I don't know how much of the emotional problems would have been resolved by not being the youngest - I was also small and "developed late" so I was the last by over a year to get a period.
Then I hit middle school. This is a tough time for every kid and to be a full year younger than many was really difficult. I was not developing like the other girls, I was immature because I was younger and very sensitive- someone was always hurting my feelings!
On the opposite side of things, it is very embarrasing and emotionally tough to be a girl that develops sooner than any of the other girls, "larger" sooner than the other girls, and starting your cycle first.
Middle school sucks for everyone LOL
AMEN! "
Middle school sucks for everyone!"
'Cause it's *really* fun being the 'C-cup' when none of your friends even need training bras - makes the whole social scene SO much easier . . . (but you know what, I got over it!).
Our schools use to be number 1 in the world when we were kids. Now by 5th grade we are not even in the top 20. Something is wrong!!! It is not the kids!!
I agree, something IS wrong - but I don't think the answer (to
that issue) is delaying starting. If you're interested in this topic, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is doing a LOT of work with this. IMO, *this* issue is more revealed by the joke about Rumplestiltskin - wakes up from his 100 years to find an entirely different world (people communicating via ear-bud cell phones and surfing the 'net on their BlackBerries, etc), everywhere he goes everything looks completely different . . . until he steps into a place he recognizes from his own childhood - a school! The world has changes all around us, yet our curriculum is frozen in time . . ..
My BIGGEST worry with 'delaying' is the message we potentially send to our (as a whole) children - that they are somehow not 'good enough' unless they are *exactly* like everyone else (and/or ahead of the curve). No matter when,
someone will always be the biggest/smallest, oldest/youngest, most/least mature, fastest/slowest, most/least academic, most/least athletic, most/least artistic, etc, etc, etc . . . and that's *NOT* a bad thing. We learn from diversity as well as books.
As for ALL these teachers who claim to "be able to pick the Summer b-days out of a crowd" - WHY IS THAT A BAD THING? Instead they should all be delayed (since they're "so easy to pick out")? So, then will you be "able to pick the Fall b-days out of a crowd?" How far does that go? There will always be a range - and yes, statistically speaking those who are younger will more likely have corresponding skill sets - but, they're children, not robots . . ..
IMO, artificially 'rigging' the system doesn't solve the problem, it exacerbates it (not to say there's *never* are reason to delay, but it should be less common than it is, IMO).