NOT redshirting an August birthday

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our son has a late August birthday, and we are planning to enroll him in PK3 next year. He is very verbal and seems to be enjoying his current full-time daycare. I hadn't even considered holding him back until a few people asked me about it, and I see it mentioned here all the time. Are there specific things people look for when deciding to hold a kid (boys, especially) back? He's only 2.5 so there's only so much I can "judge" him on at this point haha but want to be sure I'm not missing or considering something. Thanks!

Same boat here, mine is 3.5 but we are not doing any daycare or PK before he starts K "on time." He works on academic skills and school environment type expectations with his caregiver, and he has older siblings in school who can model the right behaviors for him. He is the baby of the family and prefers older kids to play with, so I don't foresee any problems being the youngest in class. Kinks in behavior get ironed out eventually, but it's harder to catch up in academics, so I would focus more on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what we could probably all agree on if we took 200 giant steps back from this issue and didn't see it through the prism of our own experiences is that there is very little positive or negative impacts associated with sending your child early or late. There are kids who are sent early who struggle socially because they are immature and who may have not struggled as much had they been sent a year later and conversely, there are kids who are sent late who feel uncomfortable about being the oldest and are teased for it and struggle because their peers seem immature and they develop earlier than the majority of their classmates (my experience). Academically, most studies show that older kids may have a slight advantage initially as they may have a slightly longer attention span and/or may have already been exposed to the material, but like most things -- everything normalizes a year or two in. Which makes sense.

I feel bad for teachers who sometimes have to teach kids in very different places academically but I think most kids will thrive regardless of when they are sent. [/quot
They are not immature. They are younger. Big difference.