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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are some people so obsessed with redshirting anyway?

On DCUM, it's largely a few obsessed and very weird anti-redshirt posters who come across as seriously disturbed. (I didn't redshirt.)

What they don't seem to have the capacity to grasp is that their singular obsession with redshirting makes many of us normal parents much more inclined to support it. Every parent I've known who redshirted thought long and hard about it. I've actually become very supportive of even wider ranges and greater flexibility in ages after reading DCUM for years. The DCUM anti-redshirt people are so hysterical, so over the top, and so blind to their own glaring issues that it's hard to take them seriously and I distrust them.

+1. That’s what I’ve noticed too. A weird DCUM phenomenon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are some people so obsessed with redshirting anyway?

They don’t think their kids are smart enough to do well with other kids their age.

+1

Redshirting a kid doesn't make them smarter. It just makes them look smarter because they're being compared to kids a year younger than them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are some people so obsessed with redshirting anyway?

They don’t think their kids are smart enough to do well with other kids their age.

+1

Redshirting a kid doesn't make them smarter. It just makes them look smarter because they're being compared to kids a year younger than them.

It's almost as if you want to prove the point that DCUMs anti-redshirt posters are weird disturbed obsessives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are some people so obsessed with redshirting anyway?

Every parent I've known who redshirted thought long and hard about it.

Yeah, they thought about what was in it for their kid. What they didn't consider was how it would harm their kid's younger classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are some people so obsessed with redshirting anyway?

Every parent I've known who redshirted thought long and hard about it.

Yeah, they thought about what was in it for their kid. What they didn't consider was how it would harm their kid's younger classmates.

Isn’t that what you do as a parent though? Just choose the best option for your kid? If you’re so angry about this policy, why be angry at the parents taking advantage of it? Direct your fury at the policy makers. And maybe don’t be so obsessed with comparing your kid to her/his peers. It’s ok! They’ll be ok! You’re looking out for them and even if this feels inequitable, remember that everyone is carrying a burden - you just might not see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are some people so obsessed with redshirting anyway?

Every parent I've known who redshirted thought long and hard about it.

Yeah, they thought about what was in it for their kid. What they didn't consider was how it would harm their kid's younger classmates.

Look, if you are a single mom living on food stamps, and you are forced to put your child in school as early as possible for the free childcare, or you are worried about kids starting at an older age because you know that high school drop out rates correlate with age rather than grade, then, yeah, I understand why redshirting raises your blood pressure and makes you want to riot.

But if you are an MC/UMC parent like 98% of the posters on DCUM, then take a look at your own child, and if you feel they are being harmed by their current class placement, change it. Advocate for your child to be held back, go to private school for a year and repeat a grade, pull them out and homeschool, etc. I don’t see why you would keep a child in a situation that you know is actively harming them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are some people so obsessed with redshirting anyway?

Every parent I've known who redshirted thought long and hard about it.

Yeah, they thought about what was in it for their kid. What they didn't consider was how it would harm their kid's younger classmates.

All of the differences in academic performance are gone by what, third grade? If a child is comparing his/her academic performance to their peers at 5, 6, or 7 years old, that is coming from parents, not kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are some people so obsessed with redshirting anyway?

Every parent I've known who redshirted thought long and hard about it.

Yeah, they thought about what was in it for their kid. What they didn't consider was how it would harm their kid's younger classmates.

Look, if you are a single mom living on food stamps, and you are forced to put your child in school as early as possible for the free childcare, or you are worried about kids starting at an older age because you know that high school drop out rates correlate with age rather than grade, then, yeah, I understand why redshirting raises your blood pressure and makes you want to riot.

But if you are an MC/UMC parent like 98% of the posters on DCUM, then take a look at your own child, and if you feel they are being harmed by their current class placement, change it. Advocate for your child to be held back, go to private school for a year and repeat a grade, pull them out and homeschool, etc. I don’t see why you would keep a child in a situation that you know is actively harming them.

DP. I don't think the weird competition-obsessed troll has kids, based on prior posts. At least, I sure hope not.

What she doesn't get is that her crazed posts are making pro-redshirting arguments far more effectively than any pro-redshirting poster. I did not redshirt and reading DCUM has made me very pro-redshirting. DCUM opponents come across as genuinely nuts.

[Anonymous]

I think she’s really unhappy. She is looking at her kid and disappointed in them. It makes me sad, tbh. Her kids will suffer for it as she sits in the bleachers etc comparing her kid to others and perseverating about how they compare to their peers (who are older than her kid, argh!)

[Anonymous]

Best solution is to try to time pregnancies to have fall (October+)/winter babies so you don’t have to redshirt but also don’t have to worry about your kid being the youngest for their grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best solution is to try to time pregnancies to have fall (October+)/winter babies so you don’t have to redshirt but also don’t have to worry about your kid being the youngest for their grade.

The best date to conceive would actually be April 24th. This date is always 40 weeks before January 29th of the following year. Since it's very unlikely that the baby will be born more than 4 weeks before or after their due date, this almost guarantees that they will not be born any earlier than January 1st. The worst case scenario is that they'd be born on February 26th, which still makes them older than roughly 84 percent of their classmates. Scoring in the 84th percentile still opens quite a few doors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best solution is to try to time pregnancies to have fall (October+)/winter babies so you don’t have to redshirt but also don’t have to worry about your kid being the youngest for their grade.

The best date to conceive would actually be April 24th. This date is always 40 weeks before January 29th of the following year. Since it's very unlikely that the baby will be born more than 4 weeks before or after their due date, this almost guarantees that they will not be born any earlier than January 1st. The worst case scenario is that they'd be born on February 26th, which still makes them older than roughly 84 percent of their classmates. Scoring in the 84th percentile still opens quite a few doors.

Hahaha! Good one, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think she’s really unhappy. She is looking at her kid and disappointed in them. It makes me sad, tbh. Her kids will suffer for it as she sits in the bleachers etc comparing her kid to others and perseverating about how they compare to their peers (who are older than her kid, argh!)

I think pp is right. The vehement anti-redshirt posters likely don’t have children of their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think she’s really unhappy. She is looking at her kid and disappointed in them. It makes me sad, tbh. Her kids will suffer for it as she sits in the bleachers etc comparing her kid to others and perseverating about how they compare to their peers (who are older than her kid, argh!)

I think pp is right. The vehement anti-redshirt posters likely don’t have children of their own.

I think it could be a grandparent who thinks kindergarten is exactly the same as it was 45 years ago when she had her last experience it. The advice seems so antiquated, out of touch, and just inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best solution is to try to time pregnancies to have fall (October+)/winter babies so you don’t have to redshirt but also don’t have to worry about your kid being the youngest for their grade.

The best date to conceive would actually be April 24th. This date is always 40 weeks before January 29th of the following year. Since it's very unlikely that the baby will be born more than 4 weeks before or after their due date, this almost guarantees that they will not be born any earlier than January 1st. The worst case scenario is that they'd be born on February 26th, which still makes them older than roughly 84 percent of their classmates. Scoring in the 84th percentile still opens quite a few doors.

Does anywhere that matters for the purposes of this forum have a Jan 1st cutoff date?