Hugh Reilly: Infant class trauma may take its toll later I have fond memories of my schooldays - apart from the first day, that is. On that awful morning, I was Dead P1 Pupil Walking, or more correctly, taking baby steps in a vain attempt to delay my appointment with every child's fate. On that trail of tears, some fellow members on death row attempted to smile and laugh in a show of bravado that fooled no-one. My mum tried to decelerate the somewhat alarming oscillation speed of my trembling upper lip by telling me how wonderful school would be. I have to say her words of comfort were a tad undermined by her holding my hand in a vice-like grip lest I made a break for freedom. When she ushered me into the infants" room, I felt like a loving pup being abandoned at the gates of a pet rescue centre. Petrified, I didn't even hear her retreating footsteps as she vanished into the corridor and exited the building, apparently sobbing uncontrollably. To this day, I'm unsure whether they were tears of sadness or of joy. I rather suspect the latter. The visage of the infant headmistress bore a striking resemblance to Queen Victoria on the day when depressing news of an Indian Mutiny had killed any chance of her chuckling at John Brown's Balmoral Castle banter. Her hair was so tightly pulled back into a bun that it stretched the skin on her face but dismally failed to take years off her appearance. Many infants were in a state of despair, crying tiny tears on their tiny chairs. The sight of anguished mothers peering through the panes of the classroom windows merely added to the wailing and gnashing of milk teeth. Until this week, I had thought that my primary school debut had caused me no lasting ill effects. However, according to Dr Richard House, senior lecturer at the University of Roehampton's Research Centre for Therapeutic Education, there is evidence which suggests early entry to the education system is associated with worse long-term outcomes for how well people coped with life in their 40s and 50s. He believes that children should start school at the age of six. Britain, Malta and the Netherlands are the only countries in the developed world that bundle bewildered toddlers into dark satanic schools at age five. In the UK, it is not uncommon for pushy working mums to shove four-year-olds into the learning grinder. In Finland, that beacon of excellence used by the anti-teaching brigade to blacken the state of Scottish education, young mighty Finns begin school at seven years of age. When right-wing reformists recently called for Scotland to adopt the Swedish model of teaching and learning, nobody mentioned the compulsory starting age of seven. I find it sad that nursery schools increasingly perceive themselves to be a fourth tier of state education. Just the other week, a beaming young dad boasted to me that his son had passed all his tests with flying colours and, somewhat serendipitously, had the certificates on his person to prove it. His son is three. When I tactfully posited that his child should be playing in sandpits and pulling girls ponytails - or, these days, hair extensions - he was astonished. He could not have been more shocked had I told him that I'd booked Johann Lamont to provide the entertainment for his son's next birthday party. I find it difficult to believe that starting school early has an impact in middle-age. There is some evidence that earlybird kids have lower levels of attainment but it's hardly overwhelming. I think there are other factors that have a greater bearing on how one copes with the high and lows of life is the slow lane. To my mind, one's home environment is crucial. When I exit my front gate and there is an absence of dog poo on the pavement, all is well with the world. However, if I see canine faeces, voices in my head urge me to hunt down the cur-owner and exact vengeance (I'm currently getting mixed messages from the voices as to what form this retribution should take). Watching the lives of one's children unfold can give one a sense of wellbeing. When my daughter graduates on 19 June, there will not be a prouder dad in the hall. She did, after all, overcome the horror of starting school aged four and 11 months.