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 179
My son's birthday is in the middle of September, which makes him one of the youngest in his grade. He's now 7 and in the second grade. I don't think waiting would of helped him at all. So what if he was only 4 for the first month of kindergarten? He is more than able to adjust to that of the kids that are almost a year older than him and in the same grade. I think it gives him more of an advantage by being one of the youngest.
:-) Glad things worked out for you!
I started my son off in Kindergarten when he was 4 (late Dec birthday). He's now 7 and in Grade 3. He was so bored at home and I really couldn't afford another year of daycare which I felt he was getting too old for..being nearly five in daycares with four month olds. I knew it was young and I knew I had the option to wait but I figured we'd try it and worse comes to worse maybe he would be held back or even taken out of school.
Kindergarten was fine. It was grades 1 and 2 where we started to see more of a slide down and he started to get put in various enrichment/therapy programs for extra math/writing/reading help. It was a very preppy/yuppy school though with pretty unrealistic expectations. He's now in Grade 3 and he'll be 8 in December and in a smaller school and doing quite well. The only thing he seems behind in is his printing but I don't see that as a hugely serious concern.
Hindsight is always 20/20 and if I could do it again I'd probably wait but you just never know until you try it and by then it's hard to take them out of the school system. You actually can't really do Kindergarten and then say at the end "Well actually we're going to hold him back for 1-2 years now." Once you're in, you're pretty much in.
haha, here in Canada some kids start J/K (junior kinderkarten) at age 3! I know that sounds really young, but I think they are better socialized for it and better prepared for school routines!
I didn't know this was a controversial action. My mil started my husband a year late-- not because he was an Aug birthday but because she wanted him to be bigger than the other kids so he could excel in sports. Probably wasn't necessary since he was 6' 2" by the time he was 15, but I still think it was a good idea. Especially for boys, and I would consider doing that for my kids for sure. Does this make me elitist? Maybe, but the fact is that I am going to give my kids every advantage I can and if other parents don't it really isn't my problem.