How does your redshirted kid feel now that she/he is older?

[Anonymous]

Over the summer, we are moving to DC with my daughter who was born in late August. She did a private play-based mixed-age kindergarten in our current location. Because of some attention issues, we did a neuropsych and she was diagnosed with ADHD. She is bright, but very inattentive (e.g. lots of day dreaming, very distracted).

I would like to "redshirt" and have her repeat K. I think my kid would be fine academically in either grade, but with her ADHD, I think she'd do better over time as an older kid. Plus she's small for her age and likely will stay small-ish (petite parents).

Logistics of dealing with DCPS aside, I would love to hear from parents of older kids who were redshirted. Were there negative social consequences to being a bit older (e.g. my kid would turn 6 the week before kindergarten, 7 the week before 1st grade, etc.)? Is there anything you regret about redshirting?

Again, I get that it might not be feasible, but before I figure that out, I'd like to hear from parents who redshirted kids. Do your kids mind being a bit older than their classmates? Do they even notice? My husband thinks this is a huge deal, so I figured I'd ask for others' experiences.

[Anonymous]

She won’t be older by much. Kids in June and July are redshirted here. It will be a non issue.

[Anonymous]

I have a boy who was not redshirted but missed the cutoff by a few days. He is older than everyone in his class. The kids do not notice.

[Anonymous]

My daughter was "redshirted" by 4 days. She's in high school now and it's a total non-issue. She has executive function delays and she's doing much better than she would be if she was a grade ahead.

[Anonymous]

I am 41, but I went on time with a Sept bday (Oct cut off). I sent my August bday boy on time (he's now 13). IME as a kid and what I see now is that it is more boys than girls who are redshirted fwiw. I would think harder about it for a girl, personally.

[Anonymous]

This isn’t a big deal. If the cutoff is August 31, there will be some kids in her class that turn 6 the first week of school.

This is less of an issue now vs. in the past as many districts have moved the cutoff date closer to the start of the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was "redshirted" by 4 days. She's in high school now and it's a total non-issue. She has executive function delays and she's doing much better than she would be if she was a grade ahead.

She might have been just fine if she was a grade ahead.

[Anonymous]

I have a redshirted 1st grader, August birthday, turned 6 a few weeks before K started, 7 before 1st started. He’s never really noticed one way or the other honestly. There were other redshirted kids in his class too also with summer birthdays.

[Anonymous]

Bored in school as they aged up.

[Anonymous]

In my DD's friend group (9th grade) there are 4 girls who are redshirted. No one cares.

My observation as a parent of a teenager with ADHD - redshirting your kid will help. After about 3rd grade, my son was 6 - 18 months behind in the executive functioning elements. Middle school through the beginning of 11th grade was really hard as all the conversations were about completing homework and things that were not done in class. Now at the end of 11th grade I have a kid who has survived a lot of challenges - and I wish it did not need to be that hard for him. He is really smart - but our school is not about being smart - it is about delivering assignments the way the teachers want them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my DD's friend group (9th grade) there are 4 girls who are redshirted. No one cares.

My observation as a parent of a teenager with ADHD - redshirting your kid will help. After about 3rd grade, my son was 6 - 18 months behind in the executive functioning elements. Middle school through the beginning of 11th grade was really hard as all the conversations were about completing homework and things that were not done in class. Now at the end of 11th grade I have a kid who has survived a lot of challenges - and I wish it did not need to be that hard for him. He is really smart - but our school is not about being smart - it is about delivering assignments the way the teachers want them.

Kids care and talk. Don't kid yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my DD's friend group (9th grade) there are 4 girls who are redshirted. No one cares.

My observation as a parent of a teenager with ADHD - redshirting your kid will help. After about 3rd grade, my son was 6 - 18 months behind in the executive functioning elements. Middle school through the beginning of 11th grade was really hard as all the conversations were about completing homework and things that were not done in class. Now at the end of 11th grade I have a kid who has survived a lot of challenges - and I wish it did not need to be that hard for him. He is really smart - but our school is not about being smart - it is about delivering assignments the way the teachers want them.

Kids care and talk. Don't kid yourself.

They really don’t care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my DD's friend group (9th grade) there are 4 girls who are redshirted. No one cares.

My observation as a parent of a teenager with ADHD - redshirting your kid will help. After about 3rd grade, my son was 6 - 18 months behind in the executive functioning elements. Middle school through the beginning of 11th grade was really hard as all the conversations were about completing homework and things that were not done in class. Now at the end of 11th grade I have a kid who has survived a lot of challenges - and I wish it did not need to be that hard for him. He is really smart - but our school is not about being smart - it is about delivering assignments the way the teachers want them.

Kids care and talk. Don't kid yourself.

DP - not at all. I have 4 kids - Redshirting is so common these days. Kids don’t care. If a student repeats 4th grade or something, it will be noticed

[Anonymous]

Loves it. Probably one of the best decisions we ever made for her (August 18th birthday with September 1st cutoff). I was sent on time (October 22nd- cutoff was Dec 31 where I grew up) and HATED it. So that made our decision easier.

[Anonymous]

I am a female adult and was redshirted and would 100% do it for my kids. The only downside as a kid was I felt like I hit puberty first and was self conscious about it. Might not be such an issue since so many are red shirtrd these days and it depends on the social dynamics and character of your daughter at that time (which you just can’t predict!)