Why it’s a good idea to deliver babies in September?
September 26, 2008
“Ever wondered why so many babies are born in September?”, read the tag line of an ad in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport that I’d seen numerous times a few years ago; yet, every time I’d stop by to see the glittering diamond gifted by the husband to his wife on New Year’s eve. Too late to make a wish for that diamond or LG being a September born.
You’ll know very soon what the fuss about being born in Sept. is all about? But before that, a little history on my schooling. 1st Std. to 12th Std. in 13 schools across 3 states and 2 countries. That should give some insight into my primary and secondary education. I did not do kindergarten because the schools at the places we lived in then did not have one, so I was enrolled into 1 st Std at 3.5 years only to move after a few months; the next place we moved to had a school with KG and I did 3 months of LKG before being sent home indefinitely as I was suffering from the contagious whopping cough. At 6 years, in 1st Std I did not know how to recite the letters of the alphabet in order even in 1st std. though always stood within the first three ranks until the school found out about the “ABC”s and concluded there was something fishy. I didn’t know any rhyme beyond “Twinkle Tiwnkle Little Star” until a year back when I learned excitedly “Humpty Dumpty” and “Ring a Ring a Roses” while teaching LG. And, I actually did the first 3 months of my 10th Std. with Matriculation syllabus in Tamil Nadu, India before moving on to a CBSE board Indian School in Bahrain. That sets the record straight giving some perspective on my schooling days. Despite so many moves, never once did my parents lose sleep over getting my brother and I admissions in the school, usually only one in the vicinity. Those were simpler days.
I’ve been losing my sanity over finding a school that would accept LG for nursery. Yes, nursery. He turns two-and-a-half next June. Admissions begin as a early as August with the entire process getting over by November, I’ve come to know from my interactions with the schools. Hadn’t it been for a casual statement from a visiting friend about the admission process, I would have slept over it waking up sometime next May to get LG admitted in a nursery. I do live in an Utopian world of my own, don’t I?
Not familiar with the schools around the locality I live in, I sought help from a few people I knew in the apartment of the names of schools kids went to here; then turned to the faithful Google for further info on feedback of schools, distance, phone numbers, admission process etc. It’s been a vicious circle ever since. If the location and medium of education (preferably Montessori) is conducive, then not LG’s age. If LG’s age by some stroke of luck is right, then the admission process is already over in the school. In short, I got tired of working out the combinations in my head and turned to a spreadsheet like an organised mom listing schools, addresses, age criteria, other requirements, how to apply, last date, fees, so on and so forth. The query sheets and traceability matrix of most projects I’ve worked on were way simpler and concise than this one.
It is expected of a parent to go to lengths for a child. Right? So I went with the flow until I blew my top while filling the application form for this G*** International School. It read : “A brief about the child’s strengths and problem areas. Please post a write-up about your child.” I worked hard on this one than I have on my resume during my working years. Totally exhausted from racking my brain on the strengths and weaknesses part, I outsourced the write-up part to LG’s dad. What can you say about the strengths of a 1 year, 9 month old kid? Hardworking - works all day pouring sand into his plastic bucket with a spade and climbs up and down tirelessly in the mid-day sun on the slides. Or should it be “a great team player” -believes in sharing his toys with other kids. Or go a step further and say, “believes in learning hands-on” - even if it means keeping a finger at other toddler’s eyes to demonstrate where their eyes are located. Folks, I’m at a loss for word because damn it, the kid is barely a two years old and you expect a write-up and laundry list of strengths and weaknesses. What is this - a shrink session to assess the child on before admitting him/her?
Most schools that I have called have this rule: “As of June 1, the kid should be between 2yr 9 months and 3 years old for Montessori M-0 or (s)he should be between 1 yr 10 months and 2 yr 9 mo to be admitted in toddler session or (s)he should be above 3 years for nursery.” One school with good feedback, when I prodded on about the right age for LG after they refused to admit him for the next session, said ,”Ma’am, you can consider applying for 1st std when he is 6 years old.” Felt like replying, “Thank you very much. I’ll keep that in mind four years from now and home school my child until then.”This child-planning in all likelihood will beat India’s five-year plans.
Let’s not get started on the fee structure. I feel ashamed at saying that we would be required to spend nearly 70% of what my parents spent for 4 years of my engineering in 1 year for LG’s nursery which is a whopping Rs.70,000. Isn’t this crazy? I did my 4 years of engineering (tuition, hostel, photocopies, stationery, commute and other miscellaneous expenses) in Rs.91,537 or so. Yes, I kept a daily account then. Even factoring in an average of 6% annual inflation should get the nursery fees so high assuming nursery today is equivalent to a regular degree a decade back 
? And, more than enough reason for me to get back to mainstream work?
My afternoons are fruitfully spent visiting schools and taking a tour of their facilities. On some occasions, I do forget for a minute where I am seeing all those splash pools, swimming pools, gyms, aerobics classes, skating rink if it weren’t for a sudden cry from the day care center or students racing to the buses at the end of the day. The schools I’ve studied at, even the most sophisticated ones, are a far cry from the ones I’ve seen in the last few days. Individual chairs and tables - not those long wooden benches that I’ve seen all my life, flashy classrooms with colorful posters on the walls - no wonder these schools universally carry the “international” tag. Honestly, I didn’t come back with a good feeling. My stomach churned at the thought of sending my to be 2.5 year old son to BIG schools as these. I was looking for something small and cosy to start his 15 years of basic education; one that he would look forward to go to every day and not something intimidating with its sheer size and sophistication. The hunt continues.
So, it’s after all not such a bad idea to get that diamond for a New Year gift and start the baby making process in Jan just in time for school admissions?
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Hi,
Browsing by and came across your site. Very useful and informative.
I am also doing a short write-up on schools and wanted to link to your blog via mine. I hope that is ok. Please visit the blog and let me know.If you have any issues, I will not link to your blog.
Best regards,
Shailaja
Me:
Shailaja,
Thank you! You can link to this post, no problem.
Did go through your exhaustive list of schools in East Bangalore. Pretty impressive to have compiled such a detailed one.
Hahahah..That in a weird way, is actually so true, except in India, you need to time your delivery for Apr/May! It’s better to get them into schools of your choice in the future. We had some trouble finding our Jan born a school in Bangalore. She attends Inventure Academy in Bangalore now. It was one of the very few schools which fit what we were looking for and caters to RNRIs at a fraction of the cost of other international schools
I have enrolled my daughter in Inventure Academy, and you are absolutely right. The school is all about value for money and then some. I was very impressed with the way they first interacted with my daughter. More than giving her date of birth importance they saw whether she was happy and comfortable with the kindergarteners and also the teachers. Once they were confident that my daughter would be all right and asked me for my views, only then did we decide it was ok for her to start school here. A school that genuinely thinks about the child first, brings a certain sense of calmness to any parent.
1.6L per annum +60K as admission fees ( for 2010-2011, LKG)is Value for money, I am not convinced.
Anyway, I would like to experience of parents whose child is there for 1-2 years.
hai,
i want a sugestion that how to improve the childer’s knowledge
and my daughter is 2.5 years old can i join to icici sylabous