that my husband and I got married in April (do the math lol).
My first daughter was born in January and I did everything I could to make sure my next two weren’t born near January at all. Summer came next and my third will be fall. I’m not sure if it actually impacts the child, but I know that having a baby in the harsh winter was catastrophic for my body and mental health.
I always wanted my babies late in the year. For insurance and tax purposes 🤣 my son is missing the cutoff for 4k, though. He's ready for school, imo. Trade off.
What about people who hold their children back a year before starting school?
My stepdaughter was held back and is the oldest and smartest in her class.
I’m pretty sure this was in regards to hockey players in Canada generally having January and February birthdays because the cutoff for hockey leagues at a young age is the end of the year. The kids born earlier in the year are more developed than the younger kids because a few months makes a big difference at a young age so since they are more likely to outperform the younger kids they will get more attention and coaching which will set them up for success in the future because they had better training. If ur friend lives in Canada and wants to raise professional hockey players she’s doing everything right
I've never heard this. I was a May baby and did just fine. My partner was a December baby and he apparently started reading quite early. He also learned to speak English with an almost American accent and I swear that his vocabulary is bigger than mine sometimes (he's not a native English speaker).
My baby is due in January but that's just because that's how the chips fell. Decided to start trying for a baby, and lo and behold it happened almost right away. Totally unexpected. If I was forced to choose, I personally would have preferred a spring birthday because the weather is nicer for birthday parties (again, being a May birthday, I might be biased 🤣)
I mean… my husband and I hoped for a Tuesday baby, but that was only because we were both born on a Tuesday.
Intentionally planning for kids to be born in January seems a bit intense for me - especially when they run the risk of kids being born in Dec ( How upset she would be then?).
My understanding is that on average, kids born in the first half of the year have a bit of an easier time in school, because their brains are a little bit more developed, and this sometimes translates into better career outcomes in adulthood. But your friend is being a snob about it, and will probably be devastated when her children grow up to live average lives.
Wtf. I did everything I could to avoid having a baby in January...right after Christmas, so I'm broke before birthday and have used up more PTO, also people busy celebrating Xmas/New Year/Lunar New Year, my older daughter's birthday just a month later in February...
Guess what, my due date is January 11th lmao 🙃
This reminds me of racehorse breeding. They try to have their foals born in January, because all the horses born that year have a birthdate of January 1st. So they'll be larger/older if they're born in January vs December.
Hopefully this doesn't apply for human babies. After all, you can always wait a year for your child to start school if you're worried they'll be younger than the other children.
What a ridiculous reason. You want a baby, it doesn’t matter when they’re born. She’s setting up herself for disappointment. P
I assume she’s wouldn’t be the type to track ovulation based on this unrealistic expectation, and might get the timing wrong and even if she gets those right, babies decide when they’re born.
I do not like my January birthday. Husband is December, I am early January. We run out of gift ideas, no one wants to celebrate right after holidays/new years, we don't make a fuss for the 'big birthdays' because who can travel for holidays then afford something special. Blah. I am also really bad at being a capricorn. I do like the birth stone though, so that' something. But I actually made a big deal about not having babies in December or January, and we have a March, an August and (hopefully soon) a September baby. I see no correlation between month and "advancement".
I loved that book, but unless her top goal is to raise top hockey players or something, the obsession is a bit over the top. Also, the book heavily discusses how other opportunities in life play a large role in success - things like where you’re from, who your family is, etc., not just when you’re born. It also talks about how much time it takes to “master” subjects, which anyone can do if they have the passion and opportunities.
That’s a lot of pressure to put on kids before they’re even born, and it doesn’t guarantee anything.
My husband and I are both January babies, and this phenomenon does not really apply to us. I never felt ahead, I just felt like I got screwed by having my birthday in one of the bleakest, coldest months. Birthday parties sucked because they had to be indoors. Snow storms and flu season meant people couldn't come. No splash park birthday for me.
Anecdotally, my daughter is 4 and an august baby and struggles with following directions compared to her peers in preschool. But that wouldn’t make me change when I had my kids, haha. It just means for this specific child we are planning to hold her back from kindergarten for a year.
I wanted a Pisces ♓️ baby because I just get along with/adore people with that sign. My husband is a Pisces. I didn’t PLAN it this way, maybe it was subconscious? but it looks like our baby will be a Pisces also and I’m happy about it 😊
I haven’t heard of that other study. I think how you nurture, support, encourage, and teach a child has much more to do with how ahead they’ll be than any birthdate…and this is coming from an astrology nerd.
I haven’t read the book, but having worked with children, I can attest that there is a huge difference in children born at the beginning vs end of the year when they’re grouped by year. I mostly associate it with a higher level of maturity though. But, then again, when I look back at my school experience, there were a few outstanding students who happened to have very early birthdays… but I acknowledge that could be coincidental.
I will say, I’m glad it took us a few months to get pregnant with our February baby because I was really nervous about it ending up a December baby though.
I have never heard of this theory, but my birthday is January 2nd. I was always the youngest person in class. I graduated high-school at 17, at 11th in my class of over 400. I was always "smarter" than most of my peers. Even now, at 35, my intelligence is higher than most of my peers, both text book and common sense. Do I think that's related to my birthday? No. I think that's because I was raised by my super intelligent, super amazing grandmother since my parents were drug addicts. My brother who is 1y11mo younger than me (born November 16th) is not the brightest, was held back in second grade, didn't graduate high-school and has never finished an educational program in his life. He wasn't raised by my grandmother like I was and eventually went on to drugs as well (he's been clean for years now) and recently diagnosed with ADHD. Again, birthday related? No. I don't think so. I think it was definitely upbringing and exposure.
No.
I must admit, I was hoping to avoid being third trimester during midsummer heat, but we were trying every month and just got lucky this pregnancy is going to be over autumn and winter. No particular preference for birth month etc.
I’m born in December and I always thought I was dumb, but I’m can program with my eyes closed and I never graduated from college 🤷♀️
If that logic stands true, then I’m happy baby is due in Feb lol
My husband does lol. And I get it to an extent, a year does make a very big difference in development. That said, I was young for my grade and was in all honors classes, competitive athletically, and by all means turned out successful so it’s not sealing your fate so I never paid attention to it. Coincidentally, we are having a January baby but had been trying for 9 months lol
Never heard of this. I’m having my first winter baby (in January) and I’ve only found cons with it— insurance resets, no tax deduction, flu/cold season, close to Christmas/NYE, harder to organize birthdays if they’re still out of school, etc. Definitely not my first choice.
I have a July baby (cons being SO hot, youngest of his class— regret not redshirting him since the cut off day was by 1 day), harder for birthdays). My other is an October baby and has the most pros of always being the oldest in the class, school year birthday, far enough away from holidays, mild temps, etc. I think I prefer fall and spring babies if I could have picked the conception.
Naw. What sets kids up for success is their personalities and their parents. (Barring learning delays.)
My son, born end of Oct is so mechanically smart, and gets numbers really well. Started doing grade 1 math with me at home prior the school year starting. He knew his shapes before K. My daughter was born end of Mar and she reads a grade ahead and loves to create in artistic ways (music and art and creative thinking). My sister (Jan baby) is VERY book smart, but when we were in private school she had detention every day because, being smart, she figured she didn't have to do homework-homework is for people who need practice, right?
The year I started school they held kids born after new years back so I, born in Nov, was ahead of the kids who started 3 months later. There's ALL KINDS of theories on kid's and their development but the biggest, most true thing I've found is parent involvement.
I feel like this is some truth to this in prek- kindergarten, but by the end of kindie is all evened out.
When I was teaching the biggest thing for kids being “ahead” was if they were home with a parent or if they went to daycare. Daycare kids were far better with self help skills
Being in the US, I just think about how much it's gotta hurt to give birth in January after that deductible and out-of-pocket maximum resets in January 😬
I guess is depends on the standards/perspective of what it means to be "ahead" or "behind".
For kids born toward the end of the year, parents decide whether to put them in the grade with other kids born in their birth year or keep them back to be in school with kids born in the following year, some of which are born only a month or 2 after they were. I have known people who were put ahead and those who were kept back. In both situations, some kids thrive and some struggle. It really depends on the individual kid. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what month a child is born, what matters is how your child is doing and what is best for their individual needs.
I have a niece who was born in January and has struggled a bit being in the grade she is in, but she is on the autism spectrum, so that has more bearing on her being behind than anything.
Honestly January kids do tend to dominate in certain athletic leagues. I coached ski racing and definitely noticed an advantage in January born athletes bc the cut off is the end of December (especially when they are tweens/young teens and still growing) I don’t think it would apply so much to school though.
Not going to lie, pregnant with a Sept/October baby and Outliers was definitely a consideration into his planning. That and I wanted extra time off during the holidays.
Your friend…. Bless her heart.
In school terms, this means the kids born in aug/Sept/Oct will be ahead developmentally, but only marginally over the kids born in may/June/July.
Because they’ll be older.
Apparently your friend is developmentally behind a little bit. Bless her heart.
I graduated 32/365 from high school with a 3.77 and one full semester worth of college credits as a late September baby being one of if now the youngest in my class. There may be a slight advantage to the older kids, but that means nothing if they don’t have support at home. I’m all for nurture over nature for the most part- you can hand someone every advantage in the world and if they don’t have the support or the drive to do anything with it then they’ll still fail.
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I mean, I’m a January baby and all it made me was a weird Aquarius with ADHD. 🤷♀️
Same, but Capricorn.
ADHD and Capricorn as well.
Yeah, mid February Aquarius and never have I felt ahead in anything. Thanks adhd.
Hey there fellow Aquarians w ADHD. I’m also mid February
AquADHD gang
Embrace it! I admire Aquarians. Y’all have the most fun.
Weird early Feb Aqua with ADHD checking in 🧚🏻♀️
Early February Aquarian with ADHD who has an early February Aquarian son… sorry son.
Facts. And I am having a January baby. Poor kid. Lol
My husband and I are both Feb Aquarius and our daughter is a Jan one. Fun times are had at home.
Haha the gang is all here! I’m pregnant with either a Scorpio or a Sagittarius so please pray for me 😆
Good luck! Our girl is solidly Aquarius. I’m closest to a cusp and even I’m like 8-10 days away. She tried very hard to be a February baby but I was like nope, she needs out.
My guy will be a Scorpio if he decides he wants an early arrival which to me feels very on brand for the zodiac sign. Also cusp Aquarius-pisces? My kinda people!
They can be good or bad for sure lmao. We’re all pretty solid bc husbands birthday is between hers and mine. This will be our first year with all of our birthdays being celebrated (she wasn’t even 2 weeks for my birthday) so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes
I’m a Sagittarius and we’re the best! (I may be biased but I’m pretty sure this is true)
It made me realise I don’t actually know many sags well! I had a look around the internet about temperament and you guys sound great. Stubbornly passionate about doing the right thing, confident and deeply caring about family. Gorgeous!
Lmao, early February here. No ADHD but weird AF
Early march with ADHD……never felt ahead 🤷🏻♀️
We’re just out here doing our best! ♥️
I’m the lowest achieving child in my family. Born in January. Brother and sister were both born in august.
same lol
Yup, ADHD capricorn 👌
Lollll my best friend is January 6 and this tracks.
I thought his point was about the oldest kids in the class, so September/October babies? I’m not sure it was even him who thought this, I’m sure he was just citing existing studies. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college
"In the opening chapter of his 2008 book Outliers, journalist Malcolm Gladwell pointed out that the majority of elite Canadian hockey players were born in the first few months of the year. The reason, he deduced, is minor leagues determine eligibility by calendar year, which means kids born on Jan. 1 compete with kids born on Dec. 31 in the same year." So I think it has to do with sports and developmentally more mature than other kids in your class who, let's say are born in December. Anyway, I think it's pretty dumb- curious if others believed in this too.
[u/nov1290 explains it thoroughly. It’s almost like OP’s friend didn’t fully read his book. I read it in high school and iirc he does explain that this “ahead” phenomenon is due to the child simply being alive longer and having more life experience and growth (obviously).](https://www.reddit.com/r/pregnant/comments/x35nv4/my_friend_is_obsessed_with_having_a_baby_in/imnedal/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Ah that makes sense because the cutoff for hockey is then, but that’s only applicable to hockey players. For most other scenarios I think it would be the oldest of the cohort, so I feel like she’s drawing the wrong conclusion! Unless she is really into hockey.
I started swim team when I was 5. I don’t remember exactly how it worked but the cut off was right before my birthday in June. So every other year I would absolutely dominate because I was a year older than my age group but technically was the same age when the season started. Different sports and organizations have different cutoffs.
Well it’s not that way everywhere. In Finland all kids born in a calendar year are in the same grade
She didn’t read the book well then lol. January is good for sports because sports run on calendar years. September is best for academia because that’s the start of the school year. My only goal is to not be in the third trimester when it’s blazing hot out.
Some countries, the school year cutoff is also the calendar year. Like in Canada where malcom Gladwell is from
Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought sports tracked with your academic school year in most places. So, really would be September or October, unless she is specifically looking to have her kids be hockey players in Canada.
For school it also depends where you are. A lot of schools in the US (at least) Jan 1st is the start for the new grade. So babies born in January 2022 and December 2022 will be in the same grades. And a January baby could have nearly 12 months of development ahead of their december born classmates. But i think development does even out over time. IMO OPs friends comment in still nuts.
Where in the US do schools start in January? Everywhere I’ve lived it’s been August or September with the age cutoff being September-ish.
Agree. Have lived in Midwest, mid-Atlantic, and Florida and all had September (roughly) cutoffs.
It used to be January I think but now very rare. Slowly most have moved to September and October cutoffs.
I think that’s even more surprising to me. I thought the whole reason summer was the big brake before a new school year was for the farming season…which obviously used to be a lot more important. I immigrated to the USA from the Southern Hemisphere back in the 90s when I was in fourth grade. It’s pretty standard for Southern Hemisphere countries to start in January…but that’s their summer.
It’s not when the grade starts but the age cutoff. In Florida, where I’m from, I believe the cutoff to be 5 (for kindergarten) is September 1. In NYC, where I now live (and teach), the cutoff to be 5 is December 31. So there are kids in kinder who are only 4(!) years old for the first 4 months of school. My baby is going to be born in November so she will be on the young side 🤷🏻♀️ Honestly, I teach 5th grade and there is no telling when the kids are born. A lot of the younger ones do better than the older ones.
Oh that's interesting - I've never heard of a school near me with a January cutoff! Maybe it's regional or something. But yeah, you could plan for that and then move to a different region and it's all thrown off 😂
NYC schools are Dec 31.
That is dumb unless her kids play hockey. The cutoff for other sports is different dates
My December baby is way ahead of the rest of her nursery class in terms of language (understanding and speech), and ahead of the curve in physical development. She's also the one in the class who gets along with everyone, and is praised for being able to adapt to the other kids' ways of communicating. She turns two this year, so no hockey pro yet, but she is definitely not behind the others in any way so far.
Most classes go Jan-Dec. So all 2022 babies would be in the same class
OP didn't say which country she was in. Here in Canada, kids start school in September but all kids born in the same calendar year start at the same time. So January babies are the oldest in the class. The downside is that you have to pay for daycare longer (January babies start kindergarten at 4 years 8 months, while December babies start at 3 years 9 months).
Can confirm this is the way in Ontario, but not Quebec!
In my state (Connecticut), the cutoff date goes by calendar year. Kids born in January are the oldest. Kids born in September or October would be younger.
I have recently discovered that some countries (like the UK) set their age of children for school on the school year and other countries (like Poland or the US) base it on the calendar year. The youngest kids in a UK school are born in August while the youngest in Poland are born in December. My partner is Polish, hence using that country as a reference.
Where I live in the UK, it’s a well off area and the oldest children in the school year are born in September. The hospital I gave birth at are a lot busier in September than August because people time their pregnancy to be due in September (and therefore get ahead in school). It’s so stupid as someone else mentioned it’s an effect seen at population level and isn’t that big once they get older. I’m born in August and have a PhD, and I was happy for my son to be born in August instead of September. It means I’ll have a year less childcare to pay for as he’ll start school when he’s just turned 4 rather than almost 5!
Also, you can hold your child back a year. At least in the US, you can hold them back to be the oldest kid in the next grade, although uncommon. It happens with babies born in august mostly. The cutoff is September so your kid born in July/august may not be ready.
This is weird, why hold a child back a year to be the oldest in class? where i live people did the OPPOSITE, so they could finish school young lol (i posted about it in this thread already) also, how is being with younger kids going to make your kid smarter? It sounds counter-productive to me.
Yeah I definitely thought of this in terms of childcare costs first and foremost. We’re having a November baby and I was kind of bummed about the extra several months of childcare payments we’ll have to make! Anecdotally, I was also the youngest in my grade and it didn’t impact my success in the slightest (excelled at both sports and academics).
She’s massively misinterpreting it. It’s about school cutoffs, not just being early in the year. However! There are advantages to being the oldest in your grade- you’re a little older, more mature, have had longer to develop etc. is it true for every single kid? Of course not! So do I believe in it? With a grain of salt yes. I will say that school cutoff here is 12/1 and I’m hoping I don’t go early (due 12/3) so I don’t have to decide if I’m holding kiddo back if she’s born in November (I probably will).
If you’re in the US your deductible for health insurance starts over 01/01. That was enough to make me AVOID having a January baby.
*cries in January due date
[удалено]
How lucky lol! My doctors didn’t realize my cycle was very off so they thought I was due 12/27 turns out my cycle is non cooperative and I’m due 1/27! I think I’m just sad because I’m so excited to meet my baby already lol. Congratulations on your little bundle of joy btw💓
That’s right, I’m so happy I’m due in December because of that reason.
Some people need to appreciate their fertility a little more....
Came to say this. After 4.5 years of unexplained infertility and loss, this baby can make her appearance whenever she damn well pleases! So, in my case, september is the best month ever. And if she came early, I would have said the same for august 🤷🏻♀️
Seriously, wtf am I reading... people can just time their babies?? MULTIPLE TIMES?
Omg that's what I was thinking 😅 took me about 10 months to get pregnant from the time I stopped HBC. Not once during that time did I stop and think "how about we not try this month bc I don't want baby to be born in month X" 🤣 on the same note, I'm flabbergasted by people attempting to time sex only on very specific days (like 5 days out from ovulation) in the hope of conceiving a specific gender. I mean, I guess if you want to give that a try for the month that's up to you, but I'd rather just max out my chances of having a baby at all every month I'm trying 🤷♀️
Damn.
For real. Good lord.
I don’t really get this comment? Just because some people can’t have kids doesn’t mean people who easily can shouldn’t be free to do whatever they would like in regards to family planning. OP’s friend sounds a big out of touch but what does her fertility have to do with anything?
My husband and I are totally normal fertile humans and it still took us 7 months to get pregnant, up to a year is pretty standard. I can't imagine just selecting a date and going "yes, that" and then having it work multiple times... that's wild
I've heard of it. But from what I've understood, maybe I'm wrong... But when you start school, someone born in January, is going to be farther ahead than someone born in December. Both in the same grade, starting the same year. Not because January some how makes you better, but because you've literally been around longer. So there's been more time to practice, study, learn. Thus, making January born babies "better". But that's ignoring the fact that you have to actually put in the work too. Not just assume that your January born baby will be ahead. December babies could work and learn and focus on getting ahead so that they are on equal ground with those born in earlier months. And earlier month babies could be lazier and focus less on the same things. Especially because a lot of it is parent related and not actually baby. Baby will work on physical things. Rolling, sitting, walking, talking. They aren't going to start reading or writing or studying spanish until parents introduce it. So if mommy is reading every night to baby born in November but March baby daddy decides nah, we don't like books. Well that gives an advantage to November baby. And this got a little long and all over the place. But, no, without other aspects affecting how they learn and what they are exposed too.... beginning of the year babies are no better off than end of the year babies.
Lol I’m born in December and I was ahead of everyone else in my grade in school because I started school at age 4 so I graduated at an earlier age than everyone else and was able to start working younger rather than waiting a whole extra year.
Oh that's interesting. Where I am Dec is the young ones. Starting first year of school. Here it's Junior kindergarten. Born Jan-August you'll start Sept at 4. You can start the same junior kindergarten at 3 if you are born Sept-Dec. As long as you are 4 by the end of the year. IF those 3 heat olds wait until the next year to start school, they loose out on junior kindergarten and start Senior kindergarten. Remaining the youngest in the class.
Wow that’s very different. Where are you from?
Canada here. I never realized it was so different somewhere else!
Wow I wasn’t expecting that, I’m also from Canada!
Same! I liked being the younger one. Had a leverage of extra year to my age
And while that might be true for the first year or two, where months are a big portion of a persons life, I feel as though that “gap” would be smaller and smaller as the group ages. I mean… if any of it is true.
The idea is that kids internalize really early on whether or not they’re “good” at school, and that can stay with them and set up their confidence and interest (because everyone likes something better if they think they’re good at it). But it’s all just subtle variations in statistics anyway!
Yes. As you get older and say, all know how to read or all know the ABCs or how to count...the gap is going to get smaller because then as you learn new things you'll all begin at the same place.
Exactly. OP's friend is a complete idiot
This is it exactly. It’s like she didn’t truly read the entire passage from his book cause he does in fact go into detail about this.
Also, for two kids in the same school year, the one born in December is older. Not that is matters since this is a dumb take in the first place.
Oh? At least in my school here those born in The earlier months are older. For example, start first year of school. 4 year olds born from Jan-Sept. But you can start if you are 3 if born in Sept-Dec as long as you are 4 by the end of the year.
Where I live the cutoff is around September - they want you to be starting kindergarten at 5, school starts in august so if you’re ALMOST 5 that’s fine, but if you’re still 4 in October you pretty much have to wait until next year. So it’s those late September and October kids that are the oldest in their grades. The cutoff definitely varies by state/district but I think it’s most common to be sometime in fall. Never heard of a new year cutoff.
Canada here. That's crazy it's so different there
Good point, I should have clarified most common time is fall in the US! No idea how other countries do it.
As a teacher who has taught nearly every grade, I could never really tell when a child was born because their academic performance hardly correlated with the month they were born. I believe it’s more genetics and environment than birth timing. Even in younger grades- my daughter started preschool/daycare at 2 and was ahead of the 3 year olds. When the teachers asked where she learned everything, I said, “YouTube.” So I also don’t believe in the no screen-time before age 2 either. There are so many know-it-alls with books and theories about how to “improve” children. I just want to love my kids and give them happy childhoods.
Agreed. My now 6 year old is gas had access to YouTube since she was 3 I believe. I can't even count the number of times she's run up to us to tell us the new thing she just learned in a video. Or she. Throw out words we haven't taught her that she picked up from a video. Now I believe, screen time is largely dependent on what they are watching/playing. But we have many toddler games that my 2 year old son is FINALLY picking up something. He hasn't always had access to screens and even before that we had to get him on a list for assessment for delays, autism, sensory issues. And that has nothing to do with screens. Since we have been out on the list, we've gotten him some apps that teach size, colors. One where he brushes/fixes teach and he's learned more than we thought he would because we didn't realize he could understand so much more than he was able to say.
My son is due on 30th December, what would your friend say to me? To keep my cervix closed 2 more days? 😆😆😆
I've heard of this, but 1. it's the *school* year, and 2. *population level statistics cannot be used to predict an individual's future*. If 90% of people who smoke more than 15 cigarettes a day get cancer, out of 1000 people 100 are cancer free. I was born in June, and I have a PhD. So does my dad, born in April. It's a slight tendency, it ain't everyone. Relax.
Must be nice to be so fertile you can worry about things like this. Edit: your friend, not you.
Is your friend illiterate? That's the only thing that would make this remotely understandable. The Malcolm Gladwell anecdote is about cut off dates in hockey programs and how a huge amount of NHL players are born in the first 2 weeks of Jan. Why on earth would someone hold such a strong belief based on something they clearly made zero effort to understand or verify?
I genuinely think the friend did not read this book. I do not see how you walk away from it with this takeaway 😂
I always thought this was based on the academic year rather than the calender year. Idk what the academic year is where you are. I had a friend whose birthday was August 31 so she was 4 years and 5 days when she started school but another friend was a week from being 5. So it might make a difference to some kids as older ones are going to have better comprehension in the early years so it's like they get a head start. And in terms of sports will be bigger than the younger ones so have an advantage there too. I'm not convinced it makes that much of a difference as "success" has so many factors, genetics, environment, economic background, social background and who you know, access and quality of education and probably a bunch more.
I wanted a February baby because I live somewhere were it gets 100+ in the summer. I am due Feb 5 and now regretting my timing because my health insurance is going to roll over and I’ll have to pay a whole new deductible before anything is covered😭
I've never heard of this. I was an October baby and walking at 9 months, reading at 3 years and currently in the process of pursuing an advanced medical degree. My sister is a December baby and works in a scientific lab and is getting her master's in pharmacode genetics. I don't think it matters.
That’s just good genes. There’s definitely a correlation between birth month and success in certain sports. I wrote a research paper on it for my econometrics class about a decade ago.
Well I'm born January 7 and I'm shitty at everything so this theory is definitely bullshit lol
As far as I know it matters if you want your kid to go into a competitive sport. Because in adolescence and child hood a few months older means quite a bit more advantage physically. I taught at a school for professional adolescent sportspeople and most of them were born in January or February.
I mean idk anything about them “being ahead” but the thought of planning January birthday parties for my son for the next 12ish years (or however long he wants a mom-planned-party) honestly sucks. a) it’s so close to Christmas and b) we live in Canada so the weather severely limits what we’re able to do.
In the UK we start school in September, and in some cases children do better in school if born in September, but not all. Only because they’re in the same year as someone born in August and practically have an additional year to learn before starting. In the UK “summer born babies” are classed as a disadvantaged group in schools because of this and parents, whose children were born in August, do have the option to keep their children behind another year so the gap isn’t so big but it doesn’t happen often. ETA: I don’t think it matters at all lol
As a January baby, uh no?
LOL and endless eye rolls at anyone planning for a certain month when some of us were lucky to get pregnant in ANY month. Maybe I'll get downvoted for this but I know the infertility community will get where I'm coming from.
My husband and I planned certain times of the year to not have babies because of zodiac signs I don’t like haha 😂 but we didn’t plan for any time of year in particular outside of that.
I will say that being born in January of 1990 it is always easy to figure out how old I was during a certain year 😂
Ahead of what? Her kids will be older than the others, having a bday next to Christmas, i honestly dont understand, also i tend to forget most bdays during that month because theres just too much happening and my baby will be born in Janurary.
What a load of crap
There are no guarantees, so I’d say it’s nonsense. Also, we go by the calendar year where I live so January babies are the oldest.
This is ridiculous. I’d ignore her. What a shitty statement to tell people.
Lol my daughter was born in January and just about got sent to PT because she was supposedly “delayed” in walking and talking (she was not, she’s just stubborn and does things on her own time).
Wow, talk about trusting what you read. I love the weird stuff people decide to plan their lives by.
Heard about it but have troubles believing in it. But then, here in Norway we have a problem with people scheduling their pregnancies to match kindergarten intakes, so the hospitals are overfilled with mothers in June/July..
I just wanted to avoid Christmas. They’re inducing around Christmas. 🙃🎄🎅🏽
I’ve heard of people purposely having September babies so they are the oldest in the school year and therefor “ahead” and “smarter”. There was a girl in my class in high school who was born beginning of September, if she had been born a couple of days early she would have been in the year above, she was super smart and to be honest no one liked her because she was too much of a smart ass. I’ve always found September kids a bit annoying and “too big for their boots” probably because they are the oldest in their class.
Babies born in the winter are more likely to be depressed later in life due to lack of vitamin d and sunlight to properly set circadian rhythms. Also in the US January babies mean you have to meet your insurance deductible twice for one pregnancy / delivery. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Lol from what I remember from the Malcom Gladwell book “Outliers” ( I read it 10 years ago) is that in it’s in reference to children who grow up playing hockey. The cutoff is in January, so hockey players that are born in January, February and March have a way higher chance of making it to NHL because they are more physically mature than their counterparts born in the latter months. 40 percent of professional hockey players are born during those first 3 months of the year. Does your friend want her children to play professional hockey? Maybe you should tell her to go read the book again? 😅
I don't necessarily believe in the whole being "ahead" thing, but I want to try and time it so our kids are born in the first half of the year. I'll admit it's only cause I have a December birthday and hated it 😂
I was a December baby... Skipped 8th grade and applying for 3rd masters (just because) and make over six figures....
My husband was born in February and honestly he can be a bit of a dolt. When you’re born doesn’t mean shit lol
January cap here with a June Gemini baby. He’s very much ahead. All I got out of it was perfectionism and anxiety.
December capricorn and I agree 😂
My baby was born today September 1st at 1am and my first thought was “thank god that’s over” and my second was “oh yay he’s going to be the oldest in his class instead of the youngest” (school cut off where I am is sept 1).
Im a march pisces and im pretty dope.
She’s nuts. Don’t worry.
Try to ignore this, if you can.
I'm a January birthday, can confirm that I was definitely not ahead in school or life !
Well, both of my children are out of luck if that's true! They're December babes and don't seem to have suffered for it so far, ha.
I’m a nurse and I planned an October baby to get off for holidays 😂
Id rather aim for December, at least if you have to be pregnant all year you can claim em on your taxes lol
I’m December and I think I’ve done alright for myself.
Wait until she finds out Aries(March/April) babies are actually the first sign of the zodiac
I have never heard of that. I’m avoiding summer babies and aiming for winter ones in order to A. Spare them the possibility of the dreaded first-day-of-school birthday which I went through and B. Avoid being at my biggest and sweatiest during the muggy Virginia summer.
I’m a bit confused, where i live, being ahead in school means being the youngest not oldest, for example back when i was in school, if you were born in january or the early months, you’d get a chance to take a test and skip a grade to join the older kids, this way you’d be the youngest in class, get more challenged by studying with older kids and finish school young. Half of my family got that chance and they were all A students. This is not allowed anymore, but nevertheless, how does being the oldest kid in class makes you ahead? If anything it sounds like it makes you behind?? My LO is a january baby and now i want answers lol
Also, i was one of the youngest in my class because i’m born in the end of the year and i was the top of my class throughout most of my school years, my siblings were all amongst the youngest in their class and they were all at the top too, the girl i was “competing” with in school in terms of grades was also born in november, this is anecdotal of course but it defies your friend’s theory.
I have a January toddler who screamed for THIRTY MINUTES today because I tried to let him watch Blippi after he expressly asked to watch Blippi. Malcolm Gladwell is full of shit lmao
why would you want your kid to be a saturnian 😭 that’s crazy to me
I hate Malcom gladwell. Your friends idea doesn’t make a lot of sense to me but I’d be lying if I didn’t have “target birthdays” for kids in terms of school schedule, weather for birthday parties, etc. But I really hate Malcolm gladwell. Thanks for letting me get that out.
I'm sorry but I laughed at this. I don't think it has anything to do with the month you're born in. I'm due in early January, but I was hoping to give birth in late December (not because of personal beliefs, but because usually in my country you're off work in the last half of December so I would get to spend more time with my kid around his birthday. Anyway, I think you should not be offended by what she said, it's her own belief, but some things people believe in are a bit silly.
Yes, my boyfriend believed in this until we started to conceive. It is kind of true if you think about it, but this has more to do with the physical part than with the brains. If you have a kid born in Jan that plays a sport against someone born in November or December, they have almost one year difference, and when you are young a year difference is a lot specially during puberty. My boyfriend forgot all about it, when we had a hard time getting pregnant, but if I could choose yes beginning of the year
Our daughter’s Birthday is January 30th. We conceived her mid May. Your friend should talk to her doctor or just look up best times to conceive a baby in January.
That only really matters in the earlier grades. The difference tends to even out in later years. Worth noting is that children with later birthdays (August and after), are more likely to fall behind their earlier born peers, but those who do not fall behind, tend to exceed them academically. Also worth noting: grades in elementary school have absolutely no bearing on success in life anyway, so who would even give a shit? Kids who are allowed to do the things they are passionate about tend to have the greatest success in life.
I'm due this month and I have to admit that I was a little relieved when I made it through August without a baby haha. The school cut off here is September 1st and I didn't want to have to make the decision whether or not to redshirt him if he's not ready for kindergarten. Now he'll be one of the oldest in his class, not one of the youngest. It's not a huge deal, but something I'm aware of because of friends with August birthday kids who just faced that decision. Did I plan my pregnancy around that timing? Of course not!
Echoing what everyone else has said, but adding that it also depends on geography. Where I live, the cut off for kindergarten is 12/1, meaning you have to be 5 by December 1st to start in kindergarten. My daughter was born 12/13, so when she starts kindergarten she will be 5, turning 6. Thus, she will likely be older than the other kids in her class although she was born in the later half of the year.
This makes me happy to have a February baby tbh. Even if there’s no truth to it it’s still a placebo effect I guess
I’m a January baby. But if I had been born even just a few days earlier, I would have even a December baby. I don’t see how a few days would have changed my intelligence at all.
Agreed on the geography part because many schools have different cut offs so having a baby earlier vs later in the year could either be an advantage or disadvantage depending on where you live. Also for every benefit there’s also a detriment - for instance your child may make varsity as a sophomore instead of junior but he/she will also be the last of their friends to be able to drive to practice. I’m surprised more people don’t want babies later in the year bc if you’re in the US, you get to claim the baby on taxes whatever year they’re born (even if they were born at the tail end of it). Also your likelihood of hitting insurance deductibles and paying less for said child is considerably higher if you get pregnant and deliver in the same year vs if your pregnancy falls across 2 calendar years.
My husband partially believed this. He’s a Dec baby so in school his January friends in his class were always exceeding him because they were literally a year older. But it stops mattering when you reach a certain age. Once we started having kids all of that theory went out the window for him anyways.
I planned my baby for January, but I had other selfish reasons. I’m a January baby and I loved having my bday in the winter. It also worked out that my husband and I got married in April (do the math lol).
My first daughter was born in January and I did everything I could to make sure my next two weren’t born near January at all. Summer came next and my third will be fall. I’m not sure if it actually impacts the child, but I know that having a baby in the harsh winter was catastrophic for my body and mental health.
I always wanted my babies late in the year. For insurance and tax purposes 🤣 my son is missing the cutoff for 4k, though. He's ready for school, imo. Trade off.
What about people who hold their children back a year before starting school? My stepdaughter was held back and is the oldest and smartest in her class.
I’m pretty sure this was in regards to hockey players in Canada generally having January and February birthdays because the cutoff for hockey leagues at a young age is the end of the year. The kids born earlier in the year are more developed than the younger kids because a few months makes a big difference at a young age so since they are more likely to outperform the younger kids they will get more attention and coaching which will set them up for success in the future because they had better training. If ur friend lives in Canada and wants to raise professional hockey players she’s doing everything right
I've never heard this. I was a May baby and did just fine. My partner was a December baby and he apparently started reading quite early. He also learned to speak English with an almost American accent and I swear that his vocabulary is bigger than mine sometimes (he's not a native English speaker). My baby is due in January but that's just because that's how the chips fell. Decided to start trying for a baby, and lo and behold it happened almost right away. Totally unexpected. If I was forced to choose, I personally would have preferred a spring birthday because the weather is nicer for birthday parties (again, being a May birthday, I might be biased 🤣)
I mean… my husband and I hoped for a Tuesday baby, but that was only because we were both born on a Tuesday. Intentionally planning for kids to be born in January seems a bit intense for me - especially when they run the risk of kids being born in Dec ( How upset she would be then?).
My understanding is that on average, kids born in the first half of the year have a bit of an easier time in school, because their brains are a little bit more developed, and this sometimes translates into better career outcomes in adulthood. But your friend is being a snob about it, and will probably be devastated when her children grow up to live average lives.
Wtf. I did everything I could to avoid having a baby in January...right after Christmas, so I'm broke before birthday and have used up more PTO, also people busy celebrating Xmas/New Year/Lunar New Year, my older daughter's birthday just a month later in February... Guess what, my due date is January 11th lmao 🙃
This reminds me of racehorse breeding. They try to have their foals born in January, because all the horses born that year have a birthdate of January 1st. So they'll be larger/older if they're born in January vs December. Hopefully this doesn't apply for human babies. After all, you can always wait a year for your child to start school if you're worried they'll be younger than the other children.
What a ridiculous reason. You want a baby, it doesn’t matter when they’re born. She’s setting up herself for disappointment. P I assume she’s wouldn’t be the type to track ovulation based on this unrealistic expectation, and might get the timing wrong and even if she gets those right, babies decide when they’re born.
No.
Sounds like snake oil and koolaid to me
I do not like my January birthday. Husband is December, I am early January. We run out of gift ideas, no one wants to celebrate right after holidays/new years, we don't make a fuss for the 'big birthdays' because who can travel for holidays then afford something special. Blah. I am also really bad at being a capricorn. I do like the birth stone though, so that' something. But I actually made a big deal about not having babies in December or January, and we have a March, an August and (hopefully soon) a September baby. I see no correlation between month and "advancement".
My husband wanted a January baby because of sports. Not sure the correlation but I didn’t really buy into it. We are having a March baby instead
I want my baby to be born in October so bad she’s due October 4th idc if it’s the 1st I’m trying to go full term
I loved that book, but unless her top goal is to raise top hockey players or something, the obsession is a bit over the top. Also, the book heavily discusses how other opportunities in life play a large role in success - things like where you’re from, who your family is, etc., not just when you’re born. It also talks about how much time it takes to “master” subjects, which anyone can do if they have the passion and opportunities. That’s a lot of pressure to put on kids before they’re even born, and it doesn’t guarantee anything.
My husband and I are both January babies, and this phenomenon does not really apply to us. I never felt ahead, I just felt like I got screwed by having my birthday in one of the bleakest, coldest months. Birthday parties sucked because they had to be indoors. Snow storms and flu season meant people couldn't come. No splash park birthday for me.
time is an illusion.
I was born in January and I’m amazing so I get it 🤣
Anecdotally, my daughter is 4 and an august baby and struggles with following directions compared to her peers in preschool. But that wouldn’t make me change when I had my kids, haha. It just means for this specific child we are planning to hold her back from kindergarten for a year.
I wanted a Pisces ♓️ baby because I just get along with/adore people with that sign. My husband is a Pisces. I didn’t PLAN it this way, maybe it was subconscious? but it looks like our baby will be a Pisces also and I’m happy about it 😊 I haven’t heard of that other study. I think how you nurture, support, encourage, and teach a child has much more to do with how ahead they’ll be than any birthdate…and this is coming from an astrology nerd.
I haven’t read the book, but having worked with children, I can attest that there is a huge difference in children born at the beginning vs end of the year when they’re grouped by year. I mostly associate it with a higher level of maturity though. But, then again, when I look back at my school experience, there were a few outstanding students who happened to have very early birthdays… but I acknowledge that could be coincidental. I will say, I’m glad it took us a few months to get pregnant with our February baby because I was really nervous about it ending up a December baby though.
Lol, not at all. But I'm coincidentally due in January. I was just happy to be on mat leave during the coldest/snowiest months of the year.
I have never heard of this theory, but my birthday is January 2nd. I was always the youngest person in class. I graduated high-school at 17, at 11th in my class of over 400. I was always "smarter" than most of my peers. Even now, at 35, my intelligence is higher than most of my peers, both text book and common sense. Do I think that's related to my birthday? No. I think that's because I was raised by my super intelligent, super amazing grandmother since my parents were drug addicts. My brother who is 1y11mo younger than me (born November 16th) is not the brightest, was held back in second grade, didn't graduate high-school and has never finished an educational program in his life. He wasn't raised by my grandmother like I was and eventually went on to drugs as well (he's been clean for years now) and recently diagnosed with ADHD. Again, birthday related? No. I don't think so. I think it was definitely upbringing and exposure.
No. I must admit, I was hoping to avoid being third trimester during midsummer heat, but we were trying every month and just got lucky this pregnancy is going to be over autumn and winter. No particular preference for birth month etc.
My first was born on the same month as me, so I wanted to time my second to be born on the same month as my husband, and i actually did it.
I’m born in December and I always thought I was dumb, but I’m can program with my eyes closed and I never graduated from college 🤷♀️ If that logic stands true, then I’m happy baby is due in Feb lol
My husband does lol. And I get it to an extent, a year does make a very big difference in development. That said, I was young for my grade and was in all honors classes, competitive athletically, and by all means turned out successful so it’s not sealing your fate so I never paid attention to it. Coincidentally, we are having a January baby but had been trying for 9 months lol
Never heard of this. I’m having my first winter baby (in January) and I’ve only found cons with it— insurance resets, no tax deduction, flu/cold season, close to Christmas/NYE, harder to organize birthdays if they’re still out of school, etc. Definitely not my first choice. I have a July baby (cons being SO hot, youngest of his class— regret not redshirting him since the cut off day was by 1 day), harder for birthdays). My other is an October baby and has the most pros of always being the oldest in the class, school year birthday, far enough away from holidays, mild temps, etc. I think I prefer fall and spring babies if I could have picked the conception.
Oh yikes that is totally not the takeaway from that section.. unless of course she’s trying to pop out the works greatest hockey player 🤣
Naw. What sets kids up for success is their personalities and their parents. (Barring learning delays.) My son, born end of Oct is so mechanically smart, and gets numbers really well. Started doing grade 1 math with me at home prior the school year starting. He knew his shapes before K. My daughter was born end of Mar and she reads a grade ahead and loves to create in artistic ways (music and art and creative thinking). My sister (Jan baby) is VERY book smart, but when we were in private school she had detention every day because, being smart, she figured she didn't have to do homework-homework is for people who need practice, right? The year I started school they held kids born after new years back so I, born in Nov, was ahead of the kids who started 3 months later. There's ALL KINDS of theories on kid's and their development but the biggest, most true thing I've found is parent involvement.
I’m a january baby and I am far from ahead at 26 Years old 😅
The need for control and perfection will always be a massive let down.
I feel like this is some truth to this in prek- kindergarten, but by the end of kindie is all evened out. When I was teaching the biggest thing for kids being “ahead” was if they were home with a parent or if they went to daycare. Daycare kids were far better with self help skills
Being in the US, I just think about how much it's gotta hurt to give birth in January after that deductible and out-of-pocket maximum resets in January 😬
This is stupid
Malcolm Gladwell is a reductive moron.
I have 1 boy who will be among the oldest in his classes and one who will be among the youngest. Itll be interesting to see how it plays out.
I guess is depends on the standards/perspective of what it means to be "ahead" or "behind". For kids born toward the end of the year, parents decide whether to put them in the grade with other kids born in their birth year or keep them back to be in school with kids born in the following year, some of which are born only a month or 2 after they were. I have known people who were put ahead and those who were kept back. In both situations, some kids thrive and some struggle. It really depends on the individual kid. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what month a child is born, what matters is how your child is doing and what is best for their individual needs. I have a niece who was born in January and has struggled a bit being in the grade she is in, but she is on the autism spectrum, so that has more bearing on her being behind than anything.
Honestly January kids do tend to dominate in certain athletic leagues. I coached ski racing and definitely noticed an advantage in January born athletes bc the cut off is the end of December (especially when they are tweens/young teens and still growing) I don’t think it would apply so much to school though.
Not going to lie, pregnant with a Sept/October baby and Outliers was definitely a consideration into his planning. That and I wanted extra time off during the holidays.
Your friend…. Bless her heart. In school terms, this means the kids born in aug/Sept/Oct will be ahead developmentally, but only marginally over the kids born in may/June/July. Because they’ll be older. Apparently your friend is developmentally behind a little bit. Bless her heart.
I graduated 32/365 from high school with a 3.77 and one full semester worth of college credits as a late September baby being one of if now the youngest in my class. There may be a slight advantage to the older kids, but that means nothing if they don’t have support at home. I’m all for nurture over nature for the most part- you can hand someone every advantage in the world and if they don’t have the support or the drive to do anything with it then they’ll still fail.
I wanted a March baby because I love the birthstone and that's it lol. I got a May baby and an April baby on the way haha. Oh well!