Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait...you're not planning to send your son who turned 5 in May to Kindergarten this fall? Why???

Signed,

A July 27th baby who entered Kindergarten at 5.

My oldest's birthday is August 23rd... he went into K on time. He's now in 3rd grade and doing fine - above grade level, he has friends, etc.

Unless there is a reason like a special need or hospital visits that make waiting a year necessary, I don't understand redshirting.

I'll say this, as an experienced elementary school teacher. In my experience:

Not every boy with a summer birthday has had trouble in early elementary,

Not even most of the boys.

But of the children I've had, who have had a lot of social-emotional-academic trouble in early elementary,90% them were summer birthday boys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My concern is with our new school community - a mother commented my child was fast and good at soccer- she then said her son was born in November and how she wished she could have sent him earlier and she lamented he had to wait a while year to go to school. Her son was not very physical and had trouble even using the playground equipment. She then asked me what month my son was born in and I said May. She then said, "Oh so he must have turned 4 in May then? She was just pressing the issue even though it was apparent I wanted to end the conversation.

I don't want to share everything I just shared on this post with new parents or even new friends. I'd rather other parents just not ask or def not grill me about it. How can I do this?

Don't hide his age.

If people ask questions, answer them. If they push, say "Oh, sorry, I remembered I have to be somewhere" or "Excuse me, I see someone I need to talk to" or "I have to go to the bathroom" or whatever. Just extricate yourself. You don't have to justify your decision to anyone.

Anonymous wrote:Holding back a child with a May or June birthday who doesn't have significant delays or issues is ridiculous and shouldn't be allowed. Plus it must stink not having confidence in your child or his school.

Anonymous wrote:What kind of terrible pre-K lets children throw rocks at other children? And cut their hair? WTF? Was this Little Lord of the Flies Preschool?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait...you're not planning to send your son who turned 5 in May to Kindergarten this fall? Why???

Signed,

A July 27th baby who entered Kindergarten at 5.

My oldest's birthday is August 23rd... he went into K on time. He's now in 3rd grade and doing fine - above grade level, he has friends, etc.

Unless there is a reason like a special need or hospital visits that make waiting a year necessary, I don't understand redshirting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My concern is with our new school community - a mother commented my child was fast and good at soccer- she then said her son was born in November and how she wished she could have sent him earlier and she lamented he had to wait a while year to go to school. Her son was not very physical and had trouble even using the playground equipment. She then asked me what month my son was born in and I said May. She then said, "Oh so he must have turned 4 in May then? She was just pressing the issue even though it was apparent I wanted to end the conversation.

I don't want to share everything I just shared on this post with new parents or even new friends. I'd rather other parents just not ask or def not grill me about it. How can I do this?

Don't hide his age.

If people ask questions, answer them. If they push, say "Oh, sorry, I remembered I have to be somewhere" or "Excuse me, I see someone I need to talk to" or "I have to go to the bathroom" or whatever. Just extricate yourself. You don't have to justify your decision to anyone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait...you're not planning to send your son who turned 5 in May to Kindergarten this fall? Why???

Signed,

A July 27th baby who entered Kindergarten at 5.

My oldest's birthday is August 23rd... he went into K on time. He's now in 3rd grade and doing fine - above grade level, he has friends, etc.

Unless there is a reason like a special need or hospital visits that make waiting a year necessary, I don't understand redshirting.

Anonymous wrote:
My concern is with our new school community - a mother commented my child was fast and good at soccer- she then said her son was born in November and how she wished she could have sent him earlier and she lamented he had to wait a while year to go to school. Her son was not very physical and had trouble even using the playground equipment. She then asked me what month my son was born in and I said May. She then said, "Oh so he must have turned 4 in May then? She was just pressing the issue even though it was apparent I wanted to end the conversation.

I don't want to share everything I just shared on this post with new parents or even new friends. I'd rather other parents just not ask or def not grill me about it. How can I do this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's really bothering me about a lot of the anti-redshirting parents is that there reasons for being against redshirting have nothing to do with how it harms the redshirted child, but rather how it harms THEIR child. My son has an August birthday, and I sent him on time. However, my reasons for not redshirting him had nothing to do with other students, but everything to do with him. I know that if I had redshirted him, he would be crazy bored. He's appropriately challenged, but is still doing well. Also, I felt that I have given him a head start in life. He'll graduate high school at 17, and he'll be able to take a gap year before college without having to worry about so old(almost 20) when he starts college. If he doesn't want to go college, he'll still have more time to decide what he wants to do with his life. If I thought that redshirting him would have benefited him somehow, I would have done it. As parents, it's our job to do what's best for our child, not other people's children. If you're against redshirting because you think it affects the redshirted child, then I'm all ears, but many of these parents made it clear that they felt redshirting would negatively affect their child, and didn't say anything about how it would negatively affect the redshirted child. If you don't think redshirting has any negative affect on the redshirted child, then it is selfish for you to be against it. If you feel like other parents redshirting puts your child at a disadvantage, you also have the option of redshirting, and if you want to follow the guidelines, you can homeschool them so they won't be around the older kids. To sum it up, if you're against redshirting, you have to think of ways in which it negatively affects the redshirted child, and if you don't think redshirting has any negative affects on the redshirted child, you have no reason to be against it.

Why doesn't the rest of society matter? A lot of how I parent and teach my children how to act relates to others. They sit at the table in restaurants, do not get up and run around, and talk quietly, give up seats on public transportation to seniors, play by the rules in sports, etc. There is a reason for rules--it is so that the institutions work for everyone involved--not so that people can just focus on themselves and bend the rules to accommodate their own desires free of consequence or judgment from those who are playing by the rules. I don't teach my kids that they deserve special accommodations, but rather that they play fair and achieve within the framework that is provided. I can think it's lame that other people don't do that or teach their kids to do so.

First off, I don't really understand how redshirting harms other children. I don't know the ages of the kids in my sons' class(he's now 8 and in 3rd grade), and I don't really care. His teacher has told me that he's reading above grade level, and for all I know, the rest of his classmates are reading at an even higher level. But that doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that he, personally, is doing well. Absolutely performance is much more important than relative performance. It's not healthy to constantly be playing the comparison game. I'd much rather my son do well, and everyone else do better, than for him to do poorly with everyone else doing worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's really bothering me about a lot of the anti-redshirting parents is that there reasons for being against redshirting have nothing to do with how it harms the redshirted child, but rather how it harms THEIR child. My son has an August birthday, and I sent him on time. However, my reasons for not redshirting him had nothing to do with other students, but everything to do with him. I know that if I had redshirted him, he would be crazy bored. He's appropriately challenged, but is still doing well. Also, I felt that I have given him a head start in life. He'll graduate high school at 17, and he'll be able to take a gap year before college without having to worry about so old(almost 20) when he starts college. If he doesn't want to go college, he'll still have more time to decide what he wants to do with his life. If I thought that redshirting him would have benefited him somehow, I would have done it. As parents, it's our job to do what's best for our child, not other people's children. If you're against redshirting because you think it affects the redshirted child, then I'm all ears, but many of these parents made it clear that they felt redshirting would negatively affect their child, and didn't say anything about how it would negatively affect the redshirted child. If you don't think redshirting has any negative affect on the redshirted child, then it is selfish for you to be against it. If you feel like other parents redshirting puts your child at a disadvantage, you also have the option of redshirting, and if you want to follow the guidelines, you can homeschool them so they won't be around the older kids. To sum it up, if you're against redshirting, you have to think of ways in which it negatively affects the redshirted child, and if you don't think redshirting has any negative affects on the redshirted child, you have no reason to be against it.

Why doesn't the rest of society matter? A lot of how I parent and teach my children how to act relates to others. They sit at the table in restaurants, do not get up and run around, and talk quietly, give up seats on public transportation to seniors, play by the rules in sports, etc. There is a reason for rules--it is so that the institutions work for everyone involved--not so that people can just focus on themselves and bend the rules to accommodate their own desires free of consequence or judgment from those who are playing by the rules. I don't teach my kids that they deserve special accommodations, but rather that they play fair and achieve within the framework that is provided. I can think it's lame that other people don't do that or teach their kids to do so.

Anonymous wrote:Wait...you're not planning to send your son who turned 5 in May to Kindergarten this fall? Why???

Signed,

A July 27th baby who entered Kindergarten at 5.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's really bothering me about a lot of the anti-redshirting parents is that there reasons for being against redshirting have nothing to do with how it harms the redshirted child, but rather how it harms THEIR child. My son has an August birthday, and I sent him on time. However, my reasons for not redshirting him had nothing to do with other students, but everything to do with him. I know that if I had redshirted him, he would be crazy bored. He's appropriately challenged, but is still doing well. Also, I felt that I have given him a head start in life. He'll graduate high school at 17, and he'll be able to take a gap year before college without having to worry about so old(almost 20) when he starts college. If he doesn't want to go college, he'll still have more time to decide what he wants to do with his life. If I thought that redshirting him would have benefited him somehow, I would have done it. As parents, it's our job to do what's best for our child, not other people's children. If you're against redshirting because you think it affects the redshirted child, then I'm all ears, but many of these parents made it clear that they felt redshirting would negatively affect their child, and didn't say anything about how it would negatively affect the redshirted child. If you don't think redshirting has any negative affect on the redshirted child, then it is selfish for you to be against it. If you feel like other parents redshirting puts your child at a disadvantage, you also have the option of redshirting, and if you want to follow the guidelines, you can homeschool them so they won't be around the older kids. To sum it up, if you're against redshirting, you have to think of ways in which it negatively affects the redshirted child, and if you don't think redshirting has any negative affects on the redshirted child, you have no reason to be against it.

Why doesn't the rest of society matter? A lot of how I parent and teach my children how to act relates to others. They sit at the table in restaurants, do not get up and run around, and talk quietly, give up seats on public transportation to seniors, play by the rules in sports, etc. There is a reason for rules--it is so that the institutions work for everyone involved--not so that people can just focus on themselves and bend the rules to accommodate their own desires free of consequence or judgment from those who are playing by the rules. I don't teach my kids that they deserve special accommodations, but rather that they play fair and achieve within the framework that is provided. I can think it's lame that other people don't do that or teach their kids to do so.

Anonymous wrote:What's really bothering me about a lot of the anti-redshirting parents is that there reasons for being against redshirting have nothing to do with how it harms the redshirted child, but rather how it harms THEIR child. My son has an August birthday, and I sent him on time. However, my reasons for not redshirting him had nothing to do with other students, but everything to do with him. I know that if I had redshirted him, he would be crazy bored. He's appropriately challenged, but is still doing well. Also, I felt that I have given him a head start in life. He'll graduate high school at 17, and he'll be able to take a gap year before college without having to worry about so old(almost 20) when he starts college. If he doesn't want to go college, he'll still have more time to decide what he wants to do with his life. If I thought that redshirting him would have benefited him somehow, I would have done it. As parents, it's our job to do what's best for our child, not other people's children. If you're against redshirting because you think it affects the redshirted child, then I'm all ears, but many of these parents made it clear that they felt redshirting would negatively affect their child, and didn't say anything about how it would negatively affect the redshirted child. If you don't think redshirting has any negative affect on the redshirted child, then it is selfish for you to be against it. If you feel like other parents redshirting puts your child at a disadvantage, you also have the option of redshirting, and if you want to follow the guidelines, you can homeschool them so they won't be around the older kids. To sum it up, if you're against redshirting, you have to think of ways in which it negatively affects the redshirted child, and if you don't think redshirting has any negative affects on the redshirted child, you have no reason to be against it.