Since this is anonymous, why did you REALLY redshirt your kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

And you can sign up for Medicare before his college graduation!

Well that's rude and uncalled for.

For the record I married at 27, and while we didn't actively try for the first three years, we weren't using birth control either. So really that's 15 years of losses and infertility. 12 years of doctors appointments, medication, tests, and procedures. I didn't actively plan on being an older parent, but here I am, doing the best I can with the cards I was dealt, just like any other mother.

+1, it is really rude but that poster is being selfish to keep her child home and extra year for her needs vs. the child's needs. It took us 7 years to adopt - scam after scam (agency, attorneys mainly as a money grab) so we are older too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

Isn't this kind of selfish? Holding your kid back because you don't want to let go and not for any advantages/benefits to HIM? I can at least understand the parents who want to give their kid an advantage. It isn't all about you.

The advantage for mom and dad is that the school work and other things should come easier so they have to parent less and do less for their child. There is no advantage to their child to dumb them down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

Isn't this kind of selfish? Holding your kid back because you don't want to let go and not for any advantages/benefits to HIM? I can at least understand the parents who want to give their kid an advantage. It isn't all about you.

The advantage for mom and dad is that the school work and other things should come easier so they have to parent less and do less for their child. There is no advantage to their child to dumb them down.

Someone trying for 12 years to have a child is going to be looking for the easy less to do parenting route.

It’s no more selfish than parents of summer babies who start early to avoid a year of daycare costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

A kid with a July birthday is pretty close to the middle. In fact, someone born on July 1st would be on the older half, as July 2nd is the middle day of a non-leap-year and the first day on the later half of a leap-year. Someone born after July 2nd would be slightly on the younger half, but nowhere near the youngest. Even if he was born on July 31st, he would've been older than roughly 42 percent of his classmates. I can understanding redshirting someone born between October and December, but redshirting someone who's roughly in the middle just seems a bit greedy.

What are you talking about? The cutoff for K in almost every state is in August or September, so a July kid would be young for the grade. October -December birthdays are among the oldest in most states. A very few states have cutoffs in November or December, but they're the exception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

A kid with a July birthday is pretty close to the middle. In fact, someone born on July 1st would be on the older half, as July 2nd is the middle day of a non-leap-year and the first day on the later half of a leap-year. Someone born after July 2nd would be slightly on the younger half, but nowhere near the youngest. Even if he was born on July 31st, he would've been older than roughly 42 percent of his classmates. I can understanding redshirting someone born between October and December, but redshirting someone who's roughly in the middle just seems a bit greedy.

What are you talking about? The cutoff for K in almost every state is in August or September, so a July kid would be young for the grade. October -December birthdays are among the oldest in most states. A very few states have cutoffs in November or December, but they're the exception.

2 of the states with calendar cut-offs are California and New York, the combined populations of which make up roughly 20 percent of the country, so there's that argument out the window.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What are you talking about? The cutoff for K in almost every state is in August or September, so a July kid would be young for the grade. October -December birthdays are among the oldest in most states. A very few states have cutoffs in November or December, but they're the exception.

2 of the states with calendar cut-offs are California and New York, the combined populations of which make up roughly 20 percent of the country, so there's that argument out the window.

Wrong. California's cutoff has been moved to 9/1

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp

Even if the California cutoff hadn't moved, that would mean that the vast majority of kids don't have calendar cutoffs.
I'm not pro-redshirting, and didn't redshirt any of my kids. I think the person (you..?) who shows up on every redshirting thread and acts like December is the cutoff sounds like a complete idiot, since almost everywhere, including the "DC urban" regions primarily served by this forum, have cutoffs in August or September.

[Anonymous]

I know. New York is the only state left with a December 31st cutoff, and they have more funding than any other state so feel free to spend extra tax dollars for less redshirting. So with more than half of America having a 9/1 cutoff or even earlier, why do people keep coming back to Oct.-Nov. birthdays and whether to redshirt or not. It's not redshirting here. It's sending on time. It's obviously not an issue to start them at 5 turning 6 for the majority of the country.

[Anonymous]

Depends. Where I live it's very common. More than half of parents with boys 3-4 months before the cut off red shirt.

Where do you live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Depends. Where I live it's very common. More than half of parents with boys 3-4 months before the cut off red shirt.

Where do you live?

Curious as well. But consider that even if the above is true - the number of kids in one classroom that are redshirted is low. Because half the class is girls. And the majority of the boys will not be born in that 3-4 months. So if only half of those that are born in that 3-4 months are redshirted - it isn't that big of an impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Depends. Where I live it's very common. More than half of parents with boys 3-4 months before the cut off red shirt.

Where do you live?

Curious as well. But consider that even if the above is true - the number of kids in one classroom that are redshirted is low. Because half the class is girls. And the majority of the boys will not be born in that 3-4 months. So if only half of those that are born in that 3-4 months are redshirted - it isn't that big of an impact.

And because girls mature faster than boys it actually makes the class more even.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Depends. Where I live it's very common. More than half of parents with boys 3-4 months before the cut off red shirt.

Where do you live?

Curious as well. But consider that even if the above is true - the number of kids in one classroom that are redshirted is low. Because half the class is girls. And the majority of the boys will not be born in that 3-4 months. So if only half of those that are born in that 3-4 months are redshirted - it isn't that big of an impact.

And because girls mature faster than boys it actually makes the class more even.

You seriously believe that girls are more mature than boys? Well, I can't really argue with you on that one, seeing as how I don't know a single male as smart as Isabel Newton, Alberta Einstein, Charlotte Darwin, or Stephanie Hawking. You've got me cornered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What are you talking about? The cutoff for K in almost every state is in August or September, so a July kid would be young for the grade. October -December birthdays are among the oldest in most states. A very few states have cutoffs in November or December, but they're the exception.

2 of the states with calendar cut-offs are California and New York, the combined populations of which make up roughly 20 percent of the country, so there's that argument out the window.

Wrong. California's cutoff has been moved to 9/1

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp

Even if the California cutoff hadn't moved, that would mean that the vast majority of kids don't have calendar cutoffs.
I'm not pro-redshirting, and didn't redshirt any of my kids. I think the person (you..?) who shows up on every redshirting thread and acts like December is the cutoff sounds like a complete idiot, since almost everywhere, including the "DC urban" regions primarily served by this forum, have cutoffs in August or September.

CA’s cutoff has been 9/1 for a long time. I know this because my now-adult sibling was born on 9/2 and missed the cutoff.

[Anonymous]

Oops looks like the CA cutoff became statewide in the last ten years. But in our district I’m pretty sure it was 9/1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Depends. Where I live it's very common. More than half of parents with boys 3-4 months before the cut off red shirt.

Where do you live?

Curious as well. But consider that even if the above is true - the number of kids in one classroom that are redshirted is low. Because half the class is girls. And the majority of the boys will not be born in that 3-4 months. So if only half of those that are born in that 3-4 months are redshirted - it isn't that big of an impact.

And because girls mature faster than boys it actually makes the class more even.

You seriously believe that girls are more mature than boys? Well, I can't really argue with you on that one, seeing as how I don't know a single male as smart as Isabel Newton, Alberta Einstein, Charlotte Darwin, or Stephanie Hawking. You've got me cornered.

What? Smart doesn’t mean mature. And it evens out once they are adults. But as teens/tweens, girls definitely mature faster than boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even though he's mature and independent and was reading when he started K, he struggles a bit more at school.

Personally, I'd rather my kid do okay playing by the rules than excel by cheating.

LOL. I love how a decision that another family makes is "cheating" just because you are terrified it will give their kid an edge over your precious little Larla.

It's not cheating. The rules explicitly allow it. Make choices for your own family, and let others make theirs without having to listen to your whining about how the small percentage of slightly older kids is ruining your darling's experience.