How does redshirting work?

[Anonymous]

My kid is only three, but their preschool is already talking about kindergarten readiness, and as they decide classrooms for next year the administrators asked some questions about our kindergarten plans. I had never heard of redshirting before, but my kid was born in early August. We live in Alexandria if that makes a difference. Sorry if this is all very obvious to everyone else but I am a first-time parent and I wasn’t sure about the logistics of this. It sounds like I can just choose whether to put my child in kindergarten right after he turns five or wait and do it right after he turns six, right? So far he is a little small for his age and tends to be very active and fidgety. I could see where giving him an extra year to mature and get a little bit more impulse control would probably make sitting at a desk for longer stretches a lot easier for him. On the other hand, he tends to do better with older kids, so it might be that he’d be happier as the youngest kid in the class versus being one of the older ones. I would love to hear perspectives and general information about how people make this decision so that I have some time to ponder and keep track of what’s happening with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: My kid is only three, but their preschool is already talking about kindergarten readiness, and as they decide classrooms for next year the administrators asked some questions about our kindergarten plans. I had never heard of redshirting before, but my kid was born in early August. We live in Alexandria if that makes a difference. Sorry if this is all very obvious to everyone else but I am a first-time parent and I wasn’t sure about the logistics of this. It sounds like I can just choose whether to put my child in kindergarten right after he turns five or wait and do it right after he turns six, right? So far he is a little small for his age and tends to be very active and fidgety. I could see where giving him an extra year to mature and get a little bit more impulse control would probably make sitting at a desk for longer stretches a lot easier for him. On the other hand, he tends to do better with older kids, so it might be that he’d be happier as the youngest kid in the class versus being one of the older ones. I would love to hear perspectives and general information about how people make this decision so that I have some time to ponder and keep track of what’s happening with him.

You have the general idea. Studies have shown red shirting benefits initially. Long term there are various studies that show positive / negative, but it all depends on the SES of the parents.
I had the reverse issue - missed the K cutoff by 5 days, but could have pressed him ahead. He was / is very smart academically but immature emotionally, and he was small for his age (“failure to thrive” small). We figured best to keep him in his “correct” kindergarten class - also figuring with a lot of redshirting, if we pushed him ahead he would be the youngest by far and have kids almost 2 years older than him in class.
He is in second grade now and completely bored. He acts out because he is bored. He did not qualify for gifted... but after months of asking they have him doing accelerated work. Which in his school means he is on his iPad learning on his own but at least he’s not acting out.
Every child is different and every situation is different. But three is awefully young to try and decide whether to hold him back or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: My kid is only three, but their preschool is already talking about kindergarten readiness, and as they decide classrooms for next year the administrators asked some questions about our kindergarten plans. I had never heard of redshirting before, but my kid was born in early August. We live in Alexandria if that makes a difference. Sorry if this is all very obvious to everyone else but I am a first-time parent and I wasn’t sure about the logistics of this. It sounds like I can just choose whether to put my child in kindergarten right after he turns five or wait and do it right after he turns six, right? So far he is a little small for his age and tends to be very active and fidgety. I could see where giving him an extra year to mature and get a little bit more impulse control would probably make sitting at a desk for longer stretches a lot easier for him. On the other hand, he tends to do better with older kids, so it might be that he’d be happier as the youngest kid in the class versus being one of the older ones. I would love to hear perspectives and general information about how people make this decision so that I have some time to ponder and keep track of what’s happening with him.

You have the general idea. Studies have shown red shirting benefits initially. Long term there are various studies that show positive / negative, but it all depends on the SES of the parents.
I had the reverse issue - missed the K cutoff by 5 days, but could have pressed him ahead. He was / is very smart academically but immature emotionally, and he was small for his age (“failure to thrive” small). We figured best to keep him in his “correct” kindergarten class - also figuring with a lot of redshirting, if we pushed him ahead he would be the youngest by far and have kids almost 2 years older than him in class.
He is in second grade now and completely bored. He acts out because he is bored. He did not qualify for gifted... but after months of asking they have him doing accelerated work. Which in his school means he is on his iPad learning on his own but at least he’s not acting out.
Every child is different and every situation is different. But three is awefully young to try and decide whether to hold him back or not.

Thanks for your perspective. Fortunately, we don’t have to make any real decisions now, but the preschool has two classes for next year. One is 4 days a week and will have 3.5-4.5 yos at the start of the year and will be geared towards those who plan to have 2 more years of preschool (less structure, more play). The other will have 4-5 yos at the start of the year and is geared as a preK (more academics, 5 days a week). We can choose either, and he can always take the pre-K or twice or go straight from the younger class to kindergarten, but I wanted to get some information on how people make this kind of decision since it is all new for us.

[Anonymous]

I sent DC1, with a late summer bday on time, and if I had to make the same decision over, I would do it again but without the stress. I liked these articles at the time I was making the decision, but they are old, because said kiddo is now in 3rd grade.

Delay Kindergarten at Your Child’s Peril
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/dont-delay-your-kindergartners-start.html

And
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/youngest-kid-smartest-kid/amp

I am not a researcher but based on my experience I generally agree with these articles. My middle kid has a winter bday and is in K now so it is interesting for me to see what it's like with a not young for the grade kid, in comparison. I know it's hard to be in it for the long game, when the redshirted kids often have an easier time at the very beginning by virtue of being a year older.

Around here people are posting a newer article saying the older kids do better, to support redshirting, but the article doesn't study kids who were redshirted, rather kids who just missed the cutoff naturally.

I was young for the grade and DH was young for the grade and we both thought that was ok, so that swayed our decision. We are friends with people who redshirt now. In college, one of my best friends had the same bday as me - but a year older. And really, I think a kid would essentially do the same if born 9/30 and sent on time or born 10/1 and having to wait a year. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

We have end of August child whose birthday is 3 days before cut-off and we kept him back, in part because he was still napping at age 4 and still having accidents then, too. It was definitely the right decision. He is in middle school and that extra year helped him tremendously with maturity (willingness to sit down and do homework for example). He is also under 50% percentile for size in his age, and so he has never been the largest in the class, nor the smallest. He is also not that far ahead in terms of birthday - there have always been kids with September and October birthdays in his class, but really, one of his best friends since first grade is 11 months younger than him, so the age range has never been an issue.

It's hard to know what to do at this age, but trust your instincts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have end of August child whose birthday is 3 days before cut-off and we kept him back, in part because he was still napping at age 4 and still having accidents then, too. It was definitely the right decision. He is in middle school and that extra year helped him tremendously with maturity (willingness to sit down and do homework for example). He is also under 50% percentile for size in his age, and so he has never been the largest in the class, nor the smallest. He is also not that far ahead in terms of birthday - there have always been kids with September and October birthdays in his class, but really, one of his best friends since first grade is 11 months younger than him, so the age range has never been an issue.

It's hard to know what to do at this age, but trust your instincts.[/quote]

This. I taught K and have seen successes either way. I have also seen failures on the early end--but, never the redshirt end. All kids are different--but, I agree: trust your instincts.

[Anonymous]

A few things to consider. When they get to kindergarten, they are expected to learn quickly how to write letters. Some kids, particularly boys, struggle with fine motor skills, especially if they have not had much opportunity to practice. I would put your kid in a class geared as a Pre-K so that the child gets practice trying to write letters. Some preschool classes incorporate handwriting and others don't. My friend's child that was in a preschool that didn't do handwriting is really struggling.

Many kids will come into kindergarten already reading or will learn to read by the end of that year. As a parent, you need to judge your child's pre-literacy skills and how the preschool is teaching them to kids. Its not just knowing the alphabet but really understanding all the sounds the letters make and being able to recognize basic sight words.

How does the school teach math? Kids in pre-K should be learning to count and visually recognize all the numbers to 100 and count by 10s.

Social / emotional skills are also important. Can your kid sit still, follow directions, listen to adults, play and interact with peers, not have meltdowns if they don't get their way, etc?

The best preschools combine some structure with play so that learning is fun. But you need to assess what skills they will be taught and expected to learn in each of the different classes. You can then assess where you think your child best falls.

[Anonymous]

I've read several threads on DCUM where people hotly debate the pros and cons of redshirting, and it's never quite made sense to me. Assuming you're sending your kid to public school, why not just send him to kindergarten on time and avoid the expense of daycare/preschool for an additional year? If there's an issue with readiness/maturity/etc., he can repeat kindergarten based on the advice of his teachers. If not, then he can move on to first grade. No need to stress about the decision. Just see how he does in kindergarten and, if need be, he can repeat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've read several threads on DCUM where people hotly debate the pros and cons of redshirting, and it's never quite made sense to me. Assuming you're sending your kid to public school, why not just send him to kindergarten on time and avoid the expense of daycare/preschool for an additional year? If there's an issue with readiness/maturity/etc., he can repeat kindergarten based on the advice of his teachers. If not, then he can move on to first grade. No need to stress about the decision. Just see how he does in kindergarten and, if need be, he can repeat it.

Why place your kid in an environment that is not good for him? Part of the issue is that K is not what it used to be. Kids are writing and sitting much more than in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've read several threads on DCUM where people hotly debate the pros and cons of redshirting, and it's never quite made sense to me. Assuming you're sending your kid to public school, why not just send him to kindergarten on time and avoid the expense of daycare/preschool for an additional year? If there's an issue with readiness/maturity/etc., he can repeat kindergarten based on the advice of his teachers. If not, then he can move on to first grade. No need to stress about the decision. Just see how he does in kindergarten and, if need be, he can repeat it.

Why place your kid in an environment that is not good for him? Part of the issue is that K is not what it used to be. Kids are writing and sitting much more than in the past.

Also, ther is a huge social stigma with retention. The kid will feel like
He failed. With redshirting children on the cusp parents generally say that they had a choice, they chose for the child to be older and it was all part of the plan. Every teacher will tell you: when in doubt, keep them out.

[Anonymous]

Also, ther is a huge social stigma with retention. The kid will feel like
He failed. With redshirting children on the cusp parents generally say that they had a choice, they chose for the child to be older and it was all part of the plan. Every teacher will tell you: when in doubt, keep them out.

Kindergarten teacher

[Anonymous]

Parents try to game the sysytem, but there is no shame in redshirting an August kid. Very common in Arlington. No idea about Alexandria because most folks bail on Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've read several threads on DCUM where people hotly debate the pros and cons of redshirting, and it's never quite made sense to me. Assuming you're sending your kid to public school, why not just send him to kindergarten on time and avoid the expense of daycare/preschool for an additional year? If there's an issue with readiness/maturity/etc., he can repeat kindergarten based on the advice of his teachers. If not, then he can move on to first grade. No need to stress about the decision. Just see how he does in kindergarten and, if need be, he can repeat it.

Why place your kid in an environment that is not good for him? Part of the issue is that K is not what it used to be. Kids are writing and sitting much more than in the past.

+1
Better to send a child late than have him repeat a grade in K. Three kids were held back in DD's class. While there wasn't a huge stigma at our school given the kids are so young, I know the parents had to work hard to get their self esteem back up and to convince them they hadn't "failed" but were just young for their age and could have gone to K earlier or later. Two of the three repeated at the school and are doing great. The third went to a private and I don't know know how he's doing. Two were boys and one girl.
There were at least 5 other fall birthday kids in the grade and I know one is struggling behaviorally but doing fine academically and socially. The others seem to be fine socially, behaviorally and academically.

[Anonymous]

Op it depends on your kid and 3 is young. DS is early Aug bday and our preK was adamant he should be redshirted. But his teacher said he was ready for K and DS was adamant to do so. In PreK he would have continued napping times and he was just so over it. We let him go to K in public. He also has speech articulation issues and under 50% height weight for his age. But he did well and loved K. Started behind caught up by end academically without any additional help from us. First grade ditto but our teacher sucked and he asked to repeat. Against the schools rec - we had to fight for this - he repeated. All good that year but maybe a bit bored. This year in 2nd he’s doing great. School stopped giving him speech therapy since academically he’s exceeding grade level work even though technically he’s not 100% speech. At this time he’s at appx end 3rd grade reading and TAG math doing multiplication. The only one in his class of 17. We do not do sanything extra with our kids beating from baby reading to them. Socially he’s great too. We struggled for years but now we’re committed to this track. In hindsight I think we did it right. Every kid is different but you have to see where they’re at iat time of decision making. As a first time parent you’re afraid of mistakes but 3 is too young to make the redshirt decision. As an aside, one reason we let him have a large say in decision is he told us he wanted to be in a preK at age 4 that was harder. We had him in a great preK more daycare oriented and he wanted to learn more. On some level DS loves school and learning. So whether we held him back or not he was aslways going to be ahead likely. Socially we’ll never know what was best but given his immaturity, physical size and speech issues we are ok with him being oldest in class. We would never be completely stress free as he would be youngest if clsss the other way. Believe me it’s been so hard to not second guess but what I’ve learned is your kid is on some level going to be themselves in either grade. If they dare academically inclined it’ll come out. So the question is socially what works for personality. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

My children were in a Montessori school where many students stayed for their kindergarten year, and then entered 1st grade at the public school. If your preschool offers an equivalent K curriculum, stay. Then you can decide whether to enter public in 1st or K.