Anonymous wrote:I hate the term redshirt when used in this context. This isn’t about playing a college sport. It’s about developmental appropriate expectations in kindergarten and your child’s readiness.
I did however send my August birthday girl to kindergarten when she was 6, not 5. I’ve taught kindergarten for nearly 20 years, it was an easy choice. She is now in middle school and I’m even happier with my choice than I was when she was 5/6.

We started our August girl in K when she was a newly-6yo instead of newly-5yo. She would have been fine starting in either year, but we gave her one more year in an age-appropriate environment (preschool).

No regrets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hilarious. Of course preschool teachers want your kid to stay / be held back. $$$$

And the idea that a child is a mature/ a natural leader when theyre a seven-year-old with five-year-olds.

OP here, the preschool thinks she's good to go. This discussion is mostly with the private school administrators who understand that this can be a difficult decision. My daughter turns 5 a week before the cutoff (we're in MD)

There is no guarantee if a private does not want her this year, that they will want her next year. It makes no sense to hold back a child if child is ready and they want to hold back. Its easier to teach older kids as they come in with more knowledge and its easier if you are teaching a child lessons they should have mastered a year before. It is for the school's needs, not for your child's benefit. Take the schools that she did get in or public.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think DCUMs anti-redshirt contingent largely consists of crazy hypocrites, having seen many of these threads. These are not rational people.

+1

Hateful nut jobs with nothing better to do than worry about what other families are doing.

OP, I think DCUMs anti-redshirt contingent largely consists of crazy hypocrites, having seen many of these threads. These are not rational people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate the term redshirt when used in this context. This isn’t about playing a college sport. It’s about developmental appropriate expectations in kindergarten and your child’s readiness.
I did however send my August birthday girl to kindergarten when she was 6, not 5. I’ve taught kindergarten for nearly 20 years, it was an easy choice. She is now in middle school and I’m even happier with my choice than I was when she was 5/6.

I'm interested in this. What about your experience as a kindergarten teacher made it an easy choice, and what benefits have you seen now that she is in middle school?

It was an easy choice because I know that 5 year old children are not developmentally ready for what kindergarten requires
Of them now. They are not meant to spend their days doing worksheets and drilling sight words or phonics or addition and subtraction facts with one adult to 25 small beings. They are meant to be free to explore their world with support and guidance. They need attention paid to their social emotional development. I knew that would not be my daughter’s experience in kindergarten and I chose to give her an extra year to grow. Not so that she could be better than the other kids but so that she could have a better, more meaningful experience and be more able to cope with the transition to the real world of big school.
As for the long term benefits, she is more emotionally mature than her friends. She is able to stay out of the drama and is a wonderful friend. She is a natural leader. Is some of this her natural personality? Probably. But I do believe that the year before going to kindergarten helped her grow into the person she is.

I am rolling my eyes so hard at the idea that your daughter is a natural leader. No, she isn't. She's more emotionally mature than her friends because she's OLDER than her friends. She's a leader because she's OLDER than her classmates. Do what you want, but the nonsense that some people tell themselves is ridiculous. I've heard parents complaining that their kids are so advanced and so bored in the school--come to find out they redshirted them. Yeah, no surprise your kid is "advanced"--he's doing work meant for younger kids. He'd probably be right on track if he was in the class he's supposed to be in.

Also, the kindergarten my kid went to did not involve drilling sight words (or anything else) or doing worksheets. It involved lots of exploration, stories, music, and art, and plenty of focus on social and emotional development.

Anonymous wrote:I didn't redshirt my late August birthday kid. She met all of the state benchmarks in K, but was among the youngest in her class and definitely lacked the social maturity of a lot of her peers. Ultimately, the school strongly suggested that we allow DD to repeat K and doing so has turned out to be the best decision we've made. I don't necessarily regret not redshirting her in the first place because it was worth a try, but at the end of the day starting "on time" wasn't the right place for her.

This is interesting to me. I've heard of others doing this and it working out well.

We did not redshirt our September birthday girl (just made the cutoff). Yes, she's the youngest in the class. But other than that, there was just no reason not to send her on time. (And I don't think just being the youngest is a reason not to send on time. Someone has to be the youngest.) She's bright, social, outgoing, and behaves herself in class. She has a little harder time sitting still, but we and the teacher talked about that quite plainly, and it's not an issue. She's an advanced reader and totally up to speed on math, so academically it's fine. She's friendly and gets along well with classmates. She's made friends. And honestly, she's not noticeably more immature than other kids in the class--there's a whole range of behavior and personalities.

I just don't see the issue with starting a kid on time, unless there are specific delays or behavioral concerns. Someone is going to be the youngest. I was the youngest, and it helped motivate me to excel because I had to work just that little bit harder to keep up with the older kids. Academically, it was key--I would have been so bored in a class with younger kids.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hilarious. Of course preschool teachers want your kid to stay / be held back. $$$$

And the idea that a child is a mature/ a natural leader when theyre a seven-year-old with five-year-olds.

OP here, the preschool thinks she's good to go. This discussion is mostly with the private school administrators who understand that this can be a difficult decision. My daughter turns 5 a week before the cutoff (we're in MD)

I have a late-July girl (also turning 5) and it's never even crossed my mind the red shirt her. She'll start on time this fall.

OP every child is different and this is a delicate decision. We don’t know your dd and what is our experience will not necessarily predict what will be your daughter experience. Listen to your dd’s teachers and pediatrician, to your spouse and to your own judgement. Wish you well.

Anonymous wrote:She would be entering private and the school has let me know she would be the youngest in the class. Pre-K teacher thinks she's fine to go to K, but understands my concerns. Both have mentioned to think about the long term implications of being always being the youngest.

DD is smart and social, but has some maturing to do emotionally and is small for her age.

If your Pre-K teacher thinks that she will be fine then she is probably ready to go. My DS is always one of the youngest in his class and on his teams. He is a late June birthday but with all the kids who are red shirted he tends to be one of the youngest. He was academically and socially ready for school at 5 so we sent him. He is doing fine, better then fine.

Being the youngest is not necessarily awful.

I do wish that they had better rules for starting school. I understand medical and learning reasons for a delayed start but I think far too many parents are holding kids back hoping for an academic or athletic advantage. I know kids who were held back because of speech issues, learning disabilities, and asthma needing to get under control. That all makes sense to me. But holding a kid back because you are worried about them being the youngest strikes me as odd.

I was glad to see the article suggesting the California has said enough because it is getting a bit crazy.

And I have no problem with the question being asked for a girl. Holding back boys seems to have become the norm, why not look for the same advantages for girls. If the issue is that kindergarten has become too academic, then we need to rethink what we want from kindergarten. Pretty much all of my friends told me that I should think about holding back my son precisely because kindergarten has become to academic and that it is not a good fit for most kids, boys or girls, at 5. We were happy with our schools approach. They said there was a lot of play and learning at centers to go along with the practice writing and learning to read. My DS discussed how much fun he had at centers and multiple recesses during the day. I think they had a good balance.

This thread is hilarious. Of course preschool teachers want your kid to stay / be held back. $$$$

And the idea that a child is a mature/ a natural leader when theyre a seven-year-old with five-year-olds.

I think the only state now with a December 31st cutoff is Connecticut

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my children has a July birthday, and I haven't even considered holding DC back. Seems strange to do this. Where I'm from, kids start kindergarten when they're 4, so long as they turn 5, by December 31st. It's unusual to hold a child back.

This is a DC area forum. We are talking about August birthdays and September (1st or 30th) cutoff dates.

I'm in MCPS, what I meant is where I grew up. Even currently, all 4 year olds who will be 5 by December 31st start Kindergarten at 4.

MCPS has a December 31st cutoff? Didn’t know that....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my children has a July birthday, and I haven't even considered holding DC back. Seems strange to do this. Where I'm from, kids start kindergarten when they're 4, so long as they turn 5, by December 31st. It's unusual to hold a child back.

This is a DC area forum. We are talking about August birthdays and September (1st or 30th) cutoff dates.

I'm in MCPS, what I meant is where I grew up. Even currently, all 4 year olds who will be 5 by December 31st start Kindergarten at 4.