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 daughter is 6, and in 1st grade. She started at just the right time. She also excelled, and is the top reader in the grade, and does 2nd grade reading & math.
I knew my kids were ready for school at an young age, and I don't regret starting them young.
You have to do what's best for your own kids.
I have never heard of this term before, but I guess you could say my sister did it. Her two boys were born so close together that they could have gone to school at the same time, possibly even been in the same class, but my sister held the younger one back so that the older one could have the chance to be "big" brother. It worked out just fine for them, the oldest is born in Oct, and the youngest in March.
I don't think with that birthday, it's really considered red shirting. I did the same as you, my son's birthday is Sept. 9 and I didn't send him. I think redshirting is when you really push it with a spring birthday. I asked many teachers also, and everyone I spoke to said it's better to hold them back. No one ever mentioned cheating the system. He would have been 4 the first day of school!
Yup!
My DD started kinder at 4, but I'm redshirting my sons. I guess I fit the sterotype lol
My younger son was born mid July and now he's in 10th grade I'd wished we would have "redshirted" him way back in kindergarden. It's the maturity level that is causing problems STILL!
I had no idea that this was "controversial"! My little one made the cut-off by two weeks and ex-DH and I talked for a long time about it and, ultimately, decided to hold him back, as well. Our immediate concerns were some hearing and speech issues that he was still working through after an infancy of chronic ear issues. Long term, we talked about peer pressure in junior high and high school and decided that we'd rather that he be the oldest kid in the class making choices based upon who he was and what he knew to be right rather than be the youngest and be more susceptible to peer pressure based decisions.
He just started first grade, has had no behavior or academic issues related to the old speech problems and it was absolutely the best decision that we have made, so far.
I think a parent needs to do what's right for their child, they know them best. It's also been shown that boys mature later than girls so starting them later probably isn't a bad thinng.
In our school district the cut off is July 31st. So, all of our kids have/will start the year they turn 6, because of fall birthdays. We considered sending our middle child to school right when she turned 5 (her birthday was 17 days past the deadline), but our district's go-to person for early enrollment said that, even if she was up to par in Kindegarten, they don't start seeing younger children struggle until around 2nd or 3rd grade. We decided to hold her back another year, so instead of being the very youngest in her class, she's the oldest. It's hard when your child has a birthday that close to the deadline.