Starting school as the youngest kid or oldest kid - redshirting

[GGG]

One thing to look at in US based studies is the definition of the red shirt year they are looking at. There is a big difference between holding back a kid born September 1st and one born February 29 which is the max red shirt range in Alberta. US typically has a Dec 31 cut off.

I think people would agree that there is an age at which a child is not mature enough to enter school and that the current age in Alberta was not arrived at scientifically.

I think that looking at your child's abilities relative to their peer group they will be entering school with and do what you think is best and leave the cost of daycare out of it. If you have afforded it this long you can last one more year.

[burn_this_city]

I was born 11 days before the cutoff, was definitely less mentally and physically mature for my grade until jr high when I started to catch up. I would hold my child back so they were older, I think it makes a difference.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by MacFlame

I'm a February baby and started school at four. I never felt as though I was an equal amongst my peers (including all friends) throughout school. Some of that was certainly my personality, but I do credit a lot to my age. Puberty was obviously later than my peers, couldn't go to the bars with my friends until my second year of college, etc.

I never realized that the insecurity I had growing up was related to my age, but looking back on it now, its clear as day to me that it was a problem for me.

I took me until my late twenty's to realize that it was all in my head.....

Yup this is very similar to me.

Being a year younger than your peers has no benefits and isn't helpful IMO.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by annasuave

I started school early, and it wasn't fun. I was also that poor schmuck who was underage at university and couldn't get served.

I turned 18 between the fall and winter semesters of my freshman year.

Bonus Points: British Columbia resident going to school in Alberta. I had the weirdest relationship with Alcohol for a couple of years.

[ae118]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

Something else Id consider is whether your child was born premature.



Id suggest to look in to it further if thats the case, but Ive read news referring to studies that suggest preemies struggle in school and the case for holding them back is stronger as the extra development time helps them catch up to full term kids. I havent seen the studies themselves.

Absolutely agree - I'd go with adjusted age even though they've outgrown that technically by school age.

I really think it depends on the kid overall - some kids are more than ready at four and some less so. However I think it's important to consider that kids grow at different rates in different facets of their life, so you may end up with a younger kid who was more than ready to start at four but ends up being academically, socially, or physically behind at eight or 12 or 14. There's a wide range in each grade anyway - to me it just makes sense not to increase the potential of being on the lagging end.

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Ha! I had no idea "redshirting" was even a thing that existed outside of NCAA athletics

Related question: I've heard people in the US have their kids repeat 8th Grade (i.e. before they go to high school) to get a leg up on their peers (for athletic and possibly other reasons as well). Is that a thing in Canada?

I've never heard of that myself and I have lived in 3 different parts of the US.

[habernac]

My wife and I are both February kids, both of us started early. My grades were fine, hers were even better. Our son is January, he started early. He would have burned the preschool down if he'd stayed another year as he would have been bored.

It totally depends on the kid.

[manwiches]

My wife is a Grade 1 teacher, my mom was a Grade 4 teacher and now a resource teacher. Both highly recommend holding your child back a year should you have that option for a couple reasons. These all have been shown in various studies that you can google.

- More time with your child before they really embark on their life journey
- Will have more intellectual, social and emotional maturity, likely higher than their classmates
- This in turn should have a positive effect in their education, helping them grasp concepts quicker, socialize better, and a more mature ability to deal with challenging situations.
- Studies show that while boys benefit more from 'red-shirting', girls can also show positive effects from this.

Full disclosure, my mom held me back as I'm a late February kid. I plan on doing this with my son. Just my opinion, but whatever 'edge' you can give your child without detriment to their development, why wouldn't you do so?

[troutman]

I've been googling, and not finding quality studies that show a a significant advantage in redshirting.

Numerous references listed in this research article:

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/...32858415590800

http://www.slate.com/articles/double...dergarten.html

The impact of redshirting is not as clear-cut as it sounds. First, much of the research on redshirting is pretty old—some of the key studies I cited relied on cohorts of kids who were redshirted in the late ’70s or early ’80s, and kindergarten has changed a lot since then. Redshirting has also become more common over the years, although it started becoming popular as early as the 1990s. Second, redshirted kids are usually vastly different from non-redshirted kids before they even get to school, so it can be difficult to separate the effects of redshirting from these fundamental differences.

When researchers compare redshirted kids to non-redshirted kids, they’re often comparing socio-economic apples and oranges.

So, is there any research that suggests redshirting is helpful? Yes—but again, this research does not actually tell us much about redshirting. Elizabeth Dhuey, an economist at the University of Toronto at Scarborough, has published a number of studies suggesting that the older kids are in a class, the better they fare academically, the more leadership roles they have in high school, and the more likely they are to attend elite universities—pretty much exactly the opposite of what the redshirting studies show. But even though her work has been used to support redshirting, “my findings relate only to a child’s age relative to their classmates—not the act of redshirting,” Dhuey explains. “These are different things altogether.”

[CaptainCrunch]

I have this image of a parent meeting with the coach of the Kindergarten tee ball team and telling them that he's going to redshirt their kid.

[V]

I'm a February kid, and I went early. I excelled at school, all the way through, but I definitely wish I was held back. I always felt more comfortable with the grade below me. I was definitely stunted socially and it didn't help with high school sports either.

If you're worried a kid will be bored, get them a hobby. All of our kids started music lessons at four. There are ways to keep your children engaged without putting them behind for the next 15 years.

[habernac]

I wasn't behind for 15 years, little or no effect on me.

[kevman]

Has the end of February always been the cut off? Looking back all my friends with January birthdays were the oldest kids in the class so I guess that means they were all held back? I just always assumed Dec 31st was the cut off when we went to school. It seems weird to me now that you have kids born in January in your class that can be different ages.

Other than that I have nothing to add. I was a summer birthday so everything just kind of made sense.

[speede5]

I had no idea this practice had a term. I kinda wish we held our one son back but he wasn't really young, just didn't take well to school. I have no other input other than you have to consider the impact down the road. :P


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzjbRBuz4Fg

[dobbles]

Oh, and I should add, the concept of the cutoff date being in winter is strange for me. In the places I have lived here in the states, the cutoff is 5 years old by Sept.1 or Oct 1st at the latest.

My birthday is Oct 4th and I was able to get a waiver for the Oct. 1 requirement at my small town grade school as a child. It worked fine for me; I was a really smart kid and usually had math class with the next grade or by myself. No idea how I have turned into such a slacker after a promising start!

Being the youngest in my grade my whole life, I will echo what others have said... It's often not even the academic differences that occur, but the social / athletics related stuff. I remember being in grade school and not being in little league the same year as classmates, or having to wait until my junior year of high school before I could drive. And while things like that seems silly to base a decision on, they do impact people emotionally and psychologically. Unfortunately, I doubt its even possible to identify kids that might be more or less susceptible to such impacts when they are just entering kindergarten.

[greyshep]

My oldest daughter was born on Oct. 31st. I have always regretted that we had to start her in school when we did. She is on the younger end of her grade and while she has done fine in her academics, the social aspect has always been a struggle, the pressures to drink underage are immense. Its crazy how much of a difference that year makes. If your child is in the territory that you can choose to hold them back.....do it.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Not sure of the long term effects, and this is somewhat anecdotal, but there is a huge difference between a 5 year old and a six year old in terms of development. It would only make sense that statistically the younger, less mature kid would struggle more than an older kid. Probably evens out in the longer term, but I would think short term, having a red shirt year is likely beneficial.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by V

I'm a February kid, and I went early. I excelled at school, all the way through, but I definitely wish I was held back. I always felt more comfortable with the grade below me. I was definitely stunted socially and it didn't help with high school sports either.

If you're worried a kid will be bored, get them a hobby. All of our kids started music lessons at four. There are ways to keep your children engaged without putting them behind for the next 15 years.

Basically my exact story too.

The only great part socially was EVERYONE was at my 18th birthday. The first kids to turn 18 always ended up going out with a couple older cousins or something.

First year University I played video games alone most nights until my birthday. It sucked.

A friend's dad did his PhD on this topic, and it sounds like holding back is the best way to set your kid up for success.

[Russic]

I can imagine many studies will show all sorts of conflicting results based on the fact that kids are so damn different. They develop at such different rates that two kids identically aged can behave and think years apart.

Our son was in a position to either be young or old going into school. Having never done it before we consulted with other kindergarten/grade 1 teachers (my wife teacher Jr. High so we had access) and the daycare we were sending him as they work directly with the school to help transition. The general consensus we got was that the only real benefit of starting early would be the savings in daycare costs. What's more is every worker that knew him personally (and several had for about 4 years) cautioned us greatly against putting him specifically in early. Some kids are very mature socially and want to go to school at 4... ours did not. Putting him in anyways ran the risk of starting him out on a wrong foot and disliking school. By the time the following July rolled around and he was 2 months from Kindergarten he was noticeably excited to go and was interacting with his peers in a far better way. Kids vary quite a bit month to month, so an entire year of socializing can be dramatic.

You're always going to find kids who do great going in younger, and kids that don't. Personally I feel the general tilt should be towards being older, but at the end of the day you have to consider the kid. As mentioned once before in this thread, for us a big factor was also letting a kid be a kid for another year. You only get a few years to play before school, homework, exams, more exams, 9-5 grind, and death. Maybe one more year to play isn't so bad.

[stampsx2]

The number of kindergartners over the age of 5 has more than tripled from 5.4% in 1970 to 17% in 2009 according to parents.com. I suspect in Alberta that number could be higher because of the late cutoff date.



Finland, a country the size of Minnesota, beats the U.S. in math, reading and science, even though Finnish children don't start school until age 7.

Despite the late start, the vast majority arrive with solid reading and math skills. By age 15, Finnish students outperform all but a few countries on international assessments.

From: http://www.npr.org/2014/03/08/287255...tarts-at-age-7