VA has a September 30 cutoff. My mid-September birthday boy started on time at 4. It was rough for the first two or three years. For all of our family and friends with August/September birthday boys sent on time, it has been rough, for years. |
I'd even take into account the child's size. My nephew has a July birthday and has been head and shoulders taller than his peers since a huge growth spurt at 4 yo. I can't imagine what his life would have been like if his parents would have redshirted him. |
| Yes June birthdays are held back, often. I believe it shouldn't be, but it is. |
That was one of the things we thought about. Our June baby is in the 99th percentile for height and weight. He is one of the youngest kids in his class but he is one of the bigger kids. I ave a friend who had to make that decision and choose to keep her son back because he was not ready for kindergarten and he is about the size of a second grader. It was not an easy choice to make but he was in no way ready for kindergarten at 5 but his size is its own problem. |
Dont you think about the difference in high school when she is so much younger? Also thy hree years isnt that much of a difference but your kid so you have to worry about the consquences not us |
|
Im seriously considering holding my June girl back one year. She seems so babysh, although she has come a LONG way these past 6 month. It is really amazing how much she has matured compared to last year.
She is 4 and 1/2 right now... Last year, I holding her back was a certainty... now Im just considering it. Another thing at the back of my mind is that I dread the thought of sending her to college at just turned 18. Ugh! |
I'm planning on holding back my August birthday boy, and he is quite tall and big. He'd be tall no matter if he was the youngest or the oldest in the class. Right now he's one of the youngest in his 4 year old preschool class - still tall. It is what it is. |
I grew up in NY where the cutoff is November 30, and had plenty of friends born in September, October, and November and they all did fine. Red shirters are the problem, not those who start there kids in accordance with the due dates. I'm not going to delay my children's lives so they are not the smallest in the class. |
|
We didn’t redshirt our June DS when he started PK. He’s in K now and doing great. We weren’t sure how it would go because he seemed a little immature when he started PK at 4 years old, but he adjusted well and had a great year. It helps that he’s always been big for his age and has pretty good gross motor skills.
My DD is an early September baby and we are not redshirting her either. She’ll still be 3 for a few weeks after starting PK. She already seems much more mature than my DS was at the same age and she’s pretty independent, so we’ll see how it goes. I don’t know anyone who redshirted a kid born in June or July. August is a mixed bag, as is September- and most of the redshirted kids I know are boys. |
+1. I have a summer bday, my brother has an October bday and I have several close friends with September bdays. None of us were redshirted and we all did very well in school. |
I started college at 17 and didn’t turn 18 until the first semester was over. I did just fine and had no social or academic problems at all. I have a DS with a June birthday in kinder now and he is doing fine and he came from an Italian preschool so wasn’t as academically prepared as his peers but socially and motor skill wise, he is far ahead of peers. |
|
I don't think there is one right answer that works all the time. My middle son (14) has a June 27th birthday. We sent him to school on time. He did very well academically and he had friends, but he was quite immature. School was rough at times. As he got older the difference in age became less important.
He is now a freshman in high school. He is a good student but I think he would be a GREAT student if we had held him back. He also likes sports and although he is tall he is less developed than most of his classmates. He is a good enough athlete but I wonder if he would have excelled had we held him back. If I had to go back and do it over I would start him later. But I don't think it has been a disaster for him that he started on time. |
+1, started college at 17 and it was fine. My kid started K at age 4, and it was fine--she's doing great a couple years later, although of course there were kids who were bigger or faster or more advanced academically to start. And that's okay. Perhaps try to differentiate between your own anxiety and more legitimate reasons to hold a child back. |
NP. She won’t. The cut off is Sept 30th so her daughter will start school at 4 and turn 5 a few weeks later. Many of kids do this. |
OMG. That's stupid. I have a late September birthday and when I was a kid, holding your child back was done because the kid was dumb, not because the parents thought "he wasn't ready". I was 17 in college and managed just fine. |