Why is redshirting so rare if it's so advantageous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, but they are also learning US History as a 18 year old while all of their classmates are 17.

They learned geoemetry when they were 15 when all of their classmates were 14.

They feel dumb because they are the oldest and learning the same things most of their peers a year younger are learning.

Why? because their parents didn't think they could compete with kids their own age, so gave them the "gift of time" so they could be a year older and more mature when learning as compared to their peers.

Huh? My non redshirted kids turn 18 in the fall of senior year. It’s totally normal. The birthdays span at least 12 months in a school year. The kids don’t all have spring birthdays. Did you do any math in school? Pretty sure you are the dumb one.

Yes, your non red shirted kid turns 18 during their senior year. A redshirted kid would turn 19 during their senior year (further towards the end of the year, granted)

My non-redshirted kid turns 18 a month after she starts college. She turns 19 as a sophomore.

Awesome. See? Kids ages span at least 12 months and they hail from areas with different cut offs. You learned something new today. My state has a Sept 1 cutoff and my late September and November birthday kids are the correct age. 18 early in their senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No kid thinks other kids were “held back”. Schools don’t hold kids back any more. That’s not a thing.

Yes, plenty of kids think that, or they think they’re “slow.” Sorry, defensive redshirt mom.

What kind of school do your kids go to full of ignorant bullies? You sound so proud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, but they are also learning US History as a 18 year old while all of their classmates are 17.

They learned geoemetry when they were 15 when all of their classmates were 14.

They feel dumb because they are the oldest and learning the same things most of their peers a year younger are learning.

Why? because their parents didn't think they could compete with kids their own age, so gave them the "gift of time" so they could be a year older and more mature when learning as compared to their peers.

Huh? My non redshirted kids turn 18 in the fall of senior year. It’s totally normal. The birthdays span at least 12 months in a school year. The kids don’t all have spring birthdays. Did you do any math in school? Pretty sure you are the dumb one.

Yes, your non red shirted kid turns 18 during their senior year. A redshirted kid would turn 19 during their senior year (further towards the end of the year, granted)

Not true. Most redshirted kids are summer or early fall birthdays, so they'd turn 19 after graduating from HS or right at the beginning of their freshman year of college. The only way a redshirted kid would turn 19 during their senior year is if they had a spring birthday -- but my experience as a parent of 4 kids is that that's pretty darn rare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most kids would feel insulted if they were redshirted; like their parents thought they weren't smart enough to be on a normal schedule.

I know my son would. He'd be embarrassed to tell other people how old he was turning.

Doesn't this depend on the kid's birthday? My kid wasn't redshirted but gets upset that she is always the youngest. She gets left out of summer camps with age cutoffs and plays down a level in team sports (the right age, but lower grade, so not with her classmates). It's very frustrating to her. If we lived in Maryland she'd be in the lower grade, but we're in Virginia with a Sept 30th cutoff. If anything, she's embarrassed by her birthday now because she doesn't like being the youngest.

She's not having to go those summer camps any later in her life. She's just completing her education earlier in her life. She'd be playing with the same sports teams that she is in this moment in time even if she were a grade below. The only difference is that she would be less educated.

Yeah, but she's being left out. Her whole girl scout troop signed up for camp together. She is the only one who can't go because she's too young. Her besties from preschool signed up for swim team. She can't be at their practice because she swims with the lower age group. Her best friend from school wanted her to sign up for the same day camp that includes a trip to a water park, but she can't because she doesn't make the age cutoff. I promise you that she doesn't care one but how educated she is for being 7, but she absolutely cares about being with her classmates. And no, it doesn't make her feel better when I tell her she can go next year with a group of kids she doesn't know from the grade behind her.

Well, it's difficult to view the world objectively at the age of 7. She will learn to adopt that line of thinking one day though.

There's an objective view where she isn't being left out of activities with her friends? Where she isn’t already the youngest and struggling to fit in with her older peers? I'm the adult and don't see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most kids would feel insulted if they were redshirted; like their parents thought they weren't smart enough to be on a normal schedule.

I know my son would. He'd be embarrassed to tell other people how old he was turning.

Doesn't this depend on the kid's birthday? My kid wasn't redshirted but gets upset that she is always the youngest. She gets left out of summer camps with age cutoffs and plays down a level in team sports (the right age, but lower grade, so not with her classmates). It's very frustrating to her. If we lived in Maryland she'd be in the lower grade, but we're in Virginia with a Sept 30th cutoff. If anything, she's embarrassed by her birthday now because she doesn't like being the youngest.

She's not having to go those summer camps any later in her life. She's just completing her education earlier in her life. She'd be playing with the same sports teams that she is in this moment in time even if she were a grade below. The only difference is that she would be less educated.

Yeah, but she's being left out. Her whole girl scout troop signed up for camp together. She is the only one who can't go because she's too young. Her besties from preschool signed up for swim team. She can't be at their practice because she swims with the lower age group. Her best friend from school wanted her to sign up for the same day camp that includes a trip to a water park, but she can't because she doesn't make the age cutoff. I promise you that she doesn't care one but how educated she is for being 7, but she absolutely cares about being with her classmates. And no, it doesn't make her feel better when I tell her she can go next year with a group of kids she doesn't know from the grade behind her.

Well, it's difficult to view the world objectively at the age of 7. She will learn to adopt that line of thinking one day though.

There's an objective view where she isn't being left out of activities with her friends? Where she isn’t already the youngest and struggling to fit in with her older peers? I'm the adult and don't see it.

The bold is pretty oxymoronic. Your peers are other people your age. You must know that there are other people in the world born on the same as she saw, even if neither you nor her know any of them. Any scientist would tell you that those are the kids she should be comparing herself to. She'll be allowed to camp at the same time as them, and she'll also be able to drive and go to bars at the same time as them. She won't be doing those things later than the kids who are exactly her age. She will, however, hit her educational milestones, such as graduating high school and college, before many people exactly her age. Grade-groupings are conventional and subject to change. Age groupings are decided naturally from birth, and your daughter has achieved at-least as much, if not more, than most people her age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most kids would feel insulted if they were redshirted; like their parents thought they weren't smart enough to be on a normal schedule.

I know my son would. He'd be embarrassed to tell other people how old he was turning.

Doesn't this depend on the kid's birthday? My kid wasn't redshirted but gets upset that she is always the youngest. She gets left out of summer camps with age cutoffs and plays down a level in team sports (the right age, but lower grade, so not with her classmates). It's very frustrating to her. If we lived in Maryland she'd be in the lower grade, but we're in Virginia with a Sept 30th cutoff. If anything, she's embarrassed by her birthday now because she doesn't like being the youngest.

She's not having to go those summer camps any later in her life. She's just completing her education earlier in her life. She'd be playing with the same sports teams that she is in this moment in time even if she were a grade below. The only difference is that she would be less educated.

Yeah, but she's being left out. Her whole girl scout troop signed up for camp together. She is the only one who can't go because she's too young. Her besties from preschool signed up for swim team. She can't be at their practice because she swims with the lower age group. Her best friend from school wanted her to sign up for the same day camp that includes a trip to a water park, but she can't because she doesn't make the age cutoff. I promise you that she doesn't care one but how educated she is for being 7, but she absolutely cares about being with her classmates. And no, it doesn't make her feel better when I tell her she can go next year with a group of kids she doesn't know from the grade behind her.

Well, it's difficult to view the world objectively at the age of 7. She will learn to adopt that line of thinking one day though.

There's an objective view where she isn't being left out of activities with her friends? Where she isn’t already the youngest and struggling to fit in with her older peers? I'm the adult and don't see it.

The bold is pretty oxymoronic. Your peers are other people your age. You must know that there are other people in the world born on the same as she saw, even if neither you nor her know any of them. Any scientist would tell you that those are the kids she should be comparing herself to. She'll be allowed to camp at the same time as them, and she'll also be able to drive and go to bars at the same time as them. She won't be doing those things later than the kids who are exactly her age. She will, however, hit her educational milestones, such as graduating high school and college, before many people exactly her age. Grade-groupings are conventional and subject to change. Age groupings are decided naturally from birth, and your daughter has achieved at-least as much, if not more, than most people her age.

You are trying way too hard and are just wrong. Age groupings are just as arbitrary. Why does swim team have an August 1 cutoff, school has a Sept 30 cutoff, some sports have a calendar year cut off, and camp has a requirement that you be the age at the time of registration (so anywhere between January and July, if the camp doesn't fill up)? Peers aren't limited to those born the same month as you.

Social groupings matter. Classmates matter. It's not a race to finish your education before you die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most kids would feel insulted if they were redshirted; like their parents thought they weren't smart enough to be on a normal schedule.

I know my son would. He'd be embarrassed to tell other people how old he was turning.

Doesn't this depend on the kid's birthday? My kid wasn't redshirted but gets upset that she is always the youngest. She gets left out of summer camps with age cutoffs and plays down a level in team sports (the right age, but lower grade, so not with her classmates). It's very frustrating to her. If we lived in Maryland she'd be in the lower grade, but we're in Virginia with a Sept 30th cutoff. If anything, she's embarrassed by her birthday now because she doesn't like being the youngest.

She's not having to go those summer camps any later in her life. She's just completing her education earlier in her life. She'd be playing with the same sports teams that she is in this moment in time even if she were a grade below. The only difference is that she would be less educated.

Yeah, but she's being left out. Her whole girl scout troop signed up for camp together. She is the only one who can't go because she's too young. Her besties from preschool signed up for swim team. She can't be at their practice because she swims with the lower age group. Her best friend from school wanted her to sign up for the same day camp that includes a trip to a water park, but she can't because she doesn't make the age cutoff. I promise you that she doesn't care one but how educated she is for being 7, but she absolutely cares about being with her classmates. And no, it doesn't make her feel better when I tell her she can go next year with a group of kids she doesn't know from the grade behind her.

Well, it's difficult to view the world objectively at the age of 7. She will learn to adopt that line of thinking one day though.

There's an objective view where she isn't being left out of activities with her friends? Where she isn’t already the youngest and struggling to fit in with her older peers? I'm the adult and don't see it.

The bold is pretty oxymoronic. Your peers are other people your age. You must know that there are other people in the world born on the same as she saw, even if neither you nor her know any of them. Any scientist would tell you that those are the kids she should be comparing herself to. She'll be allowed to camp at the same time as them, and she'll also be able to drive and go to bars at the same time as them. She won't be doing those things later than the kids who are exactly her age. She will, however, hit her educational milestones, such as graduating high school and college, before many people exactly her age. Grade-groupings are conventional and subject to change. Age groupings are decided naturally from birth, and your daughter has achieved at-least as much, if not more, than most people her age.

You are trying way too hard and are just wrong. Age groupings are just as arbitrary. Why does swim team have an August 1 cutoff, school has a Sept 30 cutoff, some sports have a calendar year cut off, and camp has a requirement that you be the age at the time of registration (so anywhere between January and July, if the camp doesn't fill up)? Peers aren't limited to those born the same month as you.

Social groupings matter. Classmates matter. It's not a race to finish your education before you die.

None of it is a big deal. Your kids swim with the group assigned. How is that a big deal. Most camps are flexible and go by grade, not by age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, but they are also learning US History as a 18 year old while all of their classmates are 17.

They learned geoemetry when they were 15 when all of their classmates were 14.

They feel dumb because they are the oldest and learning the same things most of their peers a year younger are learning.

Why? because their parents didn't think they could compete with kids their own age, so gave them the "gift of time" so they could be a year older and more mature when learning as compared to their peers.

Huh? My non redshirted kids turn 18 in the fall of senior year. It’s totally normal. The birthdays span at least 12 months in a school year. The kids don’t all have spring birthdays. Did you do any math in school? Pretty sure you are the dumb one.

Yes, your non red shirted kid turns 18 during their senior year. A redshirted kid would turn 19 during their senior year (further towards the end of the year, granted)

Not true. Most redshirted kids are summer or early fall birthdays, so they'd turn 19 after graduating from HS or right at the beginning of their freshman year of college. The only way a redshirted kid would turn 19 during their senior year is if they had a spring birthday -- but my experience as a parent of 4 kids is that that's pretty darn rare.

Nope, not rare. A lot of 19 year old seniors. It is really weird, yet people here defend it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You are trying way too hard and are just wrong. Age groupings are just as arbitrary. Why does swim team have an August 1 cutoff, school has a Sept 30 cutoff, some sports have a calendar year cut off, and camp has a requirement that you be the age at the time of registration (so anywhere between January and July, if the camp doesn't fill up)? Peers aren't limited to those born the same month as you.

Social groupings matter. Classmates matter. It's not a race to finish your education before you die.

Because otherwise, your 16 year old 9th grader will be competing against a 14 year old 8th grader in the same competition. Given average maturation rates, is that fair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No kid thinks other kids were “held back”. Schools don’t hold kids back any more. That’s not a thing.

Yes, plenty of kids think that, or they think they’re “slow.” Sorry, defensive redshirt mom.

My kids have fall birthdays. YOU wish kids cared about this because YOU care so much. The kids don’t care. Schools don’t make kids repeat grades any more so kids don’t make a connection between being older and being dumb. No matter how desperately you seem to want kids to be bullied like the plot of a 1986 after school special—it’s not happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, but they are also learning US History as a 18 year old while all of their classmates are 17.

They learned geoemetry when they were 15 when all of their classmates were 14.

They feel dumb because they are the oldest and learning the same things most of their peers a year younger are learning.

Why? because their parents didn't think they could compete with kids their own age, so gave them the "gift of time" so they could be a year older and more mature when learning as compared to their peers.

Huh? My non redshirted kids turn 18 in the fall of senior year. It’s totally normal. The birthdays span at least 12 months in a school year. The kids don’t all have spring birthdays. Did you do any math in school? Pretty sure you are the dumb one.

Yes, your non red shirted kid turns 18 during their senior year. A redshirted kid would turn 19 during their senior year (further towards the end of the year, granted)

Not true. Most redshirted kids are summer or early fall birthdays, so they'd turn 19 after graduating from HS or right at the beginning of their freshman year of college. The only way a redshirted kid would turn 19 during their senior year is if they had a spring birthday -- but my experience as a parent of 4 kids is that that's pretty darn rare.

Nope, not rare. A lot of 19 year old seniors. It is really weird, yet people here defend it.

The whole point of this thread is that redshirting is rare and uncommon, how have you missed the point entirely? There are not a lot of 19 yr old seniors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are trying way too hard and are just wrong. Age groupings are just as arbitrary. Why does swim team have an August 1 cutoff, school has a Sept 30 cutoff, some sports have a calendar year cut off, and camp has a requirement that you be the age at the time of registration (so anywhere between January and July, if the camp doesn't fill up)? Peers aren't limited to those born the same month as you.

Social groupings matter. Classmates matter. It's not a race to finish your education before you die.

Because otherwise, your 16 year old 9th grader will be competing against a 14 year old 8th grader in the same competition. Given average maturation rates, is that fair? The cutoff date is totally arbitrary. Swim or camp or school could use any cutoff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are trying way too hard and are just wrong. Age groupings are just as arbitrary. Why does swim team have an August 1 cutoff, school has a Sept 30 cutoff, some sports have a calendar year cut off, and camp has a requirement that you be the age at the time of registration (so anywhere between January and July, if the camp doesn't fill up)? Peers aren't limited to those born the same month as you.

Social groupings matter. Classmates matter. It's not a race to finish your education before you die.

Because otherwise, your 16 year old 9th grader will be competing against a 14 year old 8th grader in the same competition. Given average maturation rates, is that fair?

The cutoff date is totally arbitrary. Swim or camp or school could use any cutoff.

If they are using birthdays how is this possible? The kids aren’t born in the same 12 month time frame and they aren’t in the same grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are trying way too hard and are just wrong. Age groupings are just as arbitrary. Why does swim team have an August 1 cutoff, school has a Sept 30 cutoff, some sports have a calendar year cut off, and camp has a requirement that you be the age at the time of registration (so anywhere between January and July, if the camp doesn't fill up)? Peers aren't limited to those born the same month as you.

Social groupings matter. Classmates matter. It's not a race to finish your education before you die.

Because otherwise, your 16 year old 9th grader will be competing against a 14 year old 8th grader in the same competition. Given average maturation rates, is that fair?

The cutoff date is totally arbitrary. Swim or camp or school could use any cutoff.

If they are using birthdays how is this possible? The kids aren’t born in the same 12 month time frame and they aren’t in the same grade?

Why are people so bad at understanding this?

If school has a Sept 30 cutoff and sports or camp have a summer cutoff, then late summer birthday kids who go on time are forced to group with kids in the grade below for social activities. This means that late summer and September birthday kids don't fall in a single grouping, essentially encouraging redshirting. If age cutoffs matched across the board, I think we'd see less redshirting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are trying way too hard and are just wrong. Age groupings are just as arbitrary. Why does swim team have an August 1 cutoff, school has a Sept 30 cutoff, some sports have a calendar year cut off, and camp has a requirement that you be the age at the time of registration (so anywhere between January and July, if the camp doesn't fill up)? Peers aren't limited to those born the same month as you.

Social groupings matter. Classmates matter. It's not a race to finish your education before you die.

Because otherwise, your 16 year old 9th grader will be competing against a 14 year old 8th grader in the same competition. Given average maturation rates, is that fair?

The cutoff date is totally arbitrary. Swim or camp or school could use any cutoff.

If they are using birthdays how is this possible? The kids aren’t born in the same 12 month time frame and they aren’t in the same grade?

Why are people so bad at understanding this?

If school has a Sept 30 cutoff and sports or camp have a summer cutoff, then late summer birthday kids who go on time are forced to group with kids in the grade below for social activities. This means that late summer and September birthday kids don't fall in a single grouping, essentially encouraging redshirting. If age cutoffs matched across the board, I think we'd see less redshirting.

Forced to group? Oh the humanity! Go with the group you are supposed to be with. Isn’t that the entire point of the anti redshirters? I have a late summer birthday kid and he has friends in both grades. He has never complained about this grave injustice. Maybe your kid needs help with social skills.