Reply to Why don’t schools have stronger policies about redshirting?

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "Why don’t schools have stronger policies about redshirting? "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you redshirt your kids, the other kids will figure out what age your child is (most likely your child will simply tell them) and therefore their parents will too. It's less that people are cataloguing the ages and birthdays of every child and more that when you encounter an 8 year old in 1st or a 10 yr old in 3rd, it is notable, and kids and adults alike will share that info.

The fact that people discover this does not make them creepy stalkers. Again, usually this information is learned from the child themselves when they tell other kids what their age is, which is a very normal thing for kids to share with one another.

You can't control other people finding out and you can't control how they will feel about it when they do. Proceed accordingly.[/quote]
+1, most talk about it and are proud to be old [/quote]

Exactly. It's often a point of pride for kids in younger grades to be the oldest, so the redshirted kids get revealed very quickly. This can also be where the resentment starts, if you've got a redshirted kid in the classroom boasting about being the oldest. It's meaningless but it draws attention to it in a negative way.

If you redshirt, talk to your kids about how being a year older or younger isn't important. Make sure they understand that being older doesn't make them better, and find a way to explain why you redshirted that doesn't put other kids down. You don't want your redshirted kid lording it over other children.[/quote]

TBH it's more likely that they will be uncomfortable and self conscious about being older than everyone else, like they're too old to be in the grade they're in. [/quote]

No, I don't think so, not in K. Being older is currency for young kids. I've never heard of a kid being called "too old" at the K or 1st level.

I think older kids can feel self conscious about it, especially if they are noticeably bigger/older than other kids but not necessarily better at school or sports. This is a reason I wouldn't redshirt past maybe August/July. I wouldn't want my kid starting puberty a year earlier than peers -- that can be really tough and kids that age are much meaner than younger kids. I think you have to be careful with it. Redshirting a February kid makes no sense to me. At that point if I had a kid with developmental delays or immaturity, I'd still enroll on time but be getting an eval and IEP to address deficits, and working with the school. I don't think you can solve immaturity issues with a kid that old via redshirting.[/quote]

Early puberty is a huge bonus for boys. It’s not tough at all. Plus puberty doesn’t correspond exactly to chronological age anyway. I have a 15 yr old late bloomer boy. [/quote]

It depends what it looks like. If it's an awkward transition, going through it before others can be stressful. Yes, boys will benefit from a growth spurt and filling out. Getting facial hair earlier, dealing with vocal changes, etc., can be very embarrassing if classmates are nowhere close. Your kid was a late bloomer, but some are early bloomers and redshirting can make that hard.

Early puberty is really tough on girls. Visible physical changes are often viewed negatively or garner unwanted attention. Being the first to menstruate can be tough too.

Of course there's a spectrum but I wouldn't redshirt a spring birthday in part because I wouldn't want to risk this. Summer birthdays are different. They are in the bubble IMO.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics