TO THE MOM WHO RED SHIRTED HER SON AND COMPLAINS HE'S NOT CHALLENGED

[Anonymous]

I thought you were only supposed to red shirt for summer birthdays? If your daughter has an August bday and he is 17 mos older is he a March birthday? That seems bizarre to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- It gas been interesting reading the responses. I feel like the red shirting does change the dynamics. There is a big difference between a 5 year old and a 6.5 year old and it's unfair to have the K standard be geared for a 6.5 year old. Red shirt in is very common in my community. My thought is that if you do red shirt, then be thankful that school is easy for your child so that you can work on whatever social issues your child has. If the social issues weren't that big of a deal, then you shouldn't have held your child back in the first place.


Maybe I wouldn't think of it as such a big deal if my child had a fall birthday but 17 months is a huge difference at this age.

But how many red-shirted kids are in your child's class? My son has 1 older kid in his class of 27. It doesn't seem to change the dynamic at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- It gas been interesting reading the responses. I feel like the red shirting does change the dynamics. There is a big difference between a 5 year old and a 6.5 year old and it's unfair to have the K standard be geared for a 6.5 year old. Red shirt in is very common in my community. My thought is that if you do red shirt, then be thankful that school is easy for your child so that you can work on whatever social issues your child has. If the social issues weren't that big of a deal, then you shouldn't have held your child back in the first place.


Maybe I wouldn't think of it as such a big deal if my child had a fall birthday but 17 months is a huge difference at this age.

My non redshirt august boy and I agree.

[Anonymous]

I have two boys, both late Spring birthdays. Both started school on time. both have classmates that are 17-18 months older (ie February - crazy, right?).

My anecdotal observation is that the kids who were redshirted had no apparent social or academic issues and these were basically cosmetic/athletic redshirts at the age of 4 (or 6).

Fast forward, the kids are in middle elementary now and you can see the sports difference and the social maturity difference in terms of interest in the opposite sex and general aggressiveness towards 'action'


In terms of academics, these kids are at worst in the middle of the grade (based on class placement like math that is either accelerated, regular or support) but it does change the dynamic considerably, regardless of whether it is kindergarten (no not Kindy, please) or 7th grade.

In total, as others have said, if your kid is an introvert, being an older introvert won't change anything. If your kid is on the small side, they might always be on the small side, and being older and on the small side won't change that.

Gaming the system is otherwise a fools game and not worth it and ultimately, it makes school a race to the bottom when you have 7 year olds kicking ass in kindergarten or 15 year olds doing great in 8th grade.

Does everyone remember those rare kids who used to skip grades and be super smart? My grandfathers both enrolled in college at 16. Now we have 16 year olds in 9th and 10th grade. It is a total crock and shameful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have two boys, both late Spring birthdays. Both started school on time. both have classmates that are 17-18 months older (ie February - crazy, right?).

My anecdotal observation is that the kids who were redshirted had no apparent social or academic issues and these were basically cosmetic/athletic redshirts at the age of 4 (or 6).

Fast forward, the kids are in middle elementary now and you can see the sports difference and the social maturity difference in terms of interest in the opposite sex and general aggressiveness towards 'action'


In terms of academics, these kids are at worst in the middle of the grade (based on class placement like math that is either accelerated, regular or support) but it does change the dynamic considerably, regardless of whether it is kindergarten (no not Kindy, please) or 7th grade.

In total, as others have said, if your kid is an introvert, being an older introvert won't change anything. If your kid is on the small side, they might always be on the small side, and being older and on the small side won't change that.

Gaming the system is otherwise a fools game and not worth it and ultimately, it makes school a race to the bottom when you have 7 year olds kicking ass in kindergarten or 15 year olds doing great in 8th grade.

Does everyone remember those rare kids who used to skip grades and be super smart? My grandfathers both enrolled in college at 16. Now we have 16 year olds in 9th and 10th grade. It is a total crock and shameful.

Once again: NOBODY is redshirting for athletic advantage or simply because the kid is an introvert. And just like kids used to skip grades, they also used to be held back. I am sorry that the visibility of another child's struggles bothers you so much, but maybe stop and think about what kind of person you are.

[Anonymous]

I don't get why people do it. All the research shows that younger kids are better off in the long run starting on time. It challenges them and makes them develop a good work ethic and grit.

It makes sense too if you think about it. If you have a kid who is a little on the immature side, do you want him modeling his behavior on more mature peers or less mature peers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Once again: NOBODY is redshirting for athletic advantage or simply because the kid is an introvert. And just like kids used to skip grades, they also used to be held back. I am sorry that the visibility of another child's struggles bothers you so much, but maybe stop and think about what kind of person you are.

Except that they are. Look at the comments in this thread where people are openly suggesting they are redshirting because their kid is small or because of "social immaturity"

[Anonymous]

The ONLY reason red shirting is on my mind for my Aug boy is that so many people are doing this and he will be 15 months + younger than other kids. I HATE this. I won't do it for this reason but it's on my mind - if people kept to the cut off dates except for true special cases we would all be better off.

My sons preschool teacher used to teach K in NY. She said they met with all kids whose parents wanted to keep them back. If they passed the screening and the teachers felt they were ready then they went. Wish they did that here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ONLY reason red shirting is on my mind for my Aug boy is that so many people are doing this and he will be 15 months + younger than other kids. I HATE this. I won't do it for this reason but it's on my mind - if people kept to the cut off dates except for true special cases we would all be better off.

My sons preschool teacher used to teach K in NY. She said they met with all kids whose parents wanted to keep them back. If they passed the screening and the teachers felt they were ready then they went. Wish they did that here.

He will be around plenty of kids born in Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, and Jul. Right? We are in FCPS, and I just don't see the epidemic of red-shirting that everyone is hollering about. Seems like we have at most 1 or maybe 2 kids per class. Doesn't affect much in the classroom dynamic.

Of course, now that I think about it, this may be because we are in an area with a very high percentage of central Asian and east Asian students. Stereo-typically speaking, those kids are pushed ahead (as in learning to read early, etc) rather than held back. I'm the PP with 3 kids in elementary and all 4 of the red-shirted kids in my kids' 3 classes are white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They say boys are 6-12 months behind girls at young ages. So her son is really more like 5-11 months older than your DD.

BS

-- The mother of a daughter and a son

Yeah, barring any special needs, this is just due to lowered expectations for boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ONLY reason red shirting is on my mind for my Aug boy is that so many people are doing this and he will be 15 months + younger than other kids. I HATE this. I won't do it for this reason but it's on my mind - if people kept to the cut off dates except for true special cases we would all be better off.

My sons preschool teacher used to teach K in NY. She said they met with all kids whose parents wanted to keep them back. If they passed the screening and the teachers felt they were ready then they went. Wish they did that here.

If he is smart start him on time. We did and my now teen has consistently been at the top of the class, even above tue kids too old for the grade.

[Anonymous]

How many red shirted kids does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ONLY reason red shirting is on my mind for my Aug boy is that so many people are doing this and he will be 15 months + younger than other kids. I HATE this. I won't do it for this reason but it's on my mind - if people kept to the cut off dates except for true special cases we would all be better off.

My sons preschool teacher used to teach K in NY. She said they met with all kids whose parents wanted to keep them back. If they passed the screening and the teachers felt they were ready then they went. Wish they did that here.

He will be around plenty of kids born in Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, and Jul. Right? We are in FCPS, and I just don't see the epidemic of red-shirting that everyone is hollering about. Seems like we have at most 1 or maybe 2 kids per class. Doesn't affect much in the classroom dynamic.

Of course, now that I think about it, this may be because we are in an area with a very high percentage of central Asian and east Asian students. Stereo-typically speaking, those kids are pushed ahead (as in learning to read early, etc) rather than held back. I'm the PP with 3 kids in elementary and all 4 of the red-shirted kids in my kids' 3 classes are white.

This is true for my kids' school as well. In our area of FCPS, we simply don't have to deal with this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many red shirted kids does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

None. Their parents tell them they can't do it and accomplish the task themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why people do it. All the research shows that younger kids are better off in the long run starting on time. It challenges them and makes them develop a good work ethic and grit.

It makes sense too if you think about it. If you have a kid who is a little on the immature side, do you want him modeling his behavior on more mature peers or less mature peers?

No, there is plenty of research showing that being the youngest is detrimental and increases risk of adhd diagnoses.