Did you/Are you going to redshirt your DC?

Zenya

I know cutoff's vary by state but still...[Poll]

MommyofAlissa

Nope. Her bday is 9/10/04 and she is in 2nd grade this year. She is the youngest in the class (just turned 7) but she is doing well. In fact, she is above grade level in reading. So, I am happy w/ the decision to send her.

Cutoff was Oct 15th, btw.

mommyof4boys

Cut-off here is September 30th.  My boys have a birthday of September 17th. We did keep them and they started kindergarten this year and turned 6 a week later.  No regrets at all.

ghm

No. Ethan and Bella are March/Feb birthdays so that would make absolutely no sense. Maile misses the cutoff by a month (I think? I know she doesn't make it). 

I think redshirting is probably more common on the nest or other groups of people who tend to have more money. A lot of people can't AFFORD another year of preschool.  

CleoKitty

Nope. Our state has a very early cut-off (must be 5 no later than the end of July!) and my kids' birthdays are nowhere near the cutoff line.

FWIW, my ds is a first grader but in many states he'd already be in second grade. With an October birthday there's no way he would've been allowed to start school early so it astounds me that he'd be a full year ahead in so many other places. 

If we did live in one of the states that would've expected him to start preschool at the age of 4 I would certainly have considered waiting a year so I totally understand why some parents redshirt. Luckily our state "redshirts" for us. ;-)

shouldbworkin

I waver on this a lot.  DS turned 6 in mid-Aug and we have a 12/1 cut off.  I'm not going to lie and say it's not hard to hear about kids in his class already turning 7 (2 so far, we didn't experience this in KG at all).  But, he is the kind of kid that needs to to be around older kids who model more mature behavior.  Being the oldest in the class would make him sink to the common denominator, not turn into a leader.  He is fine academically and socially.

ali-1411

The whole subject cracks me up.  DD misses the cutoff by about 3 weeks, I'm trying to figure out how to send her EARLY.  Holding them back a year just baffles me.  Unless the kid truly and obviously isn't ready. 

joseysbride

C will, most likely, be right near the cutoff.  His bday is 07.18 and I believe the cutoff now is 07.31.  He's only two, so I guess we will see what happens in a couple of years.  The cutoff could change and I have no way of knowing now if he will be ready. 

In general, I am against redshirting, though.  If his assesment showed he was way behind in things I would consider it, otherwise, we plan to send him on time.  I have no indication now that he will be behind, I guess. 

shiloh17

I have to keep DS back bc he misses the cut-off. I hate it, bc he is so ready for kindy and is bored with another yr in pre-k.

veloelle

There were a LOT of kids in DD's class who are 4, turning 5 in kinder. We have a late cut off of Dec. 1, but it's being moved up, a lot of these kids would still make the cut off. I was so worried about her being one of the youngest in class, and she's right in the middle. She's a late July b-day, she turned 5 only 2 days before school started. There are about 6 other July b-days!

The school we're at is fed by middle and low income, so red shirting isn't an option for a lot of families considering daycare costs, etc.

eclaires

Jackson missed the cut off here by 1 day, but before that we lived in a state where he missed it by months.  So sending him this year was never really on our radar and preschool-wise he was on track to go to K in 2012.  So we stuck w/ that and I don't even know that we could have sent him early if we wanted to.  In Indiana, there's a law that requires each district to have a process in place for parents requesting to send their kids early.  I am unaware of a similar process/requirement here in TN.

Scarlett makes the cut off by 14 days here, and we don't know what we'll do yet.  It's very common here to redshirt - Jackson's preschool class has kids in it that turned five BEFORE APRIL.  No joke.  He is amongst the youngest in his preschool class which is mind boggling to me since he is 1 day past the cut off. The other thing that concerns me is that we plan to eventually move back to Indiana - which has a much earlier cut off date that she would not make - and while I don't mind her being the youngest in her class, I do mind her being the youngest by a lot.  Finally, I would prefer her to be 18 turning 19 going off to college. 

I think either way, it will probably be fine.  No real way to know now, but my preference would be to give her another year, probably, based on a variety of factors.  

MrsStubbs

ali-1411:

The whole subject cracks me up.  DD misses the cutoff by about 3 weeks, I'm trying to figure out how to send her EARLY.  Holding them back a year just baffles me.  Unless the kid truly and obviously isn't ready. 

This is us, DD is 10/2 and the cutoff here is 9/1, if there were anyway I could sneek her in early I would have. She went to a 4yo preschool last year and again this year. She clicked better with the kids from last year that are in K this year.

I think it will be good for my DS, he will be the oldest and has been slower than his sister, he is also Oct.bday.

jlw2505

I redshirted my older DD - she is repeating PreK this year.  June b-day with a 9-1 cut-off.  She has recently diagnosed ADHD and a severe speech delay.  She has been in speech therapy for 2 years and is now getting 2 days through the school system (PreK is a program through the school system) and 1 day through a private practice.  She recently started ADHD meds which have made a huge difference in her behavior and just overall, how she acts.  She is now able to pay so much more attention in class.  Even without the ADHD and just the speech, I would have held her back.  She really struggles socially since the kids have such a hard time understanding her.  SHe is not as mature as a lot of the kids her age.  Everyone one of her doctors and teachers recommonded it and her child pyschologist told us it was one of the best things we could have done for her.  We will not be holding back our older DD as the need is not there at all.

J&A2008

His birthday is the end of August, and if I had concerns about him being ready, I would, but he's three and already reading, so I think it would be in his best interest to start sooner.

shopgirl78

I sent both of mine on time.  One is 9 days before the cut off and one is 3 weeks after.  No regrets; however, I do see a difference in the maturity of some of the girls in DDs class, now it could be more that mine isn't exposed to as much but...IDK.  

Andrewsgal

Dd misses the cut off by three days and even though she is reading I would never consider sending her early, jack will go on time too.

CubbyMama

The CA cutoff is currently December 2, but they're moving it back a month each year until kids have to be 5 before September 2.  K qualified to start this year (born October 2) but wouldn't qualify under the newer cutoff once it's phased in.  Her preschool teacher thought maturity-wise she could benefit from another year of preschool first. 

I'm not sure if she really counts as being "red-shirted," which I consider more to be when you have, like, an April kid who's now starting kindergarten at almost 6 1/2 because parents chose not to start them when they were already 5. 

superslug

Our cutoff is Sept.1, Ryan's birthday is in October so he's already on the older side, Caleb on the other hand is a May birthday but I think he'll be ok. There seem to be a ton of kids with summer birthdays so I think there will plenty on the younger side. In his Pre-K class most of the kids have late spring/summer birthdays. The  only thing that gives me pause is that C has a speech problem, it hasn't been an issue so far so I don't think it should be a problem next year.

juniper19

There is an article in this past Sunday New York Times that says it is a bad idea, but I'm not sure I go along with everything the authors say. 

I would redshirt my September 20 boy if I could, but NYC is almost completely inflexible about their 12/31 cutoff.

ETA: Sorry - I see this article was already posted.

tammy79

DS's B-day is 3 weeks before the cut off here, we debated for a whole year on what we should do, we ended up finding a school that we love for him, and sent him to kindy, and so far he's doing great, we just had our conference with his teacher, and she said he's doing amazing, in fact above average on everything. We are very happy with our decision.  

Zenya

To answer my own question, C has a June birthday and the cutoff here is september some time.  I know of only one child who was kept back and it sounds like it was a good thing.  

 

The secretary at the school says it seems to be every other year there are groups that are redshirted.  It comes in and out of 'fashion', she said.  This year there were v. few apparently. 

MichelleWP

My daughter isn't eligible until next year, but she makes the cut-off by 1 day (actually, 13 hours). I have no ides what I will do, I thought I did but am wavering. I have her in 3 yr old preschool right now, at fall conferences I'll decide whether she should be in 4 yr old, then see how she does at the end of the year. I'll enroll her in the spring, but withdraw her if appropriate. I really don't think I'll regret either way - I'm just not ready to decide.

DandRAgain

My girls I did not.  Audrey's birthday is Sept 28th and cutoff October 15...she is the youngest by far...with several kids a full year older than her.  But she is succeeding and doing well.  No biggie.

They recently changed the cutoff to sometime in July so Mitch will be closer to the new cutoff.  His birthday is in June.  I'm currently on the fence, with leaning more towards holding him back, mostly due to him being a boy.  My mom used to complain ALL the time about the naughty boys, my girls talk about boys who are always in the "safe seat"....I just don't know if school and sitting at desks is something that boys have an easy time doing.  On top of it, (and this is probably going to sound really lame...go ahead and flame me though) he has red hair...bright red hair.  With Tay---whatever, people LOVE girls with red hair. But with a boy....gah!  Instead of the "LOVE your daughter's red hair!" I get the "Oh, wow, look at that red hair!" and there is the whole reputation that goes with red head boys being naughty. SOOOOO, if giving him another year to mature and hopefully be able to sit better and listen better and what not, hopefully he doesn't get pegged by the teachers early on as "the naughty red head boy".  I'd rather him be the more mature kid....and ALSO the kid who can stand up for himself if/when he gets teased for his red hair.   (is that the lamest reason of all? because my son's hair color???)

Its not an easy decision....but its one that only a parent can make for their own child......the only time I think its really lame is if a parent is doing it because of sports or "well, because the neighbor down the street did" or whatever.

Littlejen22

shouldbworkin:

I waver on this a lot.  DS turned 6 in mid-Aug and we have a 12/1 cut off.  I'm not going to lie and say it's not hard to hear about kids in his class already turning 7 (2 so far, we didn't experience this in KG at all).  But, he is the kind of kid that needs to to be around older kids who model more mature behavior.  Being the oldest in the class would make him sink to the common denominator, not turn into a leader.  He is fine academically and socially.

See, I will go out on a limb and say it pisses me off that parents do this b/c now the class is being taught to 7yos instead of 6yos where it should be.  Send your kids to school when you are supposed to instead of when you feel like it, if your kid is behind they will get help.  Holding them back now means they will be in school with kids at least a year younger than them, not sure why that makes parents feel so much better especially for kids that miss the cutoff by more than a month.  My only exception for this is places with crazy cutoffs like Dec 31...I think the cutoff should be the first day of school or close to it like in NJ Sept 1.

Jodi&Joe

Cutoff here is 12/31.  Joey turned 5 on 11/19.  So I could have sent him to K when he was 4.  In no way shape or form was he ready.  He has been late with almost everything academically (talking, reading, writing, etc).  I sent him when he was 5, almost 6, and I do not regret that choice one bit.

TBH, I would dare to say that a good majority of FOUR YEAR OLDS are not ready for Kindergarten.  I think, to be fair, you should have to be 5 to start.  So cutoff should be the day school starts - you have to be 5.  If you aren't, you wait until next year (with a per case basis for those exceptions (like the kid turns 5 a week after start date, for example)).

 

Angela814

Andrewsgal:

Dd misses the cut off by three days and even though she is reading I would never consider sending her early, jack will go on time too.

Are you worried about her being bored? I was able to talk to DD's teacher today, and she mentioned that DD was one of the few who knew her letter sounds. There are kids in the class who don't even know their letters yet! I was surprised by that since DD was in public 4K last year, and they worked on letters all year.

emiliemadison

We have a 9/1 cutoff. 

DD's birthday is 8/1 and DS's is 12/10, so DD is the youngest in her class and DS will be kind of in the middle. They are/will both start per our district cutoffs and we have no issues with it. DD just turned 6 and is in 1st grade and doing very well. DS is almost 4 and still has 2 years (including this one) of PreK and think it'll be just fine.  

Yodajo

I did and I can't forsee having any regrets.

DS's bday is 10/29 and our cutoff is 12/1 here. After seeing him last year in his 4y.o. preschool class where most of the kids were going on to kindergarten next year, I knew he wasn't going to be ready.  He just did not/does not have the attention span or maturity to start kindergarten yet.  He is starting to read, so academically, he would be ok probably, but socially he is not.  From what I have read and been told from teachers, the social aspect is the most important one at this age.

In our district, I would bet that probably 90% of parents hold their fall bday kids back, especially boys.  Quite a few hold back to even June.  Knowing the dynamics of his class and who his peers would be throughout his schooling also influenced and solidified our decision.

I really, really agree with the other posters who mentioned that being 5 by the start of school is a good cutoff. 

krissymoves

Yodajo:

I did and I can't forsee having any regrets.

DS's bday is 10/29 and our cutoff is 12/1 here. After seeing him last year in his 4y.o. preschool class where most of the kids were going on to kindergarten next year, I knew he wasn't going to be ready.  He just did not/does not have the attention span or maturity to start kindergarten yet.  He is starting to read, so academically, he would be ok probably, but socially he is not.  From what I have read and been told from teachers, the social aspect is the most important one at this age.

In our district, I would bet that probably 90% of parents hold their fall bday kids back, especially boys.  Quite a few hold back to even June.  Knowing the dynamics of his class and who his peers would be throughout his schooling also influenced and solidified our decision.

I really, really agree with the other posters who mentioned that being 5 by the start of school is a good cutoff. 

I foresee this being my son next year. He has an 11/30 birthday with a 12/1 cutoff. I wish they'd move the cutoff to 9/1. I feel like would help narrow the gap in age of the kids. If I send my November kids "on time", they will easily be up to 18 months younger than the oldest kids in their classes because it's not abnormal for people to hold kids from June on. They're more likely to be in the middle of the pack if I wait the year.

Glendi2.0

DD#1 is a February birthday- with our September 1 cut-off, it was a total non-issue... even if it was, I'd never have held her back.

DD#2, on the other hand... born 9/2, one day after our town's cut-off, and I thank my lucky stars every day. She's currently on an IEP, and I'm glad I dodged the inevitable fight that would've come about starting kindergarten had she been born a day earlier.

winomom22

We held DD1 back this year. Our cut-off is Sept 1, her bday is Aug 8th. Academically she is ready and I did have concerns about her being bored, but that hasn't come to fruition yet. She is in a young 5 pre-K for kids who were age eligible for Kindy this fall, but had late bdays and weren't quite ready for various reasons. She has sensory processing disorder and likely ADHD. While academically she is ready, maturity wise she is not. This was a decision I agonized over and talked at length about with her preschool teachers and kindy warm-up and summer school teachers. I wasn't just thinking of the immediate future, but also the implications of her being the youngest in her class in later years (high school and beyond). The thought of sending her off to college shortly after turning 18 was scary to me. I feel like this year will give her an extra year to learn and cope with her disorder, while we get further testing so she is better prepared for regular Kindergarten, 1st grade and beyond. 

JellymanKelly

We didn't redshirt, but I am not sure if I regret it yet. He has some delays, so I am not 100% sure he won't have to repeat K, even though he knows how to do the work. Even if he has to repeat, I'm still not sure I would regret sending him. He needed to be in a school setting regardless. 

JellymanKelly

naybride04:

She has sensory processing disorder and likely ADHD. While academically she is ready, maturity wise she is not....

I feel like this year will give her an extra year to learn and cope with her disorder, while we get further testing so she is better prepared for regular Kindergarten, 1st grade and beyond. 

 

These are precisely the reasons we were thinking of holding DS back, but he really needed the extra help to mature socially and his preschool teachers all felt that K was the answer in his case. He's also an April Bday, though, which makes a difference. 

winomom22

JellymanKelly:

naybride04:

She has sensory processing disorder and likely ADHD. While academically she is ready, maturity wise she is not....

I feel like this year will give her an extra year to learn and cope with her disorder, while we get further testing so she is better prepared for regular Kindergarten, 1st grade and beyond. 

 

These are precisely the reasons we were thinking of holding DS back, but he really needed the extra help to mature socially and his preschool teachers all felt that K was the answer in his case. He's also an April Bday, though, which makes a difference. 

Her preschool teachers were pretty adamant that she was ready for K as well. They kept saying "she is so smart, they just need to work with her!" while the K teachers agreed she was smart, but maturity wise she was not ready. I went with the K teachers' opinion. They know what goes on in the classroom and what they are capable of dealing with (in a class of 20 kids). Sure they should work with her, but are they going to be able to? That is what concerned me. In preschool it was a 10:1 ratio and it was flexible and play based, so it was easier for them to allow DD to wander about the room while everyone else was sitting on the rug during story time. Your DS does have an earlier bday which makes it harder, but in our district, they do redshirt kids with spring bdays as well. It is such a hard decision and we literally didn't make it until registration day. I would just wait and see. He may mature in the next year. The K teachers at warm-up should offer some good insight as well. Good luck!

ETA: Sorry I just re-read your pp and saw you already sent him. My co-worker's DD had to repeat K and is no worse for the wear. In the grand scheme of things I don't think it's a big deal. Your DS probably wouldn't even remember it and if that extra year of schooling helps him then so be it.   

 

DownToEarthGirl

It really does depend on the kid and if K is all-day or half-day.  I see less reason to red shirt for 1/2 day K for most of the fall birthday kids, but totally understand for all-day K. 

My oldest just turned 5 this Sept. and actually missed the K cutoff by 4 days.  He had already completed pre-K in a mixed pre-K and K class last year (different state) and we felt he was ready for kindergarten so we had him tested by the school district and sent him early (4 days early esentially, but a whole school year to the school district).  He tested fine and his maturity is great, so we all agreed to start him in K this year even though the cutoff in our last state was Oct. 1 and in our new state was Sept 10. 

Now if this were my 3 yr old, I wouldn't know.  Right now, I'm wondering if he'll be ready in a couple years.  He actually makes the cutoff by one day, but he is just a different kid and I can't tell if he will be ready for all-day K. 

 

heyitsme

DD's birthday is 9/6. The private school we planned to send her to had a 9/1 cutoff although public schools have a 12/2 cutoff. We opted to send her to K at the public school because we were told by her Pre-K that she was "more than ready" for K. She's a bright kid, and at grade level academically, but I do regret sending her when I did. I think we should've waited another year (either 'red shirted' her or waited until she was eligible for the private school). She's behind her peers in terms of maturity, and as she gets older it's definitely becoming more noticeable. She's in 2nd grade but relates/befriends K and 1st graders more easily.

StephNJer

DD's birthday is 9/10, making her 4 the first few weeks of Kinder. We thought long and hard about whether or not we would send her, but ultimately, we felt she was ready, and she made the cutoff (which right now is Dec. 2nd), so it made sense to send her. So far, I don't regret it at all. She's doing very well academically and seems to be doing fine socially as well. I think if had waited a year, we would have regretted it, because she would have been bored.

AnnapolisLari

No. Our cutoff is 9/30 and both of my kids are early December babies. They will both be 5 3/4 when they start kindergarten.

I am glad that they will be on the older end of the class. I was one of the youngest in my class and wish that my mom had kept me back a year.

cristiana

Our cutoff was December 2nd, and our oldest DD has a late November birthday. We went ahead and sent her, and have no regrets so far. She is doing awesome, socially and academically.  DS has a late August birthday, and the cutoff date is moving closer to September, year by year, so he will also probably be one of the youngest in his class next year. We have no plans to redshirt him.

EMT

cristiana:

Our cutoff was December 2nd, and our oldest DD has a late November birthday.

This is us too except we decided to wait on DD. In CA, they are also currently moving the cutoff from 12/2 to 9/2 by one month each year (until it gets to 9/2). DD's b-day is 11/25. This year the cutoff is still 12/2 so she could have started. But next year the cutoff is 11/2 so she would have missed it (if she was born a year later but had the same b-day). I'm not really sure this counts as redshirting because of all these circumstances.

Also, the state that we seem to continuously discuss moving back to has a 9/2 cutoff.

Definitely the right decision for us.

Dimplz

No.

The cut-off is 2 months after DS's birthday so he is on the young end of his class. I have every confidence he will do well. The cut off was 2 weeks before my birthday and my mom doctored my birth certificate so I could start that year. I was always the youngest in my class. I did fine socially and academically. The worst part was I wasn't 18 when I started college so I couldn't go to the bar with my friends until a few months into school!

DS told me today that someone in his K class was 6.5! I was like WTF! Hopefully that kid was exaggerating about his age! I can not fathom why a typically developing (if that kid is) 6.5 year old would be in Kindergarten! I was almost in 2nd grade at that age!