Has anyone “redshirted” a January kid?

[Anonymous]

So again, how old is too old? If 6y8m isn’t too old to start K, how old is? This is not a rhetorical question - I’d like to hear answers from redshirt supporters.

[Anonymous]

I think you should wait until June or July (or even August) 2020 to decide this. He’s still very young, and a lot can change in the next 8-9 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So again, how old is too old? If 6y8m isn’t too old to start K, how old is? This is not a rhetorical question - I’d like to hear answers from redshirt supporters.

It will be fine when he or she is younger but it would be very tuff socially as a high schooler. Kids will tease and assume the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are not trying to give him an athletic or academic edge. This is not an ideal situation for us. We would love to not have this conversation, not pay for another year of private school. We are availing ourselves of every appropriate therapy and service and I am an outstanding advocate for my kid within the school system. We really would rather not be in such a situation, but January is around the corner so we have to make sure all options are open come August.

Paying for private K and 1st was the best thing we ever did as child got very small class sizes and more attention. Just because they cannot talk does not mean they cannot learn and thrive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So again, how old is too old? If 6y8m isn’t too old to start K, how old is? This is not a rhetorical question - I’d like to hear answers from redshirt supporters.

Not a redshirt supporter, but imo, this is the upper limit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So again, how old is too old? If 6y8m isn’t too old to start K, how old is? This is not a rhetorical question - I’d like to hear answers from redshirt supporters.

It will be fine when he or she is younger but it would be very tuff socially as a high schooler. Kids will tease and assume the worst.

My ds is a junior in a private high school. The cutoff date is Sept. 1 for the school, but because he started in public school, where the cutoff date is Dec. 31, he is one of the youngest in the class, at age 15. There is a student in his grade who is 18. When he learned this, he was a bit surprised, but it was no big deal. No one cares, much less teases.

[Anonymous]

My opinions of 'holding back" aside, I suggest not telling your kid to lie about it. It shows that you are insecure with the decision and will make him feel that it is something of which to be ashamed. He'll pick up on it eventually, and that feeling might be more harmful than just sending him on time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you should wait until June or July (or even August) 2020 to decide this. He’s still very young, and a lot can change in the next 8-9 months.

+1
My 3 year old (January birthday) received an IEP for speech therapy in June and I saw improvements in his speech months before he started receiving services through his school in September. Sometimes it's just a matter of time and maturing.

[Anonymous]

OP whatever you can do to help your DC you should do. If he does badly in public K they won’t let him repeat. No one cares or teases about this.
In my experience they tease the youngest not the oldest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So again, how old is too old? If 6y8m isn’t too old to start K, how old is? This is not a rhetorical question - I’d like to hear answers from redshirt supporters.

I am strongly in favor of flexibility because from what I see, most parents have a decent sense of their child's readiness. I guess you could say it's pro-redshirting but what I am really in favor of is flexibility. Some kids strongly benefit by an earlier start, some by a later start. (I think this strict cookie cutter date approach is bananas.) It doesn't surprise me that the only large-scale study of the impact of relative age on ADHD medication/diagnosis where relative age didn't correlate to diagnosis was from the Netherlands, which is very flexible about starting year and allows for a lot of parental discretion. IMO that model is much better. Anti-redshirt DCUM posters are all about crazy slippery slope arguments, but I doubt that would happen in practice.

To answer your specific question, I think having a rule that kids have to be in school by the time they are seven is reasonable. Alternatively I think a two-year age range would be okay: you can elect entry in one of two years. I think in practice this how things work in the Netherlands: kids are given a wide starting age range from 5-7. It seems like a reasonable approach.

My child (not redshirted) was in a class with a child who was redshirted because of SNs, February birth. There were also other redshirted kids. It was fine. I saw literally none of the supposedly horrid impacts that DCUM's stressed-out anti-redshirt posters said would happen. Kids didn't care, parents (at least the sane, normal ones I hung out with) didn't care. Parents made the right choice as far as I could tell. It was NBD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So again, how old is too old? If 6y8m isn’t too old to start K, how old is? This is not a rhetorical question - I’d like to hear answers from redshirt supporters.

I am strongly in favor of flexibility because from what I see, most parents have a decent sense of their child's readiness. I guess you could say it's pro-redshirting but what I am really in favor of is flexibility. Some kids strongly benefit by an earlier start, some by a later start. (I think this strict cookie cutter date approach is bananas.) It doesn't surprise me that the only large-scale study of the impact of relative age on ADHD medication/diagnosis where relative age didn't correlate to diagnosis was from the Netherlands, which is very flexible about starting year and allows for a lot of parental discretion. IMO that model is much better. Anti-redshirt DCUM posters are all about crazy slippery slope arguments, but I doubt that would happen in practice.

To answer your specific question, I think having a rule that kids have to be in school by the time they are seven is reasonable. Alternatively I think a two-year age range would be okay: you can elect entry in one of two years. I think in practice this how things work in the Netherlands: kids are given a wide starting age range from 5-7. It seems like a reasonable approach.

My child (not redshirted) was in a class with a child who was redshirted because of SNs, February birth. There were also other redshirted kids. It was fine. I saw literally none of the supposedly horrid impacts that DCUM's stressed-out anti-redshirt posters said would happen. Kids didn't care, parents (at least the sane, normal ones I hung out with) didn't care. Parents made the right choice as far as I could tell. It was NBD.

Way too reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP whatever you can do to help your DC you should do. If he does badly in public K they won’t let him repeat. No one cares or teases about this.
In my experience they tease the youngest not the oldest.

While I would never put my kid in K planning to repeat if things don't work out, the posters saying it's impossible and won't ever happen are incorrect. My kid repeated K in FCPS at the suggestion of the school. We didn't ask for it and in fact first declined the offer. The principal and teachers really felt it was a good option and we eventually changed our minds. Best decision ever, IMO, and it has never caused problems for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP whatever you can do to help your DC you should do. If he does badly in public K they won’t let him repeat. No one cares or teases about this.
In my experience they tease the youngest not the oldest.

While I would never put my kid in K planning to repeat if things don't work out, the posters saying it's impossible and won't ever happen are incorrect. My kid repeated K in FCPS at the suggestion of the school. We didn't ask for it and in fact first declined the offer. The principal and teachers really felt it was a good option and we eventually changed our minds. Best decision ever, IMO, and it has never caused problems for my kid.

Our neighbor's kid repeated K in an FCPS school too. Nothing bad came out of it.

[Anonymous]

To another posters point, the IEP does not just disappear. By law it Hass to stay with him until he no longer needs it. So this is really a team discussion and decision and should be supported with evaluations and data not crowd source information.

[Anonymous]

OP: Maybe you should start a thread in the SN area. Be a bit more clear with what the needs are and the pros and cons that you are seeing. There will be more parents who have been in your shoes and can probably offer better options and you can skip the age discussion and people who think that your kid will be married by 3rd grade because your kid is so much older won't be tossing in their 2 cents.