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

[Anonymous]

Still wrong. Redshirting is done by insecure parents to ensure their son has an advantage on the kids in the traditional age spectrum.

[Anonymous]

White Americans are the greatest advocates of redshirting, and no they do not call it holding back or redshirting. It is a tradition that schools, both public and private, are forcing on people who do not support the concept. Private and public schools advocate it all over Montgomery County. I have personally visited 26 of them to find a school for my son to attend in the Fall of 2012. All except 4 of the schools recommended redshirting as the best thing for boy children.

Many of the redshirters send the boys to private schools for multiple years of preschool including formal Kindergarden programs, then send them to public schools after they have already completed Kindergarden once or twice. The reasons they tell you they do it are the boys get a chance to grow larger and stronger to have a competitive advantage to play sports. The other reasons they say it is a good idea is they want to prevent their boys from being bullied, by letting them grow bigger and older; and they want the boys to be more "mature". The funny thing is - the redshirted boys I know are still being bullied in MoCo Kindergarden classes. Also, it is not surprising they do well academically in Kindergarden, afterall, they are repeating the same class 2 and 3 years.

I am not judging anyone, just sharing what I am being told by redshirters' parents in Montgomery County. I can't really say if I think it is right, wrong, or really matters if they are happy with it. I do believe the tradition is quite mainstream, though.

OMG, you're so full of it. It's hard to know where to begin

A nifty and more expensive way to prep private school kids for WPPSI without the homeschooling $800 workbook.
.

[Anonymous]

My sister came in to visit from another state and went by my child's kindergarten class.

As soon as we got back to the car she gasped "I have never seen such huge kindergartners in my life! What are they feeding these kids? At least a third of them look like they are 8 years old! They make the rest of the kids look like little preschoolers!"

I immediately thought of this post and started to laugh...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still wrong. Redshirting is done by insecure parents to ensure their son has an advantage on the kids in the traditional age spectrum.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Signed, mom of a redshirted DD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still wrong. Redshirting is done by insecure parents to ensure their son has an advantage on the kids in the traditional age spectrum.

Said the idiot.

[Anonymous]

My DS is fairly short. His BD falls right in the middle of the school year. The early year boys tower over him as do the redshirters. We have been at this school for four years so I've seen and met a number of kids. In the two cases with which I am the most familiar, redshirting worked quite well in one. The boy is not as mature as others his age, but he seems to work well with classmates a year behind. In the other, I am not sure, it would matter for the boy (I think his challenges transcend age), but can understand how his parents made the decision.

My SIL moved when her son finished K. One of the impetuses to move when they did was so her DS could repeat K in a new school. Her case is more akin to the latter one I described above. A parent just does not know much about a child at five - they know lots, but still not much. What may seem like lack of maturity could actually be much more nuanced. That is the case with SIL's son. Some behaviours are personality traits - not just something they will "grow out of" over time.

[Anonymous]

Redshirting the boys does not seem like a bad idea for the most part. You don't want to get too extreme, but boys generally mature later than girls mentally and physically and I don't really see the problem. when the kids hit puberty, the girls might appreciate having some boys around that aren't 6 inches shorter than them.

But there is a limit. Nobody should be turning 8 in K.

[Anonymous]

14:06, well we have eliminated you are not Carla Bruni....

[Anonymous]

Teachers can't help but base their assessments of students on the students they have in their classes. As the male students have averaged older and older, the assessments of the "in grade" children have been impacted. So what you do with your snowflake does impact the other snowflakes. So no, redshirting isn't cost free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers can't help but base their assessments of students on the students they have in their classes. As the male students have averaged older and older, the assessments of the "in grade" children have been impacted. So what you do with your snowflake does impact the other snowflakes. So no, redshirting isn't cost free.

On that note do the common standardized achievement tests use the child's age or grade for the norm? Wouldn't really be fair for the kids who are age/grade appropriate to be assessed and compared to older kids just because they are in the same grade.

[Anonymous]

I recently had a redshirting discussion with another parent. The parent was happy with their decision to redshirt and say that it was best for the kid. Other than the cost (financial) of redshirting they had no regrets and would redshirt their next kid if they are borderline. From what I could tell from their discussion they were please because their average kids became a top students (at least in the short term). Another parent was happy that their kid was not redshirted.

My guess is that redshirting will be recommended to me, I think I may switch to public rather than redshirt. I understand why parents do it, it is an advantage for their child. It is just not for me and my family. Hopefully I can convince my spouse to go to public next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still wrong. Redshirting is done by insecure parents to ensure their son has an advantage on the kids in the traditional age spectrum.

Said the idiot.

I think not. I am sure there are examples of redshirting done for legitimate reasons. EVERY parent I know who redshirted his child, however, did it be he wants his kid to be the oldest so they can shine academically, athlectically or socially compared to a younger peer group. It must feel great to know your 7 year old is the leader of of a class of 6 year olds. Bravo!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still wrong. Redshirting is done by insecure parents to ensure their son has an advantage on the kids in the traditional age spectrum.

Said the idiot.

I think not. I am sure there are examples of redshirting done for legitimate reasons. EVERY parent I know who redshirted his child, however, did it be he wants his kid to be the oldest so they can shine academically, athlectically or socially compared to a younger peer group. It must feel great to know your 7 year old is the leader of of a class of 6 year olds. Bravo!

And I know only ONE parent who did it for a competitive advantage, and a DOZEN parents who redshirted because of concerns about development and readiness for K. So whose anecdotal evidence wins?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers can't help but base their assessments of students on the students they have in their classes. As the male students have averaged older and older, the assessments of the "in grade" children have been impacted. So what you do with your snowflake does impact the other snowflakes. So no, redshirting isn't cost free.

Wait, I'm supposed to make a decision for my snowflake based on your concerns for your snowflake? Not a snowball's chance in hell that'll happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Still wrong. Redshirting is done by insecure parents to ensure their son has an advantage on the kids in the traditional age spectrum.

Said the idiot.

I think not. I am sure there are examples of redshirting done for legitimate reasons. EVERY parent I know who redshirted his child, however, did it be he wants his kid to be the oldest so they can shine academically, athlectically or socially compared to a younger peer group. It must feel great to know your 7 year old is the leader of of a class of 6 year olds. Bravo!

Sounds like the class will have lots of 7 year olds. As I said earlier, the concept of redshirting boys seems to make sense because of maturity differences. As more and more do it though, it will be more of a disadvantage to have a younger boy. We're probably entering a time when boys will average a year older than girls in the same grade.