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Sooner or later: When is the right time to send your child to school?

This week, parenting columnist Kasey Simpson faces a common dilemma.

Ah, the perennial question that many parents face with kids born from January to April: to send or not to send your child to school a year earlier?

As my son's birthday falls in early February, right on the cusp of the start of the school year, this decision has been looming over me like a dark cloud of indecision. It won’t be for another two years, but I was very sure that I wanted to send him early, and now, not so much.

Now, I've heard the whispers about boys supposedly developing later than girls. But let's be real, my son has been mastering the art of mischief since he could crawl, so I'm not sure if that holds true. When the time comes, I know what to look for and I’ll be chatting to his daycare teachers to guide me.

I was a January baby myself and one of the youngest in my year. Did it make a difference? Well, aside from needing a fake ID to get into drinking spots in my last year and dominating every sporting competition in primary school because I was up against the younger age group, I'd say not much. But, hey, who needs a social life when you're the reigning champ of the egg and spoon race, right?

In all seriousness, though, the decision to send your child to school early is not one to be taken lightly. It's a delicate balance between considering their academic readiness, social development and emotional maturity.

So, what's a parent to do? Well, for now, I think I'll take a leaf out of my son's playbook and embrace the spirit of curiosity and adventure. After all, life's too short to spend it agonising over decisions that may or may not have a significant impact in the grand scheme of things.

What will you do?

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