Why is redshirting so rare if it's so advantageous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is all this evidence? Everything I have seen says that it’s only good for sports. Every kid has that moment where they start to struggle to do well in school when you actually have to study to get good grades. In the long term red shirting doesn’t help.

So why are so many people on here so hot and bothered about other people redshirting and disadvantaging their kids? Something doesn’t add up.

I don’t think anybody feels their kids are disadvantaged by others redshirting. I just think it’s a mistake for bright kids especially, but if your child has special needs then it makes sense. I think somehow parents were under the impression that the maturity aspect of it benefits their sons (which it does, temporarily), but it‘s like flunking a grade, it puts them behind their same-age peers. I have sent my kids on-time (and trying to greenshirt my September-birthday youngest), mostly because of academics, though.

Here's a great idea: (a) If you think redshirting is the best for your child under the circumstances, go for it; (b) if you think not redshirting your child is the best for your child under the circumstances, do it; (c) if you think greenshirting is the best for your child under the circumstances, then greenshirt away. Here's a terrible idea: Spend a bunch of mental energy using the very little information you have about someone else's child, and decide whether those other parents made the best decision for their child. Then for good measure, make sure you share your negative judgment with your child, other parents and their children so everyone will be sure to treat that family differently and hurtfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- the crazy anti-redshirting parents came out in full force for this one! I held my kid back because his preK teacher recommended it for social/speech reasons. He could ready by four and has always scored in the 99th percentile for everything, so my teacher friends were appalled that I was holding him back. He’ll be bored! they said. Nope. He was just mature enough to cope with the mundane aspects of public school- all the sitting and paperwork that now constitutes first grade etc. As he’s gotten older, I have never once regretted holding him back. I think for boys especially, it’s a good thing. I don’t think of it as “cheating”. I don’t care about his performance on whatever tests. I care about MY KID and that decision was best for him. The anti-redshirting families are weirdly competitive and they are very vocal. They are the families who pay attention to their child’s scores etc compared to their classmates’ etc. My kid isn’t sporty so he isn’t taking anyone’s prized basketball spot or anything either. Just make the right decision for your kid, listen to people you trust. If you can afford to give your kid one more year of sweet non structured preK living, go for it! Good luck.

+1 same situation with my child. Well said.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, in my child's ES class, there was a kid who turned 5 in December of K with cut-off point being September 1st. And his parents had to have him evaluated, or something, to get in K a year earlier!
So, OP, clearly, not everyone sees redshirting as 'so advantageous'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- the crazy anti-redshirting parents came out in full force for this one! I held my kid back because his preK teacher recommended it for social/speech reasons. He could ready by four and has always scored in the 99th percentile for everything, so my teacher friends were appalled that I was holding him back. He’ll be bored! they said. Nope. He was just mature enough to cope with the mundane aspects of public school- all the sitting and paperwork that now constitutes first grade etc. As he’s gotten older, I have never once regretted holding him back. I think for boys especially, it’s a good thing. I don’t think of it as “cheating”. I don’t care about his performance on whatever tests. I care about MY KID and that decision was best for him. The anti-redshirting families are weirdly competitive and they are very vocal. They are the families who pay attention to their child’s scores etc compared to their classmates’ etc. My kid isn’t sporty so he isn’t taking anyone’s prized basketball spot or anything either. Just make the right decision for your kid, listen to people you trust. If you can afford to give your kid one more year of sweet non structured preK living, go for it! Good luck.

"The crazy anti-redshirting parents?" In full force for this one?

You're clearly so insecure about the whole thing. Yeah, we get it, your kid's slow and being held back a year helped. But for an average Larlo/Larla redshirting without a reason holds no advantages whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- the crazy anti-redshirting parents came out in full force for this one! I held my kid back because his preK teacher recommended it for social/speech reasons. He could ready by four and has always scored in the 99th percentile for everything, so my teacher friends were appalled that I was holding him back. He’ll be bored! they said. Nope. He was just mature enough to cope with the mundane aspects of public school- all the sitting and paperwork that now constitutes first grade etc. As he’s gotten older, I have never once regretted holding him back. I think for boys especially, it’s a good thing. I don’t think of it as “cheating”. I don’t care about his performance on whatever tests. I care about MY KID and that decision was best for him. The anti-redshirting families are weirdly competitive and they are very vocal. They are the families who pay attention to their child’s scores etc compared to their classmates’ etc. My kid isn’t sporty so he isn’t taking anyone’s prized basketball spot or anything either. Just make the right decision for your kid, listen to people you trust. If you can afford to give your kid one more year of sweet non structured preK living, go for it! Good luck.

"The crazy anti-redshirting parents?" In full force for this one?

You're clearly so insecure about the whole thing. Yeah, we get it, your kid's slow and being held back a year helped. But for an average Larlo/Larla redshirting without a reason holds no advantages whatsoever.

Great then you shouldn’t care when people do it. Live and let live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It only makes sense if you’re into sports. If your child is at all smart, it’s a terrible idea. Look up greenshirting if you have a gifted child.

In sports, it's your date of birth is what matters, not the grade you're in. And if you're outside the team's age bracket, they might not even let you play. So, no, it doesn't make sense to hold a child back in school if you're looking for a serious sports career; homeschooling is the answer, not redshirting.

[Anonymous]

I think you are the one who has no idea what redshirting is… the cut off for most public school in this region is September 1st. Thanks for your misinformation. Also it’s a practice used in many male independent schools for athletes to have time to develop atonal size and skill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Detrimental in some ways?
- a lot of prestigious opportunities and internships in HS have a strict age-limit and he is always younger by a couple months.

Not really impactful for a kid who is a focussed student and not a wild party animal. YMMV. -
- his driver's license came a few months later than most of his peers
- he will probably be a few months younger than his peers before he can have his first legal beer.

Well, if he drops out of college due to anxiety like I did, comes back later, and finishes later, he won't have to experience that "detriment", now will he? Is that you he would rather have happen to him? I know that I would've much rather been the last of my classmates to turn 21 if it meant I could've had a straight clean path, as opposed to the crooked messy path I had; a path that being the first of my classmates to turn 21 wasn't worth.

Most people I know wouldn't have been able to afford that "crooked messy path". If they had dropped out of college, it would've been next to impossible for them to return. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself for dropping out, you should be feeling grateful that you had the means to go back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:27% of the kids in my town are red shirted.

lol!!! and you know this how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because caring for children is a nightmare and expensive. Parents send their kids as soon as they can.

Then why did even have children in the first place? Were they forced at gun-point?

Daycare is very expensive. It's typically $20k for an extra year of daycare. Parents weigh the other uses of that money. Forget the nightmare part of PPs post. It's not a nightmare. It's the expense. That’s also why people get so worked up about redshirting being "cheating". They feel bad about not wanting to spend the money.

+1

My August baby is going on time because I don't have an extra $20k lying around.

[Anonymous]

Right and people resent that others have the luxury of redshirting their August kid.

[Anonymous]

My kid was socially and academically on track. He was a taking Harry Potter to K kid and had neighborhood friends starting K. And he ended up at TJ, so not sure what academic advantage would have been gained. And isn’t going to college based on athletics.

And I’ve now seen the entire lifecycle, and am glad. My kid was also ready to have the independence of college senior year. Ready enough that we sent him to a (fortunately) open college with in person classes last fall rather than encouraging a COvId gap year. He was ready and I think another year without the independence would have been harmful.

My only regret is that he wasn’t driving earlier in his TJ career. That’s one heck of a commute to run carpools on.

You do you. It would have been a mess with my kid. (Although a year less of carpooling, I mean... *sigh*)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Redshirting a child doesn’t make them smarter, faster, or stronger. It’s just an optical illusion.

That "optical illusion" can open up a lot of doors in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because caring for children is a nightmare and expensive. Parents send their kids as soon as they can.

Then why did even have children in the first place? Were they forced at gun-point?

Daycare is very expensive. It's typically $20k for an extra year of daycare. Parents weigh the other uses of that money. Forget the nightmare part of PPs post. It's not a nightmare. It's the expense. That’s also why people get so worked up about redshirting being "cheating". They feel bad about not wanting to spend the money.

+1

My August baby is going on time because I don't have an extra $20k lying around.

Studies show that redshirting confers a small advantage for a 2-3 years but as time passes it's less significant. Further, the study I read said that younger kids learned to work hard early on and typically went on to achieve more.

In my personal, experience my August baby went on time and did great. Socially they were behind for a year or two but academically they were ready. By 4th grade, they were at the top of their class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people say that it gives the child one less year to work and earn money - it leaves them at a disadvantage.

But someone who does better in school will go to a more prestigious university and get a higher-paying job. In the long-run, someone who starts a prestigious career at 22 is going to be much better off financially than someone who starts a mediocre career at 21.

Except that there is not much evidence that being older gets you that better job. In fact there's a reasonable body of evidence that having to hustle to keep up with the older kids as a younger kid in the class, they ended up surpassing them. But as others have already said, only 1%ers can afford the extra cost of a year of daycare/being out of the workforce to mind a child. I know a woman who was induced to have her early September due date baby in August so they wouldn't have that extra year of daycare.
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/youngest-kid-smartest-kid