Redshirting: Holding kids back from kindergarten (with POLL)

[Aikouka]

I missed the cutoff in my district by about 3 weeks, so I was always one of the oldest in my class, too. BTW, my wife was the youngest in her class and went to college at 17 1/2. She wished she had been held back a year before starting kindergarten.

Why did she care? I didn't care about going to college at 17.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

My parents did this with my little sister, but that was because she's developmentally disabled (somehow). It did her no good, she still does pretty poorly in school. They refuse to get her diagnosed so they can continue to deny she has a problem.

All depends on the kid and their "maturity" at around that age.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Well, I wasn't held back, but then again I was the only one of my siblings to not go to K. Instead, my mom just enrolled me into first grade at age 5. I did much better than all of my siblings. Coincidence, I'm sure.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

this is going to be tough for us. My youngest son will be 4 when he starts K in August and will turn 5 within the first month of school. Its a tough decision to either put him in and stay with all the kids he knows, or hold off for a year. I guess if hes developmentally ready, hes good to go. But im still worried. My oldest was 5 and 4 months when he started K, but he has always been a bright kid. Hope that 5 month difference between when his brother started and when he will start doesn’t hurt him.
September birthdays totally screw up the schooling.

 

[Codewiz]

I was born in September. The cutoff at the time was November. In K4, my mom decided to keep me back because all my neighborhood friends were one year behind me. I was also less "mature" than the kids in my class.

I went from the youngest in my class to the oldest. My mom was a poor single mom so it wasn't a rich thing or trying to get me ahead in life. She just thought school would be more fun with my friends.

 

[edro]

2006 USA CDC Birth Months

Aug:Feb, Max:Min, 20% more in August than February
That is flatter than I expected.

 

[SearchMaster]

My youngest son missed the cutoff by about 3 weeks but went to kindergarten on schedule. After a few weeks the teacher proposed moving him to first grade because he was reading on a 3-4th grade level, proficient in math, etc. He was also very physically and emotionally mature (bigger than all but one first grader, tutoring the other kindergarteners, etc.).

When I told my father he was skipping a grade, he was concerned because it could make him less prepared in sports later on. While I understand the rationale, the chances of him being a collegiate-level athlete in the future are fairly slim and were not worth him being horribly bored during elementary school.

We considered all aspects - my middle son had been proposed to skip kindergarten as well but he didn't have the physical and emotional maturity to match his intellectual maturity so we declined. IMO we made the right decision with each child.

 

[darkewaffle]

I had no idea people actually did this.

 

[MotionMan]

I had no idea people actually did this.

I did not know it was a choice until I had kids. I thought it was based purely on your birthday and that was that.

MotionMan

 

[Dude111]

I thing i loved about Kindergarten was THE LETTER PEOPLE!

Every week we got a different letter (Starting with A of course) and i also liked getting a carton of milk to drink with my lunch everyday

(We went into this room that had a fridge and got a carton out from there)


Stuff was SO MUCH BETTER then (TV,quality,etc)

 

[JTsyo]

2006 USA CDC Birth Months

Aug:Feb, Max:Min, 20% more in August than February
That is flatter than I expected.

Aug has ~10% more days than Feb. so it's even closer.

My son was born in Nov and is 2 now. As it gets closer to 5, we'll see how he's developing on deciding if he should try to get in early or wait the extra year.

 

[Uhtrinity]

My son started Kindergarten when he was 5. He had just barely met the cutoff date. However his performance was low and he struggled. Based on the recommendation of his teacher and principle he was held back one year and also had the opportunity to spend afternoons with the 1st grade class. The 3rd year he started 1st grade and has done great since then.

There can be a huge maturity difference between ages 5 and 6 and this was his case. At 5 he couldn't or wouldn't focus on tasks. I see students that started in his first Kindergarten class that were considered to be ahead and they struggle more than my son. I don't regret at all having him held back one year.

Btw, I could care less about sports and that had nothing to do with the decision.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I saw that last night. I wanted to bitch-slap the blond mother from Georgia.

 

[Blackjack200]

I was born in late June so I turned 5 two months before K, my brother was born 3 months later and probably should have been 2 grades behind, but my parents didn't want to do that because they were afraid he would feel like he was too far behind me.

Now I understand a bit more why everyone else in my class was much older than me; my poor brother was probably dealing with a bunch of 6 year olds when he was 4. IMO schools should not allow this. Have a hard cutoff and do not allow parents to enroll kids that are too old.

 

[Blackjack200]

I saw that last night. I wanted to bitch-slap the blond mother from Georgia.

One of my old neighbors held her son back even though he was a bright kid and completely ready for school. He was born in early June.

 

[Zargon]

Stupid idea, the earlier you start learning the better.

not being at kindergarten != not learning. preschool FTW

I should have been held back physically, but I started when I could(sept bday) and graduated at age 17

 

[mugs]

I turned 5 two months into kindergarten (end of October), so I was always the younger than everyone in my class. Aside from being smaller than all of my classmates until high school it was never an issue. Grades don't matter until you're in high school, and I think age makes less of a difference by that point. I'm glad I had the opportunity to start making real money a year earlier.

I think that having parents who care about your education makes a bigger difference than starting a year late.

Edit: I did go to a private school in another state that had a lower driving age, so it did kind of suck getting my license when I was a senior when my friends started getting theirs as sophomores.

 

[Zivic]

my kid technically could have went to kindergarten this year. he was about 2 wks from the cut-off - end of august b-day with the cutoff being sept 1st. We held him. IMHO at 5yrs of age, it is way too difficult to tell how they will develop in their teen yrs. you are better off being conservative at the risk of them getting bored in class vs them struggling and potentially holding them back later on down the road.

I won't lie, I considered the sports aspect of things as well. There is no doubt it is to his advantage. But this was about 3rd or 4th down the list of reason for us to hold him this year.

I think it can be a good thing to send kids under certain circumstances... we have a friend who has a relative that has a child the same age as mine. they sent her. Her family life isn't the greatest and being in school at that age is a better place for her to be.

Like others of have stated, it's not like my kid is sitting around all day. he has pre-school and a rec class that are 4x a week.

 

[waggy]

yea hal failed.

http://www.dallaschild.com/printme.asp?mdoctype=article&mdocid=740

lol is it a surprise he failed?

My son is a week from teh cutoff. we put him in K anyway (he went to pre-school at 3 and 4) he is the youngest in his class. I think maturity wise we should have waited. He is great at math, counting, reading and money. BUT he just does not care to sit still. he wants to be moving. The teacher is a experianced K teacher and understands little boys need to move. she lets him stand but at times (spelling test) he needs to sit.

Also he does not like to write. he hurry's his name and when he color's its bad.

The first teacher he had (she was pregnant and went on bed rest the first month of school) was a nutcase though. She would force him to stay in during recess because he couldn't write his full name. both his first and last name have 11 letters. WTF! i think she made it so he hated school. the new teacher is getting him excited again.

 

[coloumb]

Parents purposely holding kids back until they are age 6? I could see that - give them an advantage. You ever notice a lot of hockey players birthday's are generally around the same time of year?

The local schools enforce "red shirting" as well - if your child doesn't meet a cut-off date, you're forced to wait until the next year unless you want to send him/her to private school. It's stupid - not all kids develop at the same rate - some are more intelligent than others.

 

[Deeko]

My birthday is in mid-August - my parents considered holding me back, but ultimately did not.

 

[dainthomas]

Parents purposely holding kids back until they are age 6? I could see that - give them an advantage. You ever notice a lot of hockey players birthday's are generally around the same time of year?

The local schools enforce "red shirting" as well - if your child doesn't meet a cut-off date, you're forced to wait until the next year unless you want to send him/her to private school. It's stupid - not all kids develop at the same rate - some are more intelligent than others.

Hard cutoff is Sept 1 in Oregon, and her birthday is the 5th. We could have had her tested (for $500) and she would have had to get something like 97% in all categories. Even if she passed though, her admission would have been probationary. So we decided to not fight it. She is being home schooled in Kindergarten this year by our next door neighbor who home schools her boys. My only concern is that she'll get bored next year, but we'll just have to keep communication open with the teacher.

 

[Linflas]

I was held back from 1st grade due to my birthday being in early December. Neither my parents nor I considered it an advantage, rather we saw it as a disadvantage.

 

[rudder]

My son was one week from the cutoff.. we could have kept him at home another year. But physcially and maturity wise he was on par with the other kids, so we sent him on.

The only advantage to holding him back is that when he gets to high school, physically he will be a year younger than most of his same grade class mates. This will hurt him where sports are concerned... but mentally I think it all depends on the child.

If I ever saw an issue, I could have him held back a grade.. so far he is a top notch student so no worries.

 

[sactoking]

Birthday cutoff here is 5 years old on or before September 30. My son's birthday is about two months later so my options are send him at 5 and have him turn 6 or send him at 6 and have him turn 7. Yeah, I don't want him driving as a freshman...