Definitely a lot of pros and cons to choosing this ~ I agree that I would not be 'recommended' either way but just providing resources of things to consider in making their choice as well as support that if they choose 'not to' that I will do my best to continue to promote their development!

I know from my experience of my BFF being the 'youngest' in the class SUCKED for her all the way through her school years ~ she still complains about being the December baby ... poor thing cause she hung out with many of our group who were the JANUARY/FEBRUARY kids so they were the oldest in the group by almost a year cause they had to wait to start school a whole extra year .... so IHO everyone was always doing stuff 'before her' not just education wise cause there she caught up just fine but the challenge for her was the SOCIAL aspect of the school experience ... she was basically a year behind us all the way through school so we were all planning those 'milestone' parties the same year the double digits of 10, 13, 16, 18, 21 and so forth ~ she felt excluded ... the older we got the harder those difference became cause if we were all out 'legally' drinking and she did not get in and so forth

I empathize cause my stepson is going through the same thing right now ~ he is a late December baby and all his friends are already driving this year and he still has not even been able to take the test and he is feeling bummed about that.

It sucks cause I am not sure the answer cause no matter when they 'cut off' the start date there is always going to be that issue ... my advice is parents should plan their babies to be born in the summer cause than you are right in the middle