NOT redshirting an August birthday
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Anonymous
An August birthday who redshirted is 4 weeks older than the September birthdays who went on time! (or in DC, given the deadline is Sept 30, he'd be 8 weeks older than the October birthdays who went on time!) so a redshirted child is 18 years old by August 30, and some of the children in his classroom turn 18 years old on September 8th. No big difference at all in the scheme of things! Of course, there are children born in July/August who were NOT redshirted, who won't turn 18 years of age until AFTER they graduate high school, but a redshirted child won't be the "only" 18 year old as a senior in high school! |
Anonymous
It’s natural law anti-redshirter!! Hi crazy. How are you doing in crazy land? |
Anonymous
K. was meant for kids to go at age 5, not 6. Why would you unnecessarily hold your child back? It makes no sense. |
Anonymous
There are plenty of ways to give your kids advantages but holding back isn't one of them. Use that extra preschool money to pay for graduate school. |
Anonymous
| My child who was not redshirted was 18 his entire senior HS year. Kids are indeed born in September, regardless of what the literally insane anti-redshirters tell you. |
Anonymous
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Hi
As PP have said it depends on your child. My DNephew is end Aug birthday and he was not redshirted. My sister really wishes she did because she struggled with him during elementary and middle school. Hes a junior now and caught up academically but there is no doubt that had he been in the later year it would have been so much better for everyone. |
Anonymous
| Our son's birthday is late August. He started kindergarten having turned five days earlier. Did just fine. Started first grade. In December of 1st grade, we got asked if they could put him into 2nd grade when we came back from the holiday break. He was the youngest in his year. DS turned 17 right at the start of his freshman year of college. He was a little bummed about not learning to drive when all his friends were, but certainly understood and dealt with it just fine. |
Anonymous
Then why did they make the cut off so early if they wanted everyone to be 5? Makes no sense. Maybe you’re just wrong. |
Anonymous
This is your argument? How things were meant to be? As I understand it, 5 year olds were meant to go to half-day non-academic programs. While they might learn their ABCs and how to count to 10, the main lessons were about sharing toys and playing nice, listening to the teacher, following classroom rules, and basically getting ready for a full day academic program that was thought appropriate for 6 year olds. Their time included a recess and also involved things like playing with a kitchen or trucks, doing puzzles, fingerpainting, etc. In other words, 5 year olds were meant to be following what is considered today to be a pre-K program. By your argument, all children should be redshirted. However, most people recognize that kids develop at different rates and some will be ready for the modern kindergarten at 5, even if others aren’t ready until they’re 6. |
Anonymous
We’re also in the suburbs and there are a mix of those who start on time and those who start late. My own DS has an August birthday and started on time. There were times when he was a little immature but I think he has caught up now in 7th grade. If I ask if he would have preferred to be held back, he says no way. |
Anonymous
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My September kid was not redshirted, then was redshirted for a few years when we moved. Now he is a senior in high school and no longer redshirted (because of another move). I asked him about it. His hot take, as a kid who has been both redshirted and not redshirted, was that you are all crazy people who don’t have any serious problems in your lives, if this is what you spend your time obsessed over. 🤣🤣
It’s hard to explain DCUM to a teen boy. |
Anonymous
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I sent my August bday boy. His best friend is an August bday boy who was held back. They’re all friends. I don’t think any of us have regrets.
When it was time for K, I said to myself - is there any actual reason to hold him back or would I be doing it for competitive reasons? There was no actual reason to hold him back. I felt he had been there / done that with preschool and would like not gain much from an additional year. He has a lot of grit, which I attitude to trying to keep up when he was younger but idk - maybe he’s just like that. YMMV. |
Anonymous
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Are you in DC? We are in DCPS with a late August birthday and there are a ton of late summer and even some September birthdays at my kid's school. And most are boys, actually. There are also kids with October and November birthdays who are basically a year older. And it's fine. My kid does fine socially and is doing great academically. I can't imagine holding him back -- he's in K and learning to read and it seems nuts to me that we could have him in PK4 now. I think he'd be really bored.
It may be different in private school or in other districts. I think it's really hard to redshirt in DCPS, so we never considered it and it doesn't seem like anyone else did either. In august, we have a birthday party every weekend with friends from his grade, and have even talked about doing a joint party one year since summer birthday parties can sometimes be tricky. I would not worry about it. |
Anonymous
Smart kid. Kids just want to be generally with their age cohort and find a few kids who they get along with and then they are fine. People worry about having the smallest kid in class but if you go to an actual classroom, there is always a smallest kid and they are almost always totally fine. There's also a biggest kid who is fine. The kids don't care! |
Anonymous
 Yes! Good luck with that!!
OP, I "GREEN shirted" my kid. He missed the cutoff by a few days and we took the "early entrance to kindergarten" test. He passed with flying colors (duh! he could read, count, spell, raise his hand to answer questions, follow directions and had a splendid vocab). He excelled in school and yes, we saved a lot of money in childcare costs. |