Reply to "Redshirting" a Late Summer Birthday and Private PK/K Recommendations

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ugh, as someone whose 4 year old is in a preK class full of kids who are *already* turning 6, I say send your kids to school on time.[/quote]

You're going to have a rough time in life. [/quote]

Uh, no.  PP is simply sending her kid to school ON TIME as it's supposed to happen.  These other people are being a bit selfish, in my opinion, in redshirting their kids.  Seriously, someone has to be the oldest and the youngest in the class.  It's not the end of the world.  I get it if your kid has serious delays or medical issues, but outside of that, get over it.  Why is it more fair that your kid will now be 6 for all of kindergarten when there are kids who are literally just turning 5 a day or two before the year starts, vs. your kid being 5 like all the other kids in the class but not turning 6 until most of them have already turned 6?  I have a summer birthday and never thought twice about this.  Being around older kids can push you to do better.  It just seems terribly selfish and unfair to set up a scenario where your kid is going to be a year older and thus possibly better able to compete for sports positions and scholarships, etc.  Think about all of the kids whose families are low-income and can't afford to send their kids to private pre-K or "junior K" (whatever the heck that is!) and probably have less a chance to compete for these things in the first place due to circumstances beyond their control.  It just makes me angry.  End of rant.[/quote]

Why should my Kid be the youngest when I can legally send her in K when she will turn 6 3 days before school starts (Aug 27th birthday)? She was born at 39 weeks, if she were born at 40 she would have to start at 6 as well. Sorry.. deal with it... I think it’s totally fair.[/quote]

Because someone's kid has to be the youngest.  I guess I just feel like the regulations are there for a purpose, and it's bending the rules to not follow them.  What about the kid who was born on Aug 27 but whose family can't afford to send him to an extra year of preschool or daycare and needs to start public K?  Yes, the cut-offs are arbitrary, but if you push it back to Aug 27 because you don't want your kid to be the youngest, then why won't the next parent want to push it back to Aug 15 because her kid shouldn't be the youngest, and then another parent to July 25, and so on.[/quote]

I understand your point, but[b] I doubt any parent would do what you are suggesting[/b]. If they truly think it is in the interest of their child, they will redshirt. Just a curiosity, but what’s your kid’s birthday?[/quote]

Really?  Some people honestly can't afford another year of childcare or preschool.  Some people don't speak English fluently or have access to knowledge about the educational system and have no concept that they even could/should consider "redshirting" -- they see the cut-off date for enrollment and follow the rules accordingly.  My child's birthday is in June, and he's very small for his age.  We could afford private school and considered doing private for a year before putting him into public, but the plan was always to be in-grade -- that he would go to a private, nature-based kindergarten program and then enter in 1st grade.  I'm not saying this is right for every child or that there aren't circumstances when you would want to "redshirt," but just that it's not feasible for everyone and is setting up a bit of an unnecessary divide.  I have good friends whose kid has a late August birthday, and they are thrilled to have one less year of preschool to pay for.[/quote]

I agree with this.  My first grader has two good friends (boys) who turned 6 in August, after K had ended.  Both are doing awesome.  Unless there are severe special needs, redshirting doesn't do your kid any favors.[/quote]

What you wrote and what PP wrote are not the same thing. PP thinks we should not redshirt summer birthday kids because it will have a negative impact on other kids in the same classroom. You instead are just arguing that redshirting may not be in the best interest of the redshirted kids... Very different perspective [/quote]

I'm the PP who said it has a negative impact on other kids in the class.  I stand by that.  I don't think it's right for every kid born in August to start school "on time" with his/her class, but it may not be right for every kid born in December to start school "on time," and those kids are rarely "red-shirted."  If there's an extenuating circumstance and your kid needs to start later, fine.  But this is so common that we even have a term for it (red-shirting), so it's clearly happening more than once in a great while.

I don't expect people to negatively impact their kids, but I do expect people to think about what they do for their kids and how it impacts others.  And I really think it does impact others.  When your kid can sit still better than a younger kid, that impacts the way the other kid is looked at in the class.  When your kid applies to college at the same time as a kid a year younger, that impacts the chances of this other kid getting into college -- or getting a sports scholarship, etc.

There's a book called "Dream Hoarders," and it makes some interesting points about the upper middle class "hoarding" opportunities, and I think this is a prime example of it.  Here's a link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Hoarders-American-Leaving-Everyone/dp/081572912X[/quote]

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