Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

Isn't this kind of selfish? Holding your kid back because you don't want to let go and not for any advantages/benefits to HIM? I can at least understand the parents who want to give their kid an advantage. It isn't all about you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

And you can sign up for Medicare before his college graduation!

Well that's rude and uncalled for.

For the record I married at 27, and while we didn't actively try for the first three years, we weren't using birth control either. So really that's 15 years of losses and infertility. 12 years of doctors appointments, medication, tests, and procedures. I didn't actively plan on being an older parent, but here I am, doing the best I can with the cards I was dealt, just like any other mother.

The real answer is short and true: none of your business.

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

It should be about the childs needs not yours.

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

A kid with a July birthday is pretty close to the middle. In fact, someone born on July 1st would be on the older half, as July 2nd is the middle day of a non-leap-year and the first day on the later half of a leap-year. Someone born after July 2nd would be slightly on the younger half, but nowhere near the youngest. Even if he was born on July 31st, he would've been older than roughly 42 percent of his classmates. I can understanding redshirting someone born between October and December, but redshirting someone who's roughly in the middle just seems a bit greedy.

Anonymous wrote:Even though he's mature and independent and was reading when he started K, he struggles a bit more at school.

Personally, I'd rather my kid do okay playing by the rules than excel by cheating.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To give her an advantage socially and academically, which it absolutely did.

+1 It is obviously advantageous for the child. There are no downsides to being at home and doing preschool a few days week for one more year.

I agree with your general point, but most redshirt kids are not doing an extra year of part time preschool at age 5 while staying at home most of the time with a SAHM or nanny. Most of them are doing a second full year of full-time K or a second full year of full-time PK4 where I live.

Mine went "on time." But preschool is only part of this decision. The other decision, which was tempting, was the extra year of socialization, play, and just "being a little kid" before the confines of public school (or any school) began. I'm glad i didn't wait, in the sense she wouldn't have had the friends/teachers/experiences she has had (overwhelmingly positive). And she'd doing fantastic (now in MS). But, waiting a year would have had other advantages for her too.

My husband and I both were older kids in school due to birth dates. My son has a July bday and was very clingy and shy, so we enrolled him in a Junior K program before Kindergarten to give him the advantage of being more mature and older in his school career. He is in high school now and it's always been smooth with him.

On the other hand, our 2nd child is a June baby and went to K as a young 5. Even though he's mature and independent and was reading when he started K, he struggles a bit more at school.

Anonymous wrote:I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

And you can sign up for Medicare before his college graduation!

I tried to have a baby for 12 years. I finally had my son at age 42, after a very long, expensive journey. He’s a July baby, and I wanted the extra year with him. He will graduate at age 18, go to college at 19.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To give her an advantage socially and academically, which it absolutely did.

+1 It is obviously advantageous for the child. There are no downsides to being at home and doing preschool a few days week for one more year.

I agree with your general point, but most redshirt kids are not doing an extra year of part time preschool at age 5 while staying at home most of the time with a SAHM or nanny. Most of them are doing a second full year of full-time K or a second full year of full-time PK4 where I live.

I could do it financially and I wanted to give my child (boy, early summer bday) another year of play.

My husband, who has an August 29th birthday, started school on time in a state with a sept 1st cutoff. So he started k a couple days after turning 5. He did well academically. This was in 1970 though...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is way too individual to make a broad statement on. The ONLY thing I have noticed about every red shirt family is constant complaints later on about not being challenged enough (starts in 1st/2nd and gets louder every year). The rest of the parents discuss when they are not around that the kid is not as challenged because they are a year older!
Otherwise, in terms of affecting the class environment, we have had one way too mature kid but most blend in enough.

Comedy gold.

My point is in terms of who needs /does not need red-shirting they are as random as the rest of the class minus the one thing most of their parents do. I cannot tell people it is wrong or right to do when there is only one trend among them.

Funny stuff. Please do continue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is way too individual to make a broad statement on. The ONLY thing I have noticed about every red shirt family is constant complaints later on about not being challenged enough (starts in 1st/2nd and gets louder every year). The rest of the parents discuss when they are not around that the kid is not as challenged because they are a year older!
Otherwise, in terms of affecting the class environment, we have had one way too mature kid but most blend in enough.

Comedy gold.

My point is in terms of who needs /does not need red-shirting they are as random as the rest of the class minus the one thing most of their parents do. I cannot tell people it is wrong or right to do when there is only one trend among them.