This may seem like a strange question, but my wife is due with baby #3. She is over her due date and her doctor is scheduling her to be induced.
We have a choice of two dates: 12/30/2000 or 01/02/2001. Other than the dependent tax deduction, is there an advantage to the child of having one birthday over another? I’m thinking along the lines of:
What birthday will be less likely to get lumped in with the holidays?
Which birthday would be “neater” to have as a kid?
Coming from a family with its overwhelming share of December Capricorns, would say that NEITHER date would be considered all that “cool” to a kid. My birthday, Dec. 31st, is very cool. It’s the very last day of the year. Plus it’s party day! I got to stay up past midnight EVERY year from the time I was three! January 1st is an also-ran, IMHO; people have hangovers, stay at home recuperating. Consider the poor parents of your kid’s friends when they have to get Judy and Johnny ready for a birthday party if he’s born Jan 2. Ugh.
Also, with all the post-Christmas holiday sales, any kid born AFTER Christmas is very likely to get a bunch of clothes and toys for their birthday, so I think getting mixed up with holidays is a minor consideration, presents-wise. But there’s Kwanzaa to consider, too.
There’s absolutely no astrological difference. Your kid will be a Capricorn. We rule. Jesus was a Capricorn.
I say: induce the kid on Dec. 30, 2000. He’ll be able to figure out his birthday easier. And how often do you get to be born at the end of a whole millennium? Anybody can be born at the beginning of a new one.
I keep saying ‘he’, don’t I?
P.S. : Askia is an African name that works for a boy or a girl… (hint, hint, hint)
I’ll agree with the other posters that have suggested Dec 30th. Besides all the other great reasons, there’s also the fact that, when stating what year he was born in, he’ll be able to say 2000, instead of 2001. This will give the impression of him/her being older. And there’s the tax factor. Yep, I’d say it’s a clear decision,
To hell with Capricorn. As long as you can pop the kid out by January 24, he/she’s going to be born in the year of the Dragon. I think this is an especially good year of the Dragon too, but I can’t remember why. Not only that, but the kid was also conceived in the year of the Dragon, which is extra good. He/she’s off to an auspicious beginning.
P.S. Nice try Askia. Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25.
Greg’s right about the whole Jesus thing… I think he was born sometime in March. Go ask Him? Or His mother? =) [This was a joke, this was only a joke. Please do not take it seriously.]
Taxes are an important consideration, and that alone should make it worth it. As for holidays … well, my birthday is 12/28, and I rarely get lumped in with Christmas, so it’s not too bad. January second does seem a little more iffy, in terms of New Year’s Day, but as long as the parents are careful it shouldn’t make a difference.
It’ll be cooler for the kid to say they were born in an earlier year, but that’s about it. Because the cutoff date for school was 12/31, I’ve always been the (second)-youngest person in my class (a friend was born on 12/29), as opposed to the oldest in the next class. Could be a huge factor, doesn’t have to be. Didn’t bother me much until the important birthdays (16, 18, 19 (in Ontario))… And Askia, it makes it harder to figure out your birthdate/age! “Let’s see I was born in '81, so in the year 1995 I was … 14, except not till the very end, so I was really 13, but I was already in high school, but…” See what I mean?
My dad’s birthday is January 2. “Everybody” forgets. People just want to have the holidays over with after New Year’s, and personal celebrations get lost as the recovery process begins.
Go for December 30 and hope the kid makes an appearance on his own before that. (Induction sucks, or so I’ve been told - went “overdue” with both kids but they showed up without assistance, on their own schedule.)
I’m not sure how the school enrolment systems etc. work in the States, but if it’s based on year of birth, there may be distinct advantages in being 6 months (on average) older, bigger and smarter than your classmates, as opposed to six months younger.
Well if you can’t induce the child on the 29th and call him Osip, I must say the 30th would be best.
My birthday is the 29th of december, is nice to take the birthday off then have the holidays also tied in for a nice long winter holiday.
Besides that at least once a month I hear from my father, how wonderful it was that I was born two weeks early so as I could be a tax deduction.
Well, having a birthday at this time of the year (today, 12/28, in fact, please see my self-aggrandizing thread in MPSIMS), I agree that having a birthday between Christmas and New Year’s Day is pretty cool. I never had to go to school on my birthday, I was home from college, and now I try to take vacation the last week of the year too. It’s great to be off on your birthday; sorta like it was a national holiday just for you (if you’re the delusional type, that is). But there isn’t that post-Jan. 1st letdown to contend with. Things are still festive for that week.
And never, ever minimize the importance of any tax deduction. Make that kid start with the dividends ASAP.
I decided to choose a personal holiday; a day that would be mine to spend as I please. Thus, I would not work on my Personal Holiday. By sheer coincidence, the holiday is June the 12th… which happens to also be my birthday. (What are the odds?)
BTW: Gemini is the best sign. People find out you’re a Gemini and they always say, “Oh. That explains it!”
I agree with the those who say pick 12/30. My main reason is simple: No school on his/her birthday. I believe most schools have the same system: Off on 12/23, return on 1/2. Speaking for myself only, I don’t think I’d particularly enjoy having my birthday be the first day in two weeks I have to get back early and trudge in the cold to school.
It won’t make much difference when he/she gets older (other than the aforementioned “able to drink one New Years Eve earlier” which I think is GREAT reasoning!), but at least for the school years, I’d say 12/30 would be the better birthday. And when he/she gets older and into the work world, his/her birthday will be one that either will be a slow day at work because everyone else is taking off (roughly 1/3 of my office is out all week this week) or one that your child takes off – either way, makes for a less-stress birthday.
Askia, picking nits is easy when they stand out like neon signs.
Jesus was born sometime in the summer. Christmas was moved to December in more recent times (by a pope, in fact) to coincide with prechristian solstice rituals. If you celebrate the same holidays, you can win converts.
Besides, I highly doubt Jesus knew he was a Capricorn. He was a Jew living in the Middle East over 2000 years ago, for crying out loud. Horoscopes weren’t published back then.
Anyway, I’m glad someone but me knows that 2000 is the end of a millennium. Sometimes, it’s lonely being right.
Anyway, my father’s birthday is 30 Dec, which I remembered sometime this morning … gotta get him a card.
He always hated it, since it got lost in the holidays. So, I would think a 2 January birth would be better, but what do I know? I’m a May baby (check the sig).
They all suck. My family, too, has a glut of Christmas birthdays. My Mom is 12/30, I have a close cousin who is 12/31, mine is 1/1, and I have a nephew whose is 1/4. It’s miserable.
That said, if your wife isn’t in the mood to wait another month (hehehehe), I’d go for 12/30, since there’s no school that day, and there’s a better chance that somebody won’t be sick of the holidays yet and want to have a birthday party for him/her. By the time 1/2 roles around, everyone’s gonna be sick of partying.
Hmf. I should have known better than to do the ol’ ‘Jesus was a Capricorn’ bit around here. I knew that. I just like to throw that out there to shut up the Aquarians – the snotty bastards. They get one song and it’s all “Age of Aquarius” blah blah blah blah. HEY. We Capricorns have a tropic. We had both of them originally, but then we gave one to the Cancers to make up feel better about the disease thing.
Uh… ranting again…
Athena: Sounds like your family goes into heat in the springtime, too. 7/10th of my peeps, from my great-grandmother on down, were either Aquarians and Capricorns. We like to argue who’s sign is better. It’s like a East Coast/ West Coast thing in my family.
Derleth: See? I’m half right.
Stephen G: I’ve always found it easier to subtract from zero when quickly figuring out my age. Any other digit there and you start carrying numbers.
Greg Charles: Well, you know, I hadda try.
Thanks to all of you for spelling my name correctly, with only ONE ‘S’. 'Preciate it.
aaelghat: Let us know what you and the wife decided, and the gender of the baby.
I knew that. I just like to throw that out there to shut up the Aquarians – the snotty bastards. They get one song and it’s all “Age of Aquarius” blah blah blah blah. HEY. We Capricorns have a tropic. We had both of them originally, but then we gave one to the Cancers to make up feel better about the disease thing.