NOT redshirting august DS

[Anonymous]

My youngest turns 5 in early August. He has been in daycare / preschool since 12 weeks old, is average size, and I’ve never heard any concerns from his teachers (granted he has been half day the last two years).
Kindergarten registration is coming up and everyone I speak with assumes we will delay a year.
I don’t see any reason to do this, but are there any cons I’m not seeing? He is ready to go and has two older siblings so has always seemed a bit older than he is anyways.
I figure he could use that “extra year” at a point in time in the future if needed- prep school year, gap year, college sports, etc.

Anyone else not redshirt and regret it?

[Anonymous]

Nope. Our oldest has a late August birthday - he marched into Kindergarten having just turned 5. Was never a problem at all. Never took a gap year.

[Anonymous]

Send him.

[Anonymous]

I did not redshirt a late August boy and he didn't even go to preschool or daycare. He has an extremely social personality though. It turned out fine.

One thing we did that not many other families do is we taught him to read when he was 4. That really made the difference because it helped the teacher look past his relative immaturity in other aspects. Another thing that helped was we sent him to a public school where redshirting was not allowed anyway, so he had several classmates who were close in age.

[Anonymous]

I have girls, so it might be a tiny bit different, but I didn't redshirt the August or the September birthday. Socially and academically doing fine in mid- and late-elementary. Agree that having an older sibling helps socially.

[Anonymous]

I have an aug 31 dd and not redshirting her. She is ready to go and is very close to being able to read now.

[Anonymous]

My DS is a July baby and it never occurred to me to redshirt him. He was a little behind in phonics, but his older bro was too (and April kid), so I don't think it has to do with his age. Physically, emotionally, intellectually, he is on par with his peers with Oct birthdays (so almost a year older).

[Anonymous]

I didn't red shirt by late July son and he's top of his class in a competitive high school. He's a bit socially immature compared to some classmates but he's always found his people and I'm glad he's not into parties and drinking as a junior. I never once regretted sending him on time. TBH, there were 3-4 boys in his grade growing up who were a full year older than him and none of them had a smooth time. It's not a magic solution

[Anonymous]

really depends on the kid

[Anonymous]

I did not redshirt my August birthday DD (where we live it is not allowed anyway except in cases of demonstrated delays, or if you redshirt in private and then transfer for 1st) and it has been fine.

Her kindergarten year was, I think, more difficult than it would have been for a slightly older kid. That's the year when any differences in maturity are more pronounced. She's not immature for her age at all, but for instance when starting K she would still cry easily when upset, and her classmates who were 6-11 months older would not. But by the end of K this had evened out.

Academically it was obviously the correct choice. She was extremely ready and already reading without us doing any pushing (her PK teachers had her sounding out words and she just ran with it). She's 7 now and it's very hard for me to imagine her in a 1st grade classroom, where I think she'd be both way ahead academically and also much more socially mature. She's closer to the average where she is, which I think is more ideal.

[Anonymous]

I did know someone who didn’t redshirt and regretted it. Our kids actually had the same July bday, and I redshirted and she didn’t. She ended up just having her kid repeat K at a private. You could always do that if for some reason you have a change of heart a few months into K. I wouldn’t stress too much about it - see how it goes!

[Anonymous]

I regret not redshirting my June son.

He was very, very tall, very athletic and loquacious.

He was probably fine K-3 and maybe even K-5, but middle school it all fell apart. He also had a late puberty.

HS was rough, he struggled in college. Oddly, Junior year of college all of a sudden things started to click but he was a year behind in college.

[Anonymous]

We sent our DS august birthday to kindergarten at 5 (ie-on time).

No regrets, it’s going well. He is a very large kid though and he would have stuck out if we held him back a year for sure.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you have a good grasp of K expectations and feel like your son is ready. I’d go ahead and send him. I have a July boy that we didn’t consider redshirting and will be entering high school this year. Academically he’s great, socially he’s fine, but he is on the smaller side. You never really know when they’ll grow. Two other July boys on his team grew “early” and tower over most of the other kids.

[Anonymous]

Did not redshirt our mid-Sept boy - he started K at 4, and turned 5 a few weeks later. No regrets.

There was a brief period around the end of ES when we noticed a slight lack of maturity relative to his peers - he took a bit longer to catch up to “big kid” interests, was a little slower in being able to keep track of his assignments independently, etc. But he caught up quickly. I think being around slightly older kids all the time helped pull him along. He’s a junior in HS now and nobody would guess he’s any younger than his classmates.