English mothers out there...

...is your child's head smaller than the average American child's head? Because I think Rowan thinks so. I am in the process of doing the neckline on Hayden's vest (pattern is Hamish out of Rowan Junior), and I cannot make it go over his head. During one of the several trying on processes today, I actually made him cry. THIS IS NOT RIGHT. I am making the size for a child 8-9 years old, and Hayden is only 5 1/2. You'd think the neckhole would be big enough. This is actually the second time I've used this pattern, and having remembered what a pain in the neck it was trying to make it work the first time around, I made the hole deeper from the beginning. I've picked up stitches 4 times already - once I did the edging the way the patterns calls for and bound off loosely with a needle one size bigger; the next time I did only 3 rounds of edging then bound off; the next time I did 2 rounds of edging then bound off; the last time I just picked up stitches and immediately bound them off. NOTHING IS WORKING. I can get it over his head without any edging just fine, but I can't leave it like that (my husband seems to think I can, but what does he know about finishing a knitted garment?). And this isn't the only Rowan pattern I've done for Hayden that I've had this same problem with. The year after I did Hamish the first time, I did a v-neck sweater vest. V-necks, you'd think, would be no problem getting over his head. Not if it's a Rowan pattern! So do English kids have smaller heads? My child does not have an abnormally large head, so he's not the one at fault here. This is really annoying. After we eat dinner (and I have a beer), I'm going to try one more thing. If it doesn't work, I'll have to go up to my LYS tomorrow to get them to work their magic.