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Do they only do it for boys? One has a spring birthday, so he's fine. The other with the September birthday won't start kinder until he's 6.

DS1 will be starting kindergarten next year. He has an April birthday. DS2 will almost be 6 when he starts since his birthday is in November. Our cut off date is 9/1.

My sister asked if we would be red shirting DS1 because he is a boy. Umm... what? My LO does very well in preschool and does not have any behavioral issues. I think she is crazy to think that I would want to push him back a year just because he is a boy. He isn't even close to the cut off date! She has a daughter born the same year with a 9/3 birthday, and the only way for her to start kindergarten at 5 is to attend a private school with a cut off date of 9/15 that will give her credit for the year. After that, she can take that and attend public school for 1st grade. Of course that's the route she is taking because her daughter is just so smart (she constantly brags). Ugh. End rant.

@Boogs: Anecdotally more common to do it for boys, I think. A boy who is nearly 6 will be bigger than other boys, and that could possibly translate to a better athlete (comparatively). A boy who is one of the youngest might be one of the smallest in his class?

E is early August and the cut-off here is 9/1 so this is definitely something we have thought about. E is pretty smart, though...knows and can write the alphabet, spell and write his name and a few other words (like mom) and can count to 30. He's also in the 95+ plus percentile for height and weight, so I'm not worried there. We're still working on listening and following direction, but I don't see us red-shirting him.

DH and BIL are both August babies. DH was held back another year, BIL was not. MIL felt that BIL was ready for K but that DH was not emotionally/socially there yet.

DS misses the cutoff (9/1) in our area by 2 days. We will not be fighting it. I'm ambivalent about red shirting but bc my due date was so close to the cutoff I decided that, withstanding any major issues, I'd let his birthday decide for me. DH has a late August bday and was redshirted bc he was small for his age and kind of nerdy (haha). It worked out fine for him but he was definitely bored in school a lot and sometimes had behavioral issues as a result.

Eta: the best part about it, to me, is that he will get an extra year at home // to be a kid! Totally worth the cost of an extra year of daycare in my opinion.

DS has an April birthday so it won't apply, DD with a November birthday won't start until 6.

No DS has a bday abt a month before the cutoff and I don't plan to redshirt him. He is pretty advanced verbally for his age and very social so I think he'd do great. Plus another year of daycare costs?? No thanks!

Ds is a nov baby and doesn't meet the 9/1 cut off but we have the option of writing in for an exception. We want to send him when he's 4y10 months instead of 5y10 months but most likely will not because of this trend around here. I don't want him to be closer to six but I also don't want him to be one of the youngest either as an exception.

Ds2 is a July baby and we will be sending him at regular time since he meets the cutoff.

Both of my boys have fall birthdays and will not meet the 9/1 cutoff. I'm relieved that I won't have a difficult decision to make, although if they were close then I'd lean towards them being older rather than younger.

As far as I know, no. I think lo1 will be ready by age 5 to start kindergarten. We'll see about lo2, and lo3 misses the cut off so he'll be 6 anyway before starting kindergarten so no red shirting there.

Both of my children are only a couple months after the cut off date so they will be on the older side for their grade (although with so many peopl red shirting you end up being one of the younger ones automatically if you go when you're supposed to). We'll pay for close to six years of daycare for each of them but we're fine with it.

Who knows, maybe? Our son will have a late Spring birthday and we want him to be academically focused. Having a child sit in a classroom ready to absorb material rather than get frustrated is important. We have no problem funding outside enrichment and tutors, but so much of the child's day is in the classroom I want him to have some success all on his own there too.

NY state cutoff is somewhere in December depending on your district. My DS 1 has a late August birthday, so he'll just have turned 5. I don't plan on Red shirting him, but we'll see. DS 2 is due in June, so I doubt it will be a debate.

I'm a teacher and boys with nov/dec bday very often are held an additional year. I see them in middle school and they are more mature and sometimes academically stronger than the rest of their younger classmates. .

I guess it depends on who my boys are at the time (if I think they're ready or not).

DS1 has a Feb birthday, so it won't be an issue. DS2 has a late July birthday, however, so it might be an issue for him. He's only 5 months old now though, so I have no idea what his readiness will be like then.

LO has a spring birthday so it's a moot point, but I wouldn't hold him back. If anything, we're sending him sooner.

My brother and I fell on the cusp, he was held back and I was sent on time/early and it worked well in both cases. He wasn't ready, but I was. We both did well in school. I think you just have to know your child and understand their emotional maturity and readiness.

@Ree723: that's what we would have to do if we chose to skip k--he's go right Into first grade anyway.

@lovehoneybee: Our boys have the same birthday and we are strongly considering holding C back.

Where we live, it's highly recommended, especially for summer boys. The cutoff here is 8/31, and DS birthday is 8/8. DS is a big kid though, and doing very well academically at his preschool, but we still feel like emotionally/socially he could probably use the extra time to mature. We have some time to think about it as he's only 3.5, but I imagine we will hold him.

I don't think so. I read a whole article on this the other day that talked about how red shirting is messing up the age groups in the different grades. So now instead of having a bunch of 5 year olds, you have a bunch of 6 year olds in kindergarten. And then the kids that used to be in the middle of the pack are now the youngest. So it's really just pushing everyone back a year.

I have personal experience with this as I have an October birthday. My kindergarten cutoff date was one day after my birthday, so I just got in. I was 4 when I started kindergarten for the first couple months, which means I was 17 when I started college and 21 when I graduated. I never felt like I was at a disadvantage, and I actually liked being the youngest.

This is very common where I live in Northern Indiana. I'm pregnant with a boy due in May and people are already asking me if I'll redshirt him! (Answer - probably not because if he stays in the grade he belongs, he'll only be 2 years behind his sister - but who knows??)

Don't know yet but leaning toward it. Depends on him. DS birthday is 8/24, the cut off is 8/31.