My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, and except for summer bday boys and others with developmental issues, it is rare.

Except that the Jan-May redshit ISN'T that rare.

If it were, most of this discussion wouldn't be an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Confidence, high self-esteem, leadership tendencies, and extrovert characteristics, however, are all qualities that lead to success in business, and are all characteristics that are born at a young age. If you think that this redshirting trend does not change the classroom dynamics enough to affect the growth of these characteristics in "on-time" children, you are WRONG. Bigger and older boys change the classroom dynamics. Of course they do. All of you taking a narrow view at this are doing this only because such a simplistic approach serves your interests. What if you had a March boy? What if he was small? Or shy? But ready for K from an intellect prespective? I think you would feel differently.

I have one DC in middle school and one DC in high school and this has not been the case at all for either of them and their classes. And I should add that the middle schooler is an August birthday, and was held back, and the high schooler is May birthday and has been in school with kids a year older. It hasn't made a bit of a difference. Not one bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I won't even touch the issue of how this affects the gender dynamics. In middle school and high school, when half the boys are older than all of the girls, how do you think that affects those girls?

They're grateful that the boys aren't even more immature? Seriously, I haven't seen in any issues in middle school (as the parent of a girl or in the classroom). The girls generally look/act older than the boys in 7th/8th.

[Anonymous]

And by high school, lots of classes are mixed grades anyway.

This is a kindergarten phobia, not a long term issue.

[Anonymous]

To 9:15 and 15:57, I'm sorry for the bad experience you obviously suffered at the hands of an older boy or on Wall Street.

Don't you remember, I was redtrousered...loved it. My kids are redtrousered. They love it. I loved the redshirters in my class. In the Redskins football training camp these undrafted free agents are called "camp meet". You are the one trembling because of a few K redshirters. A pity. You have no sense of self worth. Always looking for an excuse. ...a few more months in age, a few more pounds in weight, a few more inches in height; Oh it's so not fair to your charismatic, brilliant and athletic children. Classic drama queen from the NW. Get over it. You are already left behind. Get with the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, and except for summer bday boys and others with developmental issues, it is rare.

Except that the Jan-May redshit ISN'T that rare.

If it were, most of this discussion wouldn't be an issue.

Maybe you meant to talk about redshits, but I've only seen poster (maybe you or another) with first hand knowledge complain about normally developing kids with birthdays earlier than April. The pre-April bday redshirt is rare (except apparently for this one outlier school that pp didn't identify). Unfortunately, I think its neurosis and misinformation that are feeding this thread.

[Anonymous]

Now April is counted as a summer birthday? There's a lot of high priced spin being thrown back and forth on this thread...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now April is counted as a summer birthday? There's a lot of high priced spin being thrown back and forth on this thread...

The large majority of kids held back are summer birthday boys.
April comes in because lots of educators/administrators/pediatricians/moms say that generally, in terms of maturity, at age 5 boys are 6 months behind girls. So in some circles April is used as a the month to start considering whether a boy could use an extra year. It's meant to level the playing field, not advance the boy. But in my many years of experience, April - May hold backs are rare and pre-April hold backs are practically nonexistent (but much ballyhooed).

[Anonymous]

Fine, whatever. Could we just stop calling it predominately summer birthdays? Kind of like claiming the age range is only 18 months. Do the math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fine, whatever. Could we just stop calling it predominately summer birthdays? Kind of like claiming the age range is only 18 months. Do the math.

.

Maybe because I didn't learn Everyday Math, but: It is predominately summer birthday boys and the max age range is only 18 months (April 2005 - Sept 2006 kids this fall).

[Anonymous]

Except there are Jan, Feb, Mar and April 2005 for this year. Really, many here are not complaining or expressing angst over summer birthdays, but this Jan-May hold-back is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Except there are Jan, Feb, Mar and April 2005 for this year. Really, many here are not complaining or expressing angst over summer birthdays, but this Jan-May hold-back is ridiculous.

I agree that pre April/May hold backs are ridiculous. It's just that I see much more anxiety than examples that it actually exists (unless you're the poster whose school does this routinely). If my private school routinely held back beyond the rare April/May kid, I'd look for another school.

[Anonymous]

My kid is a summer birthday and I'm sending him although I get the feeling he will be the youngest and the only summer birthday. I'm pretty sure he will not be a gifted athlete and he is average height. I have no doubt he will look a year younger than everyone but I'm trying to prepare him socially and academically. He is a tough little kid so if there is no bullying then we are hoping he will be okay. I do feel that because of the redshirting and the expectations that the school is forcing most of us not to send our summer birthdays.

I hope we are doing the right thing and that it will not impact his self-esteem. If it does not work out we will move him to public, catholic school or have him repeat. I would rather have him repeat in a k curriculum than have him redshirted an repeat in pre-k. At least he will have a more challenging academic experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a summer birthday and I'm sending him although I get the feeling he will be the youngest and the only summer birthday. I'm pretty sure he will not be a gifted athlete and he is average height. I have no doubt he will look a year younger than everyone but I'm trying to prepare him socially and academically. He is a tough little kid so if there is no bullying then we are hoping he will be okay. I do feel that because of the redshirting and the expectations that the school is forcing most of us not to send our summer birthdays.

I hope we are doing the right thing and that it will not impact his self-esteem. If it does not work out we will move him to public, catholic school or have him repeat. I would rather have him repeat in a k curriculum than have him redshirted an repeat in pre-k. At least he will have a more challenging academic experience.

Sounds like we have the same kid. Except we decided to have our son do a year of JrK. I feel like we (pp and me) both made reasonable choices and I expect both of our kids have a great K year.
How about that -- we can assess a similar situation and come to different conclusions. No flames, no arm-waving, no name calling.

[Anonymous]

I love it when the parent of a 5'5'' 125 lb 11 year old 4th grader brags about how well her kids does in class. He should do well becuase he should be in 5th grade.