You've probably heard about the practice of "redshirting" -- holding a kid back from kindergarten until they start at age 6. People say it's unfair, and that parents do it to give their children an advantage that cheats the system. At 6, after all, Junior is one of the oldest kids in class, and theoretically better at everything from academics to sports. More boys are redshirted than girls, whites more than minorities, and rich more than poor.
It's funny that I never heard about how controversial redshirting was until I'd redshirted my own kid. Now that he's just started first grade (at 7), I try to ignore the outcry over this issue that's apparently irresponsible, classist, and erodes the level playing field that age restrictions are supposed to create.
Because I can tell you this: it was absolutely, completely, without a doubt the right decision for us to make.
It was a hard decision, for sure. We went back and forth about it for months, and in the end I went with my gut and hoped for the best. See, my son's birthday is August 31, which so happens to be the cutoff date for kindergarten in our then-home state of Washington. My choices were this: start him at 5, when he'd be the very youngest kid in class, or wait a year until he was the very oldest.
I didn't particularly love either option, but I had to pick one. We talked to his daycare/preschool teacher, we considered his personality, we asked people who had faced a similar conundrum.
Ultimately, I knew he'd be fine academically, but I had misgivings about his maturity level. Of particular concern was the fact that he was plagued with sensory issues back then -- paranoid about sudden loud sounds, prone to hysteria over a scraped knee. If I'd been working outside of the house, I probably would have gambled that he'd eventually be fine in kindergarten, but because I'd just started working from home, I decided I'd keep him home for a year.
So that's what I did. After a year of quasi-homeschooling, he started kindergarten when he was 6 years old.
I know it was the right choice because he adjusted perfectly to kindergarten. He wasn't bored, he didn't have behavioral issues (a common argument against redshirting, because older kids may be too bored); he was happy and fit right in. He didn't look bigger than the other kids, he looked exactly the right age. He'd outgrown many of his noise/texture/sensation freakouts, and even came home jabbering with excitement over the school's first fire drill because wow, it was SO LOUD AND COOL!
My boy started first grade here in Oregon earlier this month, and again he seems like he's exactly where he's supposed to be. I imagine/hope this year will be much like last: he won't be the most advanced kid in class, but he'll do just fine.
The decision to wait a year wasn't easy, and I'd never advocate that it's the right choice for every family. We didn't do it to try and raise a sports star or a mathlete, we did it because we believed it was the best option for our child. I wish redshirting wasn't so controversial, but I'm incredibly grateful it was an option for us.
Still, I'm equally thrilled my second son's birthday is in February. Whew.
What do you think about redshirting?
Image via Linda Sharps
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Comments 178
My son turned 5 one week before he started kindergarten. He is now 17 and a senior in high school. He will still be 17 when he graduates in June. I so wish that we had held him back at the start of his school career. He was always the youngest and it showed in his maturity level with his peers. Elementary school was the hardest. I didn't even know that it was an option 18 years ago.
My Birthday is in early fall and I started Kindergarten on time as a child so I was 4 when the schoolyear started. After getting pushed through several grades my parents forced the school to hold me back and repeat 4th grade. Plus we were moving so I was going to have to make new friends and start again no matter what grade I was put in that year. I remember having a hard time both academically and socially (although I didn't think of it in those terms then). Reading was always easy for me but math and science were not clicking.
Kalisah is right - it's not just how it affects your childs first year at school, if he/she isn't ready it might not even show right away but it can catch up to a child. I'd absolutely would have held my child back and I think every Parent should be free to decide that on an individual basis. The cut off birth date is fine only as a starting point but it should never mean that everyone on one or the other side of that date is or isn't the same
Sorry - I meant above that the cut off date should not mean that everyone born before or after that date IS the same.
Having an August 9 birthday, I wish my parents had redshirted me! I was still 4, in mind and body. When I started high school, I was only 14. That was way too young of an age, for me, to be thrown in with 18 year olds. I think its a great idea, because every child matures differently and at different rates. My son is in preschool this year at 4. He will be 5 in January. I am t hankful he will get most of a year to 'be' 5 before kindergarten starts. Parents and teachers know best as to what a child can handle mentally and socially. There is nothing wrong with it ATALL!
My son's bday is in Oct. The cutoff in VA is Sept 30 so he'll have to wait a year to start Kindergarten. He's 4 now so he'll be turning 6 right after he starts K. I'm a little worried because he's been in daycare his whole life, will have been in preschool nearly 3 years, and is really bright. He'll have the social skills down and his preschool is going to be introducing him to lessons the rest of his peers in K will be learning. I'm worries that once he hits K, he'll be repeating info he already learned and will get bored.
I think it really depends on the child. My mom redshirted two of my brothers, and it was the absolutely best decision, and I started kindergarten when I was four (my birthdays at the beginning of October) and never had any trouble. Mom's have to do what's best for their childs specific needs, I don't think it has anything to do with class or race.
There were some problems so to speak that arose when I was in high school, like starting high school when I was 13 and having to wait until a month into my jr year to take drivers Ed when everyone else took it over the summer but overall it wasn't that big of a deal.