Did you redshirt your August girl? Why or why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate the term redshirt when used in this context. This isn’t about playing a college sport. It’s about developmental appropriate expectations in kindergarten and your child’s readiness.
I did however send my August birthday girl to kindergarten when she was 6, not 5. I’ve taught kindergarten for nearly 20 years, it was an easy choice. She is now in middle school and I’m even happier with my choice than I was when she was 5/6.

I'm interested in this. What about your experience as a kindergarten teacher made it an easy choice, and what benefits have you seen now that she is in middle school?

It was an easy choice because I know that 5 year old children are not developmentally ready for what kindergarten requires
Of them now. They are not meant to spend their days doing worksheets and drilling sight words or phonics or addition and subtraction facts with one adult to 25 small beings. They are meant to be free to explore their world with support and guidance. They need attention paid to their social emotional development. I knew that would not be my daughter’s experience in kindergarten and I chose to give her an extra year to grow. Not so that she could be better than the other kids but so that she could have a better, more meaningful experience and be more able to cope with the transition to the real world of big school.
As for the long term benefits, she is more emotionally mature than her friends. She is able to stay out of the drama and is a wonderful friend. She is a natural leader. Is some of this her natural personality? Probably. But I do believe that the year before going to kindergarten helped her grow into the person she is.

Disagree. You are sending a child to school, not preschool. It is where they are supposed to learn. They are not doing addition and subtraction in K, but learning numbers, letters, colors, reading, etc. If you had a good preschool or engaging parents, many kids go in knowing that. If you are worried about large classes, send them to a smaller private, like we did.

Oh, your child isn't a natural leader. Your child is a year older than all the other kids, which is a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate the term redshirt when used in this context. This isn’t about playing a college sport. It’s about developmental appropriate expectations in kindergarten and your child’s readiness.
I did however send my August birthday girl to kindergarten when she was 6, not 5. I’ve taught kindergarten for nearly 20 years, it was an easy choice. She is now in middle school and I’m even happier with my choice than I was when she was 5/6.

I'm interested in this. What about your experience as a kindergarten teacher made it an easy choice, and what benefits have you seen now that she is in middle school?

It was an easy choice because I know that 5 year old children are not developmentally ready for what kindergarten requires
Of them now. They are not meant to spend their days doing worksheets and drilling sight words or phonics or addition and subtraction facts with one adult to 25 small beings. They are meant to be free to explore their world with support and guidance. They need attention paid to their social emotional development. I knew that would not be my daughter’s experience in kindergarten and I chose to give her an extra year to grow. Not so that she could be better than the other kids but so that she could have a better, more meaningful experience and be more able to cope with the transition to the real world of big school.
As for the long term benefits, she is more emotionally mature than her friends. She is able to stay out of the drama and is a wonderful friend. She is a natural leader. Is some of this her natural personality? Probably. But I do believe that the year before going to kindergarten helped her grow into the person she is.

Disagree. You are sending a child to school, not preschool. It is where they are supposed to learn. They are not doing addition and subtraction in K, but learning numbers, letters, colors, reading, etc. If you had a good preschool or engaging parents, many kids go in knowing that. If you are worried about large classes, send them to a smaller private, like we did.

DP. Kindergarten is the new first grade but it shouldn't be. Five year olds are still five year olds. The children haven't changed, just the expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send your child to school. What is the drama? Why does it matter what someone else did?

+1
Redshirting is for cowardly parents without faith in their kids

Wow! So mean! You sound jealous and bitter

Or she’s just rightfully annoyed that she followed the rules and now her kid has kids more than a year older in the class and playing against them in sport.

Rules? What rules were broken?

[Anonymous]

We held back our August 7th girl. Best decision ever.

[Anonymous]

OP, I haven't read the rest of the thread, but I feel like the following PSA should be posted to all redshirting threads on DCUM:

Anyone who says that studies show that redshirting is vastly helpful or harmful to students (either those redshirted or those not redshirted) is wildly exaggerating the available research and their opinions should be disregarded.

For all the ranting and froth the topic causes, there aren't very many good, rigorous, statistically valid studies about redshirting. Often when people say "studies say," you need to ask them for the exact cite, and they usually can't provide it, or when they do, it turns out they're outright wrong about the studies. Ask for cites, if people start babbling about "the studies," and read them yourself.

In general, publications in social science journals are analytically weaker than those in medical journals and don't go through the same level of peer review, so judge them accordingly.

The only large population studies (that I know of) that somewhat concern redshirting have to do with the studies on relative age effect and ADHD diagnosis. To summarize at a very high level, those studies link an increased probability of diagnosis of ADHD and/or prescription of ADHD medications with being younger in the class. The studies occur across populations that both do and do not redshirt. If you want to review the studies yourself, here's a meta-analysis of the studies; you can get to some of the individual studies through this meta-analysis. Not all studies found the same degree of impact, and not all studies were of the same level of rigor, but you can evaluate yourself. Also, to be clear these studies were not about redshirting; however, if you have a concern about ADHD you should consider talking to your pediatrician.

It pains me that this even has to be spelled out, but based on lots of observations of DCUM's redshirt discussions, it does need to be spelled out: private schools can redshirt as much as they want, because they can set their own admissions rules.

A follow-up point to the point above: if you do not like a private school's policy on redshirting, you do not need to apply to that school. To most people this is obvious but years of reading DCUM has taught me it is not obvious to everyone.

Public schools vary in their rules with respect to redshirting; it doesn't make sense to talk in general about "the rules" with respect to public schools because they vary by state and in some cases by districts.

Cutoff dates vary by state. Again, this does seem to be misunderstood on DCUM.

Go to the actual studies cited in popular media rather than the popular media articles themselves; the studies are usually easily available. You can decide for yourself if you want to make a decision based on about a questionable sample of students from a specialized Italian university or not.

Redshirting discussions on DCUM attract a lot of truly crazy people. Evaluate your feedback accordingly.

In the end, you know your child. It's not "not having faith in them" to redshirt. It's not "putting your ego ahead of their needs" to not redshirt. Anyone who says that nonsense (and there are a lot of them on DCUM) should just be ignored as they are likely not great parents themselves.

If you encounter someone who is wildly anti-redshirting but sends their child to private school, moves to an expensive school district, hires outside tutors, or who engages in outside academic enrichment, they're probably hypocrites and you should ignore them.

If you encounter someone who is wildly pro-redshirting but who doesn't support the right of kids to enter school early to the same degree as they might delay, they're probably hypocrites and you should ignore them.

Other than citations to studies, you're probably not going to get a lot of use out of these discussions given the crazies that they tend to attract. Evaluate them accordingly.

HTH.

[Anonymous]

I believe in sending kids to school according to the age guidelines set by the state we live in unless there’s a documented disability, but I read with my kids, teach them stuff, sign them up for camps and classes geared towards their interests and so I’m a hypocrite?

You’re an idiot.

- someone with a PhD in logic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe in sending kids to school according to the age guidelines set by the state we live in unless there’s a documented disability, but I read with my kids, teach them stuff, sign them up for camps and classes geared towards their interests and so I’m a hypocrite?

You’re an idiot.

- someone with a PhD in logic

For someone with a PhD in logic, you don't seem to have critical thinking skills. The answer is yes, you are a hypocrite. See if you can figure out why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe in sending kids to school according to the age guidelines set by the state we live in unless there’s a documented disability, but I read with my kids, teach them stuff, sign them up for camps and classes geared towards their interests and so I’m a hypocrite?

You’re an idiot.

- someone with a PhD in logic

You realize that parent who sends their August born child is also doing that, right? You have to be 5 on or before 9/1 (MD) or 9/30 (VA and DC) and compulsory age for school is 6. A child who goes to K just after turning 6 falls well within that range.

For someone with a PhD in logic, you are remarkably lacking in it...

[Anonymous]

I did for my August 25 girl because she had some developmental delays and really needed that extra year for ECSE classes and to catch up. My youngest is a totally different kid and if she has been born in August I would have sent her. If there's no social or academic delays, she should be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe in sending kids to school according to the age guidelines set by the state we live in unless there’s a documented disability, but I read with my kids, teach them stuff, sign them up for camps and classes geared towards their interests and so I’m a hypocrite?

You’re an idiot.

- someone with a PhD in logic

LMAO okay Dr.Logic.

[Anonymous]

One of my children has a July birthday, and I haven't even considered holding DC back. Seems strange to do this. Where I'm from, kids start kindergarten when they're 4, so long as they turn 5, by December 31st. It's unusual to hold a child back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my children has a July birthday, and I haven't even considered holding DC back. Seems strange to do this. Where I'm from, kids start kindergarten when they're 4, so long as they turn 5, by December 31st. It's unusual to hold a child back.

This is a DC area forum. We are talking about August birthdays and September (1st or 30th) cutoff dates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate the term redshirt when used in this context. This isn’t about playing a college sport. It’s about developmental appropriate expectations in kindergarten and your child’s readiness.
I did however send my August birthday girl to kindergarten when she was 6, not 5. I’ve taught kindergarten for nearly 20 years, it was an easy choice. She is now in middle school and I’m even happier with my choice than I was when she was 5/6.

I'm interested in this. What about your experience as a kindergarten teacher made it an easy choice, and what benefits have you seen now that she is in middle school?

It was an easy choice because I know that 5 year old children are not developmentally ready for what kindergarten requires
Of them now. They are not meant to spend their days doing worksheets and drilling sight words or phonics or addition and subtraction facts with one adult to 25 small beings. They are meant to be free to explore their world with support and guidance. They need attention paid to their social emotional development. I knew that would not be my daughter’s experience in kindergarten and I chose to give her an extra year to grow. Not so that she could be better than the other kids but so that she could have a better, more meaningful experience and be more able to cope with the transition to the real world of big school.
As for the long term benefits, she is more emotionally mature than her friends. She is able to stay out of the drama and is a wonderful friend. She is a natural leader. Is some of this her natural personality? Probably. But I do believe that the year before going to kindergarten helped her grow into the person she is.

Enjoy her junior and senior year of high school. You’ll be paying for the bliss you describe now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate the term redshirt when used in this context. This isn’t about playing a college sport. It’s about developmental appropriate expectations in kindergarten and your child’s readiness.
I did however send my August birthday girl to kindergarten when she was 6, not 5. I’ve taught kindergarten for nearly 20 years, it was an easy choice. She is now in middle school and I’m even happier with my choice than I was when she was 5/6.

I'm interested in this. What about your experience as a kindergarten teacher made it an easy choice, and what benefits have you seen now that she is in middle school?

It was an easy choice because I know that 5 year old children are not developmentally ready for what kindergarten requires
Of them now. They are not meant to spend their days doing worksheets and drilling sight words or phonics or addition and subtraction facts with one adult to 25 small beings. They are meant to be free to explore their world with support and guidance. They need attention paid to their social emotional development. I knew that would not be my daughter’s experience in kindergarten and I chose to give her an extra year to grow. Not so that she could be better than the other kids but so that she could have a better, more meaningful experience and be more able to cope with the transition to the real world of big school.
As for the long term benefits, she is more emotionally mature than her friends. She is able to stay out of the drama and is a wonderful friend. She is a natural leader. Is some of this her natural personality? Probably. But I do believe that the year before going to kindergarten helped her grow into the person she is.

Enjoy her junior and senior year of high school. You’ll be paying for the bliss you describe now.

What do you mean?

[Anonymous]

I think the reason people are less likely to hold back girls is because in general girls tend to do extremely well in elementary school, especially if they are the compliant, rule-following type. Some boys do fine, but a lot of them really struggle with the amount of sitting and focusing. I think some of the kids on ADHD medication in elementary school are on it because school is poorly suited to their activity and focus level, and they might be able to go without meds in a different setting.

So, if your daughter is good at school stuff and likely to be successful, I'd send her and it will probably go fine. If she is more squirmy and seems socially younger than her peers, I'd wait a year.