Don't redshirt-- having 18 year old seniors at home is PAINFUL

[Anonymous]

I remember at 18, our high school allowed us to write our own notes .... sick notes, to be excused from class. We were adults. They had to. And we were also able to drink legally at 18 so weekends were spent in the bars in Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

My kids turned 18 early in the school yer and we didn't' butt heads at all. I actually worried the opposite about our youngest. I think a gap year would have been a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not their age, it’s senioritis.

Agreed. I had this problem with my first kid who was still 17 for the first 6 weeks of college. In fact, she was worse than my current HS senior who is already 18 (but also still has some - manageable - senioritis moments).

[Anonymous]

OPs post is weird. This appears to be a parenting issue, and I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt with a kid who was 18 for all of senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it has nothing to do with holding them back. It has to do with the stage of life they're in. They finished applications and are now ready to move on to the next stage of their lives.

Correct. Also, you don't have anything to compare it to, OP. 17 year olds can be very annoying as well!

I find your post pretty ignorant. Adolescence is hard. Teens and parents don't get along. What else is new?

[Anonymous]

They should be working night shift somewhere and sharing a studio paying the rent. They should get secured credit cards, open Roth, cook, clean, and do their own laundry.
Don't call them every night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well having a kid with obliterated self esteem because they weren't ready for K is probably worse. Sorry, but you'll get through it.

This is not a thing. If this obliterates your child’s self-esteem, you have failed at parenting in far more ways than your redshirting decision.

[Anonymous]

Are they girls? Sending boys to college at 17 imo is not a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have twins who missed the cut-off (Sept 1st) in our district by about 10 days and now turned 18 a few weeks into senior year.
They were also 6 weeks premature so at the time (age 4 when they started PK) we thrilled for the "gift of time."

Let me tell you. Having two 18 year olds under our roof and under our rules is PAINFUL. We are very chill parents and they are good kids: strong students, etc (in fact they just applied to top20 schools--fingers crossed) but it's clear that they could be thriving in college right now and are 100% ready for more independence. We butt heads A LOT.
Nothing was an issue until the last month or so---17 was great but now they're legal adults. They want to be in the next stage of life. And yet here they are living under our roof and having to complete another 7 months of high school and 9 months of living with mom and dad.

Just another perspective on the entire redshirting debate. Being 18 for an entire year of high school is HARD.

Parenting a senior in high school is hard for the reasons you list. It has nothing to do with their actual age.

Seriously. What a bizarre anti-redshirt rant. My kids are both middle of the pack age-wise (turned 18 in January and February of senior year) and they were also ready for more independence and for the next stage in life. That's...typical. It's weird to try to connect it to being 17 vs 18. Like, do you think if they were seniors last year instead of this year, you wouldn't have butted heads and they would't have been eager for the next stage of life?

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the concept of "soiling the nest." It's going to get even worse before your little fledglings finally fly away. Buckle up and hold on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well having a kid with obliterated self esteem because they weren't ready for K is probably worse. Sorry, but you'll get through it.

This was my single mother's view. My twin and I were so premature that we couldn't start school early. We were not nearly ready. By third grade we had mostly caught up developmentally. November birthday and didn't feel different than my classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids turned 18 early in the school yer and we didn't' butt heads at all. I actually worried the opposite about our youngest. I think a gap year would have been a good idea.

Is the gap year for your or them? I don't get pushing a year off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well having a kid with obliterated self esteem because they weren't ready for K is probably worse. Sorry, but you'll get through it.

This was my single mother's view. My twin and I were so premature that we couldn't start school early. We were not nearly ready. By third grade we had mostly caught up developmentally. November birthday and didn't feel different than my classmates.

With a November birthday, it's a non-issue as no one is allowed to start school "early" at that age except NY and a few other rare exceptions. They would have caught up either way and hopefully, your mom got you the help you needed ot catch up. My kid had huge delays through elementary. I'm glad we did not hold back as in MS and HS they caught up and I cannot imagine them a grade behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are they girls? Sending boys to college at 17 imo is not a good idea.

If they are 17 its only for a month and no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids turned 18 early in the school yer and we didn't' butt heads at all. I actually worried the opposite about our youngest. I think a gap year would have been a good idea.

Turning 18 during the school year Senior year is different than turning 19.