Redshirting my son for pre-k - May birthday

[Anonymous]

As long as he won’t turn 20 before graduating, it’s all good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re fine, OP. Our private school has spring boys redshirted all the time. He won’t be the only one. Plus, if admissions suggested it, it means they thought it was appropriate for him. Private school boys tend to be on the older side.

Must be a mater delay parent, spring birthday is laughable to redshirt.

No - And the spring redshirts are not my child, so not trying to “normalize” it.. I’m just saying OP’s kid won’t be a total outlier, at least he wouldn’t be at our school.

[Anonymous]

Don’t listen to the anti-redshirt hysteria on here. Most of it comes from scarcity mindset. Certain parents believe that kids are marked as advanced or whatever early on, and that redshirted kids have an advantage over their non-redshirted kid in that regard. That is the real source of pushback here. If what they believe is true, they’d rather it be your kid that is disadvantaged. BTW, I don’t think it is true and neither of my DC’s redshirted.

[Anonymous]

I would not redshirt just to "get into" private. Imagine that conversation with the kid years later explaining your decision. Can you provide reasons that the kid would find reasonable?

[Anonymous]

Unless your May born child has significant delay, don't redshirt.
Redshirting July-August born kids is acceptable.

The rule of thumb is:
You can redshirt a child that is born after the school year ends. That is, if the child is born after say June 10 in this area it is somewhat safe to redshirt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t listen to the anti-redshirt hysteria on here. Most of it comes from scarcity mindset. Certain parents believe that kids are marked as advanced or whatever early on, and that redshirted kids have an advantage over their non-redshirted kid in that regard. That is the real source of pushback here. If what they believe is true, they’d rather it be your kid that is disadvantaged. BTW, I don’t think it is true and neither of my DC’s redshirted.

Your trumped up theory of what you’ve dreamed up has no basis. Just a bunch of diarrhea of your mouth. Sounds like you are the one trying to take advantage. You readily admit redshirting several of your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is private school? You don’t have much choice. If you don’t want to redshirt your option is another private school or public.

There are a lot of anti-redshirters on DCUM who really don’t seem to understand how private school admissions work or even the difference between public and private so you have to take DCUM with a grain of salt.

I am a private school parent in a school in DC and my child is not redshirted and even has 3 June, 2 July, and 1 august birthday in his grade of about 30 students. None of which are redshirted.

Which is entirely irrelevant to OPs specific private schools and therefore useless information.

Let me break it down into basics for people who clearly do not understand admissions: First of all, there is a reasonable chance OP is a troll trying to rile up DCUMs large contingent of gullible anti-redshirters as enrollment commitment season is largely over. However, assuming OP is not a troll, OPs post is a little unclear but it appears that OPs child was admitted to pre-K, not K, in the private schools OP wants her child to attend. If this is the case, OP has two options: finding another private school (hard at this point for the good ones locally but not impossible) or public school, if she doesn’t want to redshirt. The pre-K versus K admission is the choice of the admissions committees of those schools, and OP is not going to change their minds.

It is unclear who giving OP flack but I would venture to say most of them are irrelevant. The only question is whether OP wants admission to those schools or not. If she does, she has to follow the wishes of the admissions committee. If she doesn’t, she goes elsewhere.

I’m always surprised by how many anti-redshirters don’t understand admissions basics, and like I said, I think OP may be a troll anyhow, but OP has three options now: go to pre-K at one of the schools she applied to, go to K in public, or scramble and find another private that will admit to K. Whether your individual private school would admit OPs kid in K is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

As a pediatric psychologist told me once, it should only be done if there is a serious developmental issue or a serious illness. It also does not have any benefits beyond first few years.
From the classrooms I’ve been in, this holds true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t listen to the anti-redshirt hysteria on here. Most of it comes from scarcity mindset. Certain parents believe that kids are marked as advanced or whatever early on, and that redshirted kids have an advantage over their non-redshirted kid in that regard. That is the real source of pushback here. If what they believe is true, they’d rather it be your kid that is disadvantaged. BTW, I don’t think it is true and neither of my DC’s redshirted.

+1

I didn’t redshirt and I think DCUM anti-redshirters are largely insane and bizarrely competitive weirdos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is private school? You don’t have much choice. If you don’t want to redshirt your option is another private school or public.

There are a lot of anti-redshirters on DCUM who really don’t seem to understand how private school admissions work or even the difference between public and private so you have to take DCUM with a grain of salt.

I am a private school parent in a school in DC and my child is not redshirted and even has 3 June, 2 July, and 1 august birthday in his grade of about 30 students. None of which are redshirted.

Which is entirely irrelevant to OPs specific private schools and therefore useless information.

Let me break it down into basics for people who clearly do not understand admissions: First of all, there is a reasonable chance OP is a troll trying to rile up DCUMs large contingent of gullible anti-redshirters as enrollment commitment season is largely over. However, assuming OP is not a troll, OPs post is a little unclear but it appears that OPs child was admitted to pre-K, not K, in the private schools OP wants her child to attend. If this is the case, OP has two options: finding another private school (hard at this point for the good ones locally but not impossible) or public school, if she doesn’t want to redshirt. The pre-K versus K admission is the choice of the admissions committees of those schools, and OP is not going to change their minds.

It is unclear who giving OP flack but I would venture to say most of them are irrelevant. The only question is whether OP wants admission to those schools or not. If she does, she has to follow the wishes of the admissions committee. If she doesn’t, she goes elsewhere.

I’m always surprised by how many anti-redshirters don’t understand admissions basics, and like I said, I think OP may be a troll anyhow, but OP has three options now: go to pre-K at one of the schools she applied to, go to K in public, or scramble and find another private that will admit to K. Whether your individual private school would admit OPs kid in K is irrelevant.

You don’t know if it’s not specific to the OPs private school and they did not ask to be specific to their school. So you are irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t listen to the anti-redshirt hysteria on here. Most of it comes from scarcity mindset. Certain parents believe that kids are marked as advanced or whatever early on, and that redshirted kids have an advantage over their non-redshirted kid in that regard. That is the real source of pushback here. If what they believe is true, they’d rather it be your kid that is disadvantaged. BTW, I don’t think it is true and neither of my DC’s redshirted.

+1

I didn’t redshirt and I think DCUM anti-redshirters are largely insane and bizarrely competitive weirdos.

If they were bizarrely competitive, then they would be pro-redshirters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a pediatric psychologist told me once, it should only be done if there is a serious developmental issue or a serious illness. It also does not have any benefits beyond first few years.
From the classrooms I’ve been in, this holds true.

+1

[Anonymous]

You’re fine, OP - especially since your school is on board. We sent out son to a second year of pre-K at the suggestion of our school, and we are so glad we did. There are March (!!) and April birthdays in his class who were held. Our son is late August so we are really glad we did it just with the composition of the grade.

[Anonymous]

But I can't help wondering....did this (or another) redshirted kid edge out my non-redshirted kid for pre k spots? Would my kid have been accepted instead of waitlisted if they had only to compete with kids within their age band and not with half of the K applicants as well...

[Anonymous]

I did not red shirt my May kid and he was always 1 step behind. It was not earth shattering but it was clear he could have used another year. Most kids weren’t 1 month older most weeks 6-9 months older. It was obvious in 3rd, It was worst in middle school.

The problem was he was tall, personable and athletic… so he seemed more mature in K-5, but he clearly struggled socially and academically (except in math).

Just redshirt him.