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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Experiences with redshirting? He is a late August boy and would be youngest in his class.

Also, should we redshirt him in his current daycare or rather have him repeat a year in a new school?

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If you’re looking at public schools, I think the debate can be had. It’s probably good for some children and not for others, so a decision that should be made on the basis of the individual child’s characteristics. But for private schools? No question, redshirt. Many schools will strongly recommend or require it. Anti-red shirters don’t seem to get this. Private schools, especially academically intense ones, like their classes to be composed a certain way.

My redshirted late summer birthday child is not even close to being the oldest in their class. There is zero social stigma because it’s normal. No regrets at all.

It’s not why we made the decision, but I’m also happy about having another year before they go off to college! Childhood is short.[/quote]

Some private schools in the Baltimore area have pre-first grade. When I was growing up, our public school system had that too. Having kids start on time with the option of switching to pre-first if they are struggling provides an opportunity to obtain more information about how a kid will do in the school setting.

These discussions are hilarious, with some positive that redshirting provides an advantage and others who claim to have teaching expertise equally adamant that it does not. A fair middle ground position is that a late summer birthday should not be held back as a matter of course but should be considered if certain academic, social, and emotional factors suggest that a child would benefit from an extra year. For late summer birthdays, that puts a redshirted kid entering kindergarten on the same footing as those with September birthdays, which is not unreasonable. Additionally, if the factors supporting redshirting - ADD, executive function, social issues, (even size, depending on other factors), etc. - will be challenging even for redshirted kids, the extra year does not disadvantage non-redshirted kids or their crazy anti-redshirting parents.

Still, what makes these decisions even more difficult for late summer birthdays is parents who redshirt simply for more time with their kids or for reasons that aren't related to their development. These include kids with early summer or spring birthdays who are developmentally ready for school when they are age eligible. The more of those kids there are in a school setting, which is the case for many privates, the more disadvantaged kids who are young for the grade are, especially those who started on time despite factors that supported redshirting.

Regardless, I vote for bringing back pre-first. [/quote]

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