I have a high school DS with a May birthday --- I would never have considered red shirting him - he was smart and mature and ready for kindergarten.

But, I will say, he has always seemed young -- and he is. Most of the summer birthdays that are boys were redshirted (mostly July and August, some June) so May is really the end of the road. He is still 16 - almost all of his classmates are 17.

He is perfectly fine in his grade and someone has to be last - but it was him - last to get his driver's license, last to hit puberty, and a bit young socially.

I am totally fine with all of it - except the parents of kids that are more than a year older bragging their child is a "year ahead" in some class when in fact he was supposed to actually be in the "year ahead" class.

So do whatever you choose - it will be fine -- he will either be pretty old or pretty young - good and bad things for each.

MY DS is a teen with a June birthday. He went to school on-time -- no redshirting. Never seriously considered keeping him back. being on the young side has not been a problem for him. I see it as a slight issue in sports, in that he is younger among his U16 peers, but not a big deal.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in first grade and has a June birthday. Out of 26 kids, she's the SECOND youngest. It hasn't been a problem, really - she's bright and on par socially. It's just crazy that the first week of school (late August), when my daughter had been 6 for all of 8 weeks, we went to three 7 year old bday parties (all for girls). Cut off for our private is October 30, so just shocking that no one seems to send their kids at 5 anymore. The difference between a newly 6 year old girl and a newly 7 year old girl was pretty stark to me, but I imagine that will change as they age.

This is helpful and exactly what I am wondering. I'm wondering what *most* people are doing. DCUM is vehemently opposed to red shirting but I do not know what is actually happening in schools now.

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. This is kind of ridiculous. Don’t red-shirt.

OP here. I was a teacher. The boy summer birthdays were almost always obvious! I could tell who had a summer birthday before even checking the roster.

I do not want him to be the last to turn 16/18/21. That is why I am asking the teen forum. I want to know how the boys are doing down the road.

I hate for him to be the last birthday, and to have girls/boys with birthdays in October. They'll be 9 months older than him and that is a LOT.

Our July children weren't red-shirted. They are doing great!

Be aware that in some schools' leagues the older kids won't be able to play sports with their classmates because of their age.

My daughter is in first grade and has a June birthday. Out of 26 kids, she's the SECOND youngest. It hasn't been a problem, really - she's bright and on par socially. It's just crazy that the first week of school (late August), when my daughter had been 6 for all of 8 weeks, we went to three 7 year old bday parties (all for girls). Cut off for our private is October 30, so just shocking that no one seems to send their kids at 5 anymore. The difference between a newly 6 year old girl and a newly 7 year old girl was pretty stark to me, but I imagine that will change as they age.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The redshirting of boys gets crazy. My DS is an early September birthday, and he actually started kindergarten 2 days before he turned 5. There are boys in his class that are almost 2 years older than he is. My DS is physically big, so other parents are shocked to find out his age (when we can't sign him up for the same summer camp due to age range, for example). He's only in 4th, so we have to see how this all plays out in middle & high school - but I suspect he will be fine.

Please explain to me how it is possible for boys in his class to be almost 2 years (almost 24 months) older than him. If someone were to redshirt an early July birthday boy, then that boy would be about a year (or 14 months older) than your son.

If a child is 5 in the spring and held back a year, they don't start till 6 and then you have all the kids who are November, December kids who were not able to start, so its more like an 18-20 month spread vs. 12 months. So, almost two years. But, that is not a reason to hold your kids back. Holding back doesn't make them smarter, just older.

Holding back the spring birthdays (March, April, May) is extremely rare in public schools - like, maybe 2-3 children in a typical graduating class of 400-500. Those are the real outliers. In practice, the largest spread with a Sept. 30th cutoff would be a June birthday vs. a September birthday a year later. So roughly 15 months.

Anonymous wrote:The redshirting of boys gets crazy. My DS is an early September birthday, and he actually started kindergarten 2 days before he turned 5. There are boys in his class that are almost 2 years older than he is. My DS is physically big, so other parents are shocked to find out his age (when we can't sign him up for the same summer camp due to age range, for example). He's only in 4th, so we have to see how this all plays out in middle & high school - but I suspect he will be fine.

We have an exactly the same age kid/situation. Your post makes no sense that you cannot sign up your kid for summer camp. Usually they have age ranges but it is that they passed XXX grade. So, one camp we have says 10+ but successfully pass 4th, so its no issue mine is 9 the summer before turning 10.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The redshirting of boys gets crazy. My DS is an early September birthday, and he actually started kindergarten 2 days before he turned 5. There are boys in his class that are almost 2 years older than he is. My DS is physically big, so other parents are shocked to find out his age (when we can't sign him up for the same summer camp due to age range, for example). He's only in 4th, so we have to see how this all plays out in middle & high school - but I suspect he will be fine.

Please explain to me how it is possible for boys in his class to be almost 2 years (almost 24 months) older than him. If someone were to redshirt an early July birthday boy, then that boy would be about a year (or 14 months older) than your son.

If a child is 5 in the spring and held back a year, they don't start till 6 and then you have all the kids who are November, December kids who were not able to start, so its more like an 18-20 month spread vs. 12 months. So, almost two years. But, that is not a reason to hold your kids back. Holding back doesn't make them smarter, just older.

Anonymous wrote:The redshirting of boys gets crazy. My DS is an early September birthday, and he actually started kindergarten 2 days before he turned 5. There are boys in his class that are almost 2 years older than he is. My DS is physically big, so other parents are shocked to find out his age (when we can't sign him up for the same summer camp due to age range, for example). He's only in 4th, so we have to see how this all plays out in middle & high school - but I suspect he will be fine.

Please explain to me how it is possible for boys in his class to be almost 2 years (almost 24 months) older than him. If someone were to redshirt an early July birthday boy, then that boy would be about a year (or 14 months older) than your son.

I have a late July DS. He is extremely smart, but I wish I had held him back. My husband who was completely against it feels the same. Oh well.

Maybe you live in another part of the country where July 1 is the cutoff date for starting school? Here in DC-MD-VA the cut off is September 1, or it was when my child started school. Here, a June birthday is considered right near the middle so holding him back here wouldn't make sense.

I have an end of August birthday child (son) who is now in high school. He was ready to start his pre-K program in terms of showing signs of curiosity, and he was potty trained. So we started him with the age group he qualified for. But that put him on the school conveyor belt that I now can't get him off of even though it would make his life so much easier and better to stay back a year. It never occurred to me that we wouldn't be able to keep him in an extra year of elementary (he was in a Montessori program) unless he was seriously failing classes. It's almost like it was his bad fortune to be smart enough to just keep up, which is ridiculous.

And to the poster who wrote this:
"My first suggestion would be to LISTEN CLOSELY to what your child's preschool teacher says."

I disagree completely. Kindergarten teachers have no way to tell you the rate at which your child will develop and how puberty will unfold. All they can say is whether he might be a bit bored with paper cutouts or learning his colors for another year. But so what if he is?!

My August bday boy went on time and is doing fine.

I didn’t know this at the time I had to decide on K, but he’s now in FCPS AAP. He’s is short but I think academically I made the right decision, in hindsight.

The redshirting of boys gets crazy. My DS is an early September birthday, and he actually started kindergarten 2 days before he turned 5. There are boys in his class that are almost 2 years older than he is. My DS is physically big, so other parents are shocked to find out his age (when we can't sign him up for the same summer camp due to age range, for example). He's only in 4th, so we have to see how this all plays out in middle & high school - but I suspect he will be fine.

June is a little early to redshirt but not completely unheard of. I personally know two June birthday kids who started K at 6 - one boy and one girl. But I would say the majority of June birthday kids go to public school K on time as 5 year olds. For private schools it’s a different story and you’ll see a lot of redshirting of all summer birthdays, June-August or September depending on the cutoff. Even some redshirting of spring birthdays isn’t unheard of in private.