Many parents spoke of feeling anxious and stressed by the enormity of the decision, showing particular concern for the potential long-term impact of their decision-making on their child’s future. Craig explained: “Because it’s… something that can potentially affect their whole life, I think” (Craig, Father, as cited in MacKinnon, 2019, p. 67).
Craig’s concern regarding the long-term impact of the decision may be attributed to what he described as his first-born son starting school “on the wrong foot”. He wondered “whether it’s caused him, you know [to] start off school on the wrong foot… too immature for it” (Craig, Father). There was concern that the decision could potentially impact the son’s entire schooling journey. Craig’s concern was validated by Norbury et al. (2016) who indicated early school failure may lead to lowered self-esteem in children, which may negatively impact on attitudes towards school in later years. Page et al. (2019) also reported that children who were relatively older than their peers experienced greater success and performed more strongly at school due to their additional maturity. Craig felt his son, who had been one of the youngest in the cohort with a February birthdate, had struggled immensely maturity-wise in comparison to his peers.
It’s about maturity and stamina and then also thinking about it, how it will be just ongoing. Like we feel like Adam, each year, is going to be struggling with maturity just because all the other ones are just a bit older than him. (Craig, Father)
When weighing up the decision for her first-born son, Sarah recalled assessing the potential harm of both options (to delay or to send) for her son. Sarah then relied on her maternal instinct to choose the option she believed would cause the ‘least’ harm to her child. She recalled: I remember saying with Matthew… by keeping him back I cannot do any harm to the child. I cannot hurt him by doing what I’m doing. But if I decided to send him and it was too early, it actually could have lasting long-term damaging effects on him. (Sarah, Mother)
On the other hand, Cindy revealed that she was sending her second born son to school at the earliest opportunity to avoid a negative long-term impact. She was worried that a delayed entry may result in him becoming bored at school, which could then impact on his entire 13 years of schooling. Cindy explained that her eldest son, who had been formally assessed as gifted, had experienced several behavioural issues at school which she attributed to boredom. Cindy was concerned that if her second son was also gifted, a delayed start could result in a repeat of the difficulties the family had previously experienced with the first son.
She explained: But it’s not preschool that I’m worried about if I hold him back another year. It’s school – it’s the next 13 years at school, whether he’ll be bored the next thirteen years because he starts at the head of the game, and he just keeps going. (Cindy, Mother)
Cindy’s concern was validated by Australian research undertaken by Martin (2009) who assessed the long-term impacts of delayed school entry on motivation, engagement, and performance in high school. His findings showed poor long-term outcomes for children who had been academically redshirted, reporting higher levels of disengagement, lower homework completion and poorer academic achievement.
Concern regarding the long-term impact of the decision on the child was also experienced by other parents who favoured sending their children to school at the earliest opportunity. Heather had been convinced she was sending her first, May-born son to school at the earliest opportunity and he was enrolled to start. However, the long-term impact of the decision weighed heavily on Heather’s conscience. Whilst the ECEC teacher and schoolteacher both reassured her that her son would cope if he started school, they indicated potential long-term social issues in high school for consideration. As the school year approached, Heather eventually changed her mind and academically redshirted her son.
I enrolled him. He was going. And that was the end of it. And I didn’t care what anyone was saying, like I know he’s ready and I’m sticking to my guns. And then it, just as it got closer and closer, it got me is the crunch, and his primary school and the pre-school teacher were all saying “It will be alright. He will be okay. But… what about when he turns 16?” And everyone goes “oh he’s not 16 yet and everyone’s driving, and he can’t” and what about… I can’t think that far ahead…. (Heather, Mother)
Consideration of the long-term impact of the decision was contemplated by many parents in the study. Despite her claim “I’m sticking to my guns” in the previous extract, Heather admitted to finally succumbing to the pressure of external influences and the potential long-term impact of her decision through her reference to “the crunch”. Linda felt it “seems ridiculous” to be worrying about their son’s secondary schooling before he had even started school. She revealed:
So, I’ve said to my husband the last few days because he’s been very much like we’re going to send him, we’re just going to send him. I’ve said I think we need to start thinking about not the now because I think he’ll be fine if we send him next year, he’d be fine. But more about the Year Seven or Year 12 which seems ridiculous because we’ve got no idea what’s going to happen then. (Linda, Mother)
Ashini also shared feeling frustrated by the potential long-term impact of her decision to send her July-born son to school at the earliest opportunity. Whilst recognising that initially, her son may cope with the expectations and demands of the Foundation year, Ashini expressed concern that her decision to send him could impact him throughout the rest of his schooling.
Even if he’s fine in Kindy [Foundation], he may not be fine in Year Two and Year
Four and Year Six and Year Eight… when he’s going through puberty and all the rest of it. So, it’s just going to be one of those never-ending things. (Ashini, Mother)
Her use of the phrase “one of those never-ending things” exposed Ashini’s anxiety of the potential long-term impact of her family’s decision to send their son to school at the earliest opportunity. She expressed apprehension regarding potential feelings of regret if the decision were to impact negatively on her son as he got older. Ashini’s concern was affirmed by participants in Focus Group 2 who discussed the differences in level of maturity which often emerged as children moved into adolescence. Maria explained:
The literature also revealed parents often considered the long-term impact of this decision on the child. In Mergler and Walker’s (2017) study, parents were concerned about the high school years, particularly if their child would be considered young for the cohort. Parents instead indicated a preference for their child to be older and more mature to deal with issues commonly associated with the teenage years such as peer pressure and drinking. Sandrine indicated: “I’ve heard it a lot. Why would you want to send?… Everyone else will be drinking when they finish the HSC and your child won’t be” (Sandrine, Mother). Karina agreed, showing concern that a child who starts at the earliest opportunity will feel left out because they will “be at uni and not driving and not being [sic] able to go and drink” (Karina, Mother). However, some parents thought it was absurd that future experiences related to their child’s driving and alcohol use was influencing parents’ decision-making. Kelly asked “… Did you really make a decision about your child’s education based on whether or where they’re going to sit in the car?…” (Kelly, Mother) in reference to obtaining a driver’s licence.
The concerns about the long-term impact of the parent’s decision on their child’s learning and development were not confined to the years of schooling. Some parents expressed apprehension regarding the impact of the decision on their child’s life after school.
Often issues show up in high school and that transition… that age gap discrepancy and maturity really shows [sic] then…. it may not be showing now but it can show the cusp of adolescence, and that can come up its own issues. (Maria, Mother)
Maria predicted parents wouldn’t find out whether their decision was the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ one until their children graduated from school. She predicted: “We’ll only know when they graduate probably… whether it was the right decision or wrong” (Maria, Mother). Parental concerns regarding the long-term impact of starting school age on future life outcomes were validated by the literature which showed that there were negative long-term impacts of starting school at the earliest opportunity, with lower rates of participation in tertiary education (Bedard & Dhuey, 2006; Black et al., 2011).
Some parents were concerned about their child’s ability to socialise with their peers during the tertiary years. Kaitlyn reflected on her own experience of starting university at a young age, which had a significant influence on her decision-making. Kaitlyn expressed a desire for her son to be 18 years of age when he started university so that he would be of legal age to socialise with his friends at adult venues.
And I debated that in terms of you know, if he’s the oldest what happens at university… beyond university? And I was the youngest in my year. So that’s another thing that affected me thought process wise… I started uni at 17…I was able to go clubbing with a fake ID… Lucky that was the case. Because otherwise that would have affected my friendship, my bonding, and that kind of thing in that new environment… Like that’s … a silly thing but it’s true. It’s real, like at that age… if you were unable to go out with friends…So… whilst it didn’t affect me and I still went to uni and I did a Bachelor of Science and it didn’t affect me directly, the fact that I went to school early, that consideration as to what that meant … when they turn 18 and all the rest of its important to me. (Kaitlyn, Mother)
Whilst there has been a significant shift in how Australians consume alcohol in the last decade, drinking still plays an important role in the social experience for 18–24-year-olds with many using alcohol as a tool to relax (DrinkWise Australia, 2017). Kaitlyn’s concerns regarding her son being of legal drinking age at university were affirmed by other parents from Focus Group 2. Maria referred to several social opportunities a school leaver may potentially miss out on due to being younger than their peers.
With the first child when you put on, post on Facebook forums, you know, what did you do? That is a reason a lot of parents actually said “well, all their friends will be clubbing, and my child won’t be able to.” Or “all their friends will be drinking but my child won’t be able to.” (Maria, Mother)
Other parents, such as Brett, considered it important for his daughters to finish school at 18 years of age. He believed that being an adult offered greater employment opportunities to school leavers. This was affirmed by Page et al. (2019) who found long-term impacts of relative age on career choices. They found children who were relatively older for their cohort exhibited higher levels of self-confidence, risk taking and competitiveness which were often associated with economic success.
At the other end of the scale, not about starting school but finishing school, she’ll be 18 and so will Maddie. So, they’ll be 18 when they finish. That gives them a lot more options in terms of employment and hopefully more or, I don’t know, more um maturity when they finish school. (Brett, Father)
It has been shown that many parents in the study revealed apprehension and anxiety regarding the potential long-term impact of their decision-making on their child’s schooling. In particular, parents were concerned about the high school years, and their child’s ability to deal with issues such as peer pressure and drinking. Some parents were concerned about the impact of the decision-making on their child’s life after school, including the child’s ability to socialise with their peers during the tertiary years.