Did a 180 and decided to redshirt my child- question for parents who decided to do the same

[Anonymous]

Great, a "very physical" and "class clown" child who is a year older and bigger than everyone else.

That is going to be awesome.

[Anonymous]

I am so confused. I started school at age 4 and college at 18, before these birthday rules were put in place. Other than not being able to get my license when everyone else did and one minor issue my freshman year in college, I had no problems. The latter was just something silly and because I wasn't 18 I could not legally sign a required NCAA doc for myself. I really hope that, as you state, this is the right decision in the end for your child and your child doesn't end up being really bored. I am already concerned about my own child starting school being a bit more advanced given the transition we will have from private preschool to public school, but am confident things will work themselves out. Kids do it all the time and turn out just fine.
I would have used maturity and intelligence over being younger in my decision but again, it is yours so I wish you the best of luck.

[Anonymous]

That should read college at 17. Oops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope colleges take note of this weird trend and adjust accordingly. But they won't. This is just a general comment: if a critical mass of people start doing this, there will be social and economic costs to those who don't.

You can go to college at any age - not sure I understand this comment. I know adults who are in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We redshirted my late July girl and regret it now that she is headed to 4th. She doesn't like being the oldest in her class and now I realize she really would have been fine starting on time.

hindsight is 20/20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just be prepared that any accomplishment your child makes will be accompanied by a disclaimer "....but he's SO much older, of course he's a better fill-in-the-blank".

Everyone will know by end of kindergarten what you did, and that stigma will me with him. As you can see by this thread, other parents don't like it.

I wouldnt want to saddle my child with that

Don't worry, your vehemence on this issue makes clear you'll provide your kids with their own baggage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope colleges take note of this weird trend and adjust accordingly. But they won't. This is just a general comment: if a critical mass of people start doing this, there will be social and economic costs to those who don't.

Why would they? Plenty of kids already take a gap year or serve in the military before going to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope colleges take note of this weird trend and adjust accordingly. But they won't. This is just a general comment: if a critical mass of people start doing this, there will be social and economic costs to those who don't.

Why would they? Plenty of kids already take a gap year or serve in the military before going to college.

Or spend five years completing a degree. Or go back to school at a later age...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be prepared that any accomplishment your child makes will be accompanied by a disclaimer "....but he's SO much older, of course he's a better fill-in-the-blank".

Everyone will know by end of kindergarten what you did, and that stigma will me with him. As you can see by this thread, other parents don't like it.

I wouldnt want to saddle my child with that

Don't worry, your vehemence on this issue makes clear you'll provide your kids with their own baggage.

+1.

As you can see from this thread: if you make your decisions based on what will please other parents, redshirting is not the way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope colleges take note of this weird trend and adjust accordingly. But they won't. This is just a general comment: if a critical mass of people start doing this, there will be social and economic costs to those who don't.

Why would they? Plenty of kids already take a gap year or serve in the military before going to college.

Or spend five years completing a degree. Or go back to school at a later age...

Yes. Many approaches work, and you can choose one only to find it would be great for one child and less so for your own, so you do your best.

I think the real problem is parents telling themselves that they can and should knock every barrier, real or imagined, out of their child's way and cue up advantages relative to other kids. Don't get in that habit. The only thing you're likely to accomplish is a dynamic where the whole family expects to avoid challenges instead of learning to conquer them, and that's not a recipe for building happy, productive adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We are redshirting our late september twins (cut off is Oct 1). My husband was born the same time of year. He hated starting at four and he hated graduating at 17 and being the youngest. It was tough on him. Personally sending a 17 year old off to college really did not appeal to me.

We talked to their preschool and a few other educators and figure the three days is not a huge deal. I still struggled with it. I thought that they would be the oldest in the class. Guess I am wrong. They will graduate at 18 and be slighly older.

Late Sept. is more reasonable. I have a late Oct. bday and started at 4 as well, and went to college at 17, and would much prefer to have started at 5 like most everyone else. OP is doing something very different - she'll be starting her kid at 6 - her allegedly athletically talented, academically advanced, socially skilled 6 year old. In kindergarten. Until he's 7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great, a "very physical" and "class clown" child who is a year older and bigger than everyone else.

That is going to be awesome.

+1. His teachers will be ecstatic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great, a "very physical" and "class clown" child who is a year older and bigger than everyone else.

That is going to be awesome.

+1. His teachers will be ecstatic.

...not to mention he'll be almost 2 years older than the kids with late summer/early fall birthdays. DD's is late August - I'd be pretty pissed if she ended up starting kindergarten as a freshly minted 5yo with a 6 1/2 yo. Absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great, a "very physical" and "class clown" child who is a year older and bigger than everyone else.

That is going to be awesome.

+1. His teachers will be ecstatic.

...not to mention he'll be almost 2 years older than the kids with late summer/early fall birthdays. DD's is late August - I'd be pretty pissed if she ended up starting kindergarten as a freshly minted 5yo with a 6 1/2 yo. Absurd.

Or the fact that they are going to be less "mature" than a typical 6-6.5 year old as they've been socializing with 4-5 year olds for the past year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So your kid will turn 7 in kindergarten? Yeah I wouldn't celebrate his 7th birthday with his kinder friends. My son who just finished 2nd grade is still 7.

I agree. That is insane. My child will celebrate their 5th birthday in kindergarten. The fact that your 7 year old may be in class with my 5 year old is ridiculous.

Yes my kid will be 7 the entire 2nd grade school year.

May is ridiculous but it will come to bite the in the ass with travel sports which go by birth date not school year.

Your kid will not be allowed to play with teammates. Zero exceptions. It's National Standard for sports like soccer.