I’m starting my late July birthday child (boy) in kindergarten on time.

[Anonymous]

Quoting isn't working, but replying to comment about redshirted February birthday. That's insane. I know 1 March redshirt and several Apr and May redshirts and that's bad enough. June is even pushing it.

[Anonymous]

To the pp, Im glad you were the youngest and did well but once again, were you 12-15 months younger or 6-9 months younger than all your peers? Also you grew up in a different time. We are talking anout 2022. All kids are impacted differently. Your child is doing great, that is wonderful. There are other kids who would benefit from being in a grade with kids who are closer in age developmentally but may not have that opportunity depending on the amt of redshirting in their grade, and their birthday. Each kids situation will be unique and different so all these anecdotes dont really mean much.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Just don’t be overly weird about your kid being young for grade, like a lot of DCUM posters are, and to be frank, you sound like you are heading towards. It’s just not that big a deal. Don’t brag about your kid being the youngest. Don’t teach them that it makes them somehow special. Don’t be invested in your kid’s identity as the youngest. Don’t drop their birthday into as many total unrelated conversations as you can, especially when they are standing right next to you. Don’t make a big deal about how much older some of their classmates are. Just please, if you possibly can, please be normal and not supremely weird about age.

Signed,
The youngest in the class

I think a lot of parents need to hear this.
Thank you.

I will say as a parent of a youngest, I rarely mention it. The only time I will is when the conversation turns to birthdays (like what month) and when I say her late July birthday, it’s almost always assumed that she’s turning a year older than she actually is. And that really irks me that the assumption is we held her vs. sending on time. Redshirting should be the exception, not the norm. I get a little annoyed feeling like we’re the odd ones for just sending our kid on time.

NP. Yes, this.
Where we live, our cutoff is Oct 15z My 3rd grader has kids in his grade, where August is the oldest redshirt. That is one thing. However things have drastically changed in the younger grades and my first grader with a June bday has many many kids a full year older than him. It is a thorn in our side now because other peoples choices to do this now impacts my son. Developmentally, kids grow a lot in one year. I see it with my older son every year he is just so much stronger, bigger, able to handle academics more, etc. So when my younger son is now doing everything with kids a year older than him, he is immediately at a disadvantage and on an unfair playing field. I can only imagine the opportunities he wont have for sports as he gets older considering he will be competing for spots on teams with kids who are a year older. So, for those of us with kids born in months that didnt used to be a redshirted month, but now it is and we didnt get that memo, it is very frustrating.

Hm. As a former youngest in the class, I am pretty skeptical that you both don’t mention it much and aren’t weird about it. You clearly spend a lot of time thinking about how old your kid is compared to the others. I just don’t believe that you spend all this time thinking about relative age and observing the entire class closely but then are totally chill about relative age. I’m sorry but as a youngest kid, that does not ring true to me.

Also, it is one thing to be the youngest in a grade without the redshirting situation (like when us 40 somethings grew up) and its an entirely different thing to be the youngest among a group of kids who are actually supposed to be in the grade above you by many months. So all the adults here chiming in that they were the youngest didnt necessarily have the experience our kids are having now.

I’m the PP above who is the former youngest. I was the youngest by several more months more than a year, FWIW, and in general I think the obsession DCUM parents have with their kids being the youngest is not healthy, and I do think they are likely problematic about it with their kids and with others.

I was not held back, but my parents moved and the cutoff difference was about six months. So most kids in my classes were at least six months older than me. That’s more than what the anti-redshirters are complaining about.

You clearly are on a diff page and are misunderstanding. Kids SIX months older or younger than each other is NORMAL. Kids 12-15 months older and younger in the same grade is not. I really dont care about your experience many moons ago! Im living it out now with my own kid and am allowed to form an opinion on the current system. Like the pp said, due to covid, we dont go into the schools and observe and make a fuss. Chiming in on dcum doesnt mean we discuss it with our kids and other people!

You don’t understand. What I am saying is that I was typically a year to 18 months younger because I moved to a place with a six month cutoff difference. So that is more than what DCUM anti-redshirters complain so loudly about. Kids in my classes were AT LEAST six months older than me, but the vast majority were significantly older than that.

And I think the obsession with their kids relative ages and being the youngest that anti-redshirt DCUM parents seem to have is really unhealthy. These are also the parents that gossip about kids and push teachers to talk about other kids and it’s not good.

You accuse others of gossip while you are trash talking about people. On top of that, there’s no legitimacy of what you are trash talking them about, it’s nonsense.

I suspect the real issue is that I have correctly identified you as one of the parents who is very weird about how their kid is the youngest, and acts that way, so you are lashing out defensively.

I know your type well.

That made me laugh out loud, especially the last sentence!!! So funny!

[Anonymous]

All states should do what New York did and ban it. That would solve this whole ridiculous problem.

[Anonymous]

I’m the PP who was the youngest by more than what people are freaking out about here. Let me clarify the math. I am a late Dec. birthday and started in a school with a Dec. 31st cutoff. A few years later we moved to a school that had a soft June 1 cutoff. So I was typically at least six months younger than my classmates and often more. Private school K-12.

I’m going to stop posting now, though, because it’s clear to me the anti-redshirters have no interest in actually hearing anything other than “you are 100% right all the time.” So here you go: you are 100% right all the time. Good luck to you. I think you are going to really need it over the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who was the youngest by more than what people are freaking out about here. Let me clarify the math. I am a late Dec. birthday and started in a school with a Dec. 31st cutoff. A few years later we moved to a school that had a soft June 1 cutoff. So I was typically at least six months younger than my classmates and often more. Private school K-12.

I’m going to stop posting now, though, because it’s clear to me the anti-redshirters have no interest in actually hearing anything other than “you are 100% right all the time.” So here you go: you are 100% right all the time. Good luck to you. I think you are going to really need it over the years.

Don’t let the door hit you in the a$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who was the youngest by more than what people are freaking out about here. Let me clarify the math. I am a late Dec. birthday and started in a school with a Dec. 31st cutoff. A few years later we moved to a school that had a soft June 1 cutoff. So I was typically at least six months younger than my classmates and often more. Private school K-12.

I’m going to stop posting now, though, because it’s clear to me the anti-redshirters have no interest in actually hearing anything other than “you are 100% right all the time.” So here you go: you are 100% right all the time. Good luck to you. I think you are going to really need it over the years.

Don’t let the door hit you in the a$$.

Your one anecdotal story at a k-12 is not relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who was the youngest by more than what people are freaking out about here. Let me clarify the math. I am a late Dec. birthday and started in a school with a Dec. 31st cutoff. A few years later we moved to a school that had a soft June 1 cutoff. So I was typically at least six months younger than my classmates and often more. Private school K-12.

I’m going to stop posting now, though, because it’s clear to me the anti-redshirters have no interest in actually hearing anything other than “you are 100% right all the time.” So here you go: you are 100% right all the time. Good luck to you. I think you are going to really need it over the years.

Your one anecdotal story at a K-12 is not relevant. I know you say childish things because you are having a fit that you want to be important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All states should do what New York did and ban it. That would solve this whole ridiculous problem.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who was the youngest by more than what people are freaking out about here. Let me clarify the math. I am a late Dec. birthday and started in a school with a Dec. 31st cutoff. A few years later we moved to a school that had a soft June 1 cutoff. So I was typically at least six months younger than my classmates and often more. Private school K-12.

I’m going to stop posting now, though, because it’s clear to me the anti-redshirters have no interest in actually hearing anything other than “you are 100% right all the time.” So here you go: you are 100% right all the time. Good luck to you. I think you are going to really need it over the years.

I don't even really think there's a "right or a wrong" but I would think most people could agree that a 16-18 mo gap in the same grade is kind of a lot and certainly not the intent/norm from when most of us parents were growing up.

[Anonymous]

Yes exactly PP! Exactly what you said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All states should do what New York did and ban it. That would solve this whole ridiculous problem.

+1

What problem? That some people don't like it doesn't make it a huge issue demanding action. Where exactly is this a problem? I've known a few kids who could potentially be 18 mos older in some of my kid's classes but I fail to see the glaring problem. It's not holding my kids back or hurting them in anyway so why should I or anyone care? Instead of anecdotes cite a source that this is a ridiculous issue that needs immediate action and why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who was the youngest by more than what people are freaking out about here. Let me clarify the math. I am a late Dec. birthday and started in a school with a Dec. 31st cutoff. A few years later we moved to a school that had a soft June 1 cutoff. So I was typically at least six months younger than my classmates and often more. Private school K-12.

I’m going to stop posting now, though, because it’s clear to me the anti-redshirters have no interest in actually hearing anything other than “you are 100% right all the time.” So here you go: you are 100% right all the time. Good luck to you. I think you are going to really need it over the years.

I don't even really think there's a "right or a wrong" but I would think most people could agree that a 16-18 mo gap in the same grade is kind of a lot and certainly not the intent/norm from when most of us parents were growing up.

Parents did the same thing when we were growing up, especially those who expected their kids to get scholarships. I'd rather save the money from an extra year of preschool/child care and use that money for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who was the youngest by more than what people are freaking out about here. Let me clarify the math. I am a late Dec. birthday and started in a school with a Dec. 31st cutoff. A few years later we moved to a school that had a soft June 1 cutoff. So I was typically at least six months younger than my classmates and often more. Private school K-12.

I’m going to stop posting now, though, because it’s clear to me the anti-redshirters have no interest in actually hearing anything other than “you are 100% right all the time.” So here you go: you are 100% right all the time. Good luck to you. I think you are going to really need it over the years.

I don't even really think there's a "right or a wrong" but I would think most people could agree that a 16-18 mo gap in the same grade is kind of a lot and certainly not the intent/norm from when most of us parents were growing up.

Parents did the same thing when we were growing up, especially those who expected their kids to get scholarships. I'd rather save the money from an extra year of preschool/child care and use that money for college.

Agreed on the money.

However, growing up (I'm 40) the only kids I knew that were held back were August babies. I think I knew one late July baby held back. Definitely no spring babies. Redshirting has always existed, sure, but not to the extent that it is now. If anything, I knew more stories of parents trying to get their fall kid enrolled early (myself included). But public school wouldn't allow it. The thought process definitely seems to have changed. I also live in the same area that I grew up in, so it's not like it's a regional thing.

[Anonymous]

I guess I am a May redshirt.
3rd kid, first time I have done it.

However, he was suggested as not kinder ready but his Prek teacher (one of two in the class). He academically fine. He’s socially not doing great with listening and being as independent. Has improved over the year, but still not showing nearly as much readiness.

Well do a PreK class again; it’s meant for re-takers, and won’t be the exact same.

He is short and always will be, based on genes. So he’s not going to stick out. I am a little worried the academic stuff will be boring eventually, but they push kindergartners! So, he’ll be able to keep up.