Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Looks interesting so far.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I just watched it. Very interesting....my girls are both born in late June, so they will be pretty much right in the middle of the class in terms of age here on LI (since most districts say age 5 by December 1st or around there).

My oldest daughter would be bored and rebelling if I held her back to try to give her an advantage...she loves to learn and when she's bored she's not happy so that wouldn't even be a thought for me. I was happy they addressed that side of it towards the end of the segment. I was also waiting to see if they asked the one mother (son was playing baseball) if one reason she held him back was for sporting advantages, which she said yes to.

My youngest is not even 2 so I can't even comment on her.

I also found it very interesting when the one expert (didn't catch his title) who was of the viewpoint that it's harming children overall, when he pointed out that years ago people wanted their kids to SKIP a grade to have more advantages, and now people are keeping them back to give them more advantages. Interesting....

Message edited 3/4/2012 8:07:38 PM.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Redshirting

While I did not have an opportunity to watch CBS, I found this article on their website. I am keenly interested in the subject. My son is 4 and an August birthday. The cut off is October 1st in NJ. I am enrolling him in kindergarten for the fall. He is already the second tallest child in his class. I think he would be board if I held him back. Do I worry about sports and popularity, yes, absolutely. I hope that he is able to excel in every area of his academics, sports and personal life. I think all parents want the same thing for their children. Success, happiness, love, and fun.

DD is two and I am not sure what to do for her yet.
If your DC has a late birthday respective to the cut of date in your school what have you decided to do for next year?

Message edited 3/4/2012 9:02:36 PM.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Kids in the same class can easily be 18 months apart in age because some parents do this and some don't. We have guidelines for a reason and I don't think it is fair that, as a parent of a younger child who will be within the proper age range for his grade, I have to consider that he will be in class with kids who are supposed to be in a different grade. I can't see holding back a child who is ready for Kindergarten.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Wish I saw this! I just read the article posted. The cut off in my town is Dec. 1. It is INSANE the amount of holding back that goes on here. August and beyond people are holding back. October and beyond the TEACHERS are pushing it in my DS's school (case by case but more on the lines of holding back). Kids are repeating pre-k and k left and right. Honestly, it bothers me. My DS is an end of August bday. It has never been suggested he be held back and i would never do it - I know my DS - he is so smart and holding him back he would just be bored out of his mind and tune out and start acting out. That said, now he is not right smack in the middle where he should be - he will actually be one of the YOUNGEST now by alot when he starts 1st grade considering many of the kids in his class are going to be doing K twice (as per the parents - he is in pre-k now).

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I thought the most interesting part was when they said while it is true that the oldest in the grade (Jan-Feb bdays), tend to do better, the redshirted kids do not.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Message edited 3/5/2012 11:07:55 AM.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I have to watch this! I feel very strongly against red shirting and think the kids should be forced to start kindy on time. Now my ds will be starting kindergarten at 4 , and their will be kids an entire YEAR older then him . I dont mind because maybe my 4 yo will learn from these much older kids why do parents want their almost 6 year olds starting school with 4 and 5 year olds? They are going to be the oldest and biggest kids in class, that is not a good thing in my eyes. I have a late dec birthday and finished my first semester of college at 17.

Message edited 3/5/2012 2:40:10 PM.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I'm really into these debates now since DD was 4 when she started kindergarten and didn't turn 5 till Oct. 22nd. My district's cut off is Dec. 1st but all of the other towns surrounding me are Oct. 1st. She has kids in her class who are more than a full year older than her. She is having some academic issues and I was surprised that her teacher was in favor of her repeating kindergarten. We'll obviously do what's best for her, but it's not really fair that she's "competing" with other kids who are so much older.

What I 100% don't agree with are parents keeping their kids back for sports reasons or size reasons - I find that to be totally ridiculous.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Message edited 3/5/2012 2:58:18 PM.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I don't know how much longer we will even have to worry about this... a lot of school districts are thinking of getting rid of K b/c of the budget. It is not state mandated. My district is going half day next year...UGH!

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I feel that the practice of redshirting also spins off MORE redshirting--- what I mean by that is, a parent with say, an October baby, might ordinarily feel comfortable with sending their DC to kindy on time, but if they live in a town where redshirting is prevalent and thus a lot of their classmates are going to be a FULL YEAR older, then they will probably be more likely to end up redshirting their kid themselves.

There's one kid in my DC's kindergarten class who I know is redshirted (even though he has a spring birthday... unusual, though I don't know the backstory). Anyway, my DC's reading has really taken off recently, so after he read a book to me I was praising him and jokingly said "whoa, you must be one of the best readers in your class", and he was like "oh no... RedshirtedKid has been reading books to the class since the beginning of the year". In my mind I was thinking-- "dude, the kid is going to be SEVEN shortly. You're just turning SIX now. Of course he reads better than you!"

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

Wow.

Just read that article.

I would never hold AJ back. I have said before *I* was the young one in school. It did not give me a disadvantage at all. I was in GT/AP classes and top of all science classes I took. Meant I had more time to goof up in college frankly.

Here in my district in this town of Texas the 'cut off' is September 1. AJ is Aug 22nd. She'll be in 1st grade at 6.

However, that said.. I am not HOLDING her back from kinder, I *AM* holding her back from public school. She'll stay in the Montessori Program through Kinder. Or at least that's our current plan.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I would have never even thought about holding DS back until I started visiting preschools in my area and when they asked me his birthday (November) they asked me are you going to hold him? I had no idea this went on and as I visited other schools and started talking to other moms who had fall babies they said they would definitley be holding their sons back?! And they are saying this 2 years before their children are supposed to even start kindergarten, I think it's crazy but it really got me thinking. The only reason I would hold my son back would be for maturity reasons if I felt he really was immature at the time. But it makes you think well if everyone else is holding their children my 4 year old will be going to kindergarten with a ton of 6 year olds, that upsets me.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I watched this and honestly never knew about "redshirting" until I met DH and he read the book "outliers" and he's very into sports and says how for boys its an advantage since they mature later...now I have a DS with a end/oct bday...I really am torn on what to do. If it was just me I would not hold him back, but I'm getting it suggested to me left and right...

My biggest question is why is the cutoff different for different states,,,even towns??!!

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I have 1 summer DDand 2 fall DCs. The summer kid will start on time, she will be the youngest in her class, the cut off is Sept 1. The 2 fall kids will be close to 6 when they start. My son (now 2) will benefit from that, and honestly I already know that I probably would have held him back anyway as he has quite a few delays (though I would talk with his therapists first). My younger DD was born in October. It annoys me that she will have to wait an extra year to start school-but I guess that is because I am used to NY cutoffs and these earlier, southern cutoffs seem weird. If she seems really advanced, I'm not against enrolling her in private K and then switching her to the public school-but honestly, I don't know how likely that is.

I guess having every kid be 5 when they enter Kindergarten is not such a bad idea, just takes some getting used to.

Re: Anyone watching the Redshirting segment on CBS?

I didn't see it, but here's my opinion, for what it's worth. Someone will always have to be the youngest by at least 12 mths, and someone will always have to be the oldest by at least 12 months. When you randomly hold back kids months away from a cut off, you exaggerate that difference. If you are doing it to one-up other kids, that's not right either. Now, a cut-off date is so random, that of course some kids don't fall where they probably should. I think it would be perfectly fine to have a cut-off date, and say that if your child is within 2 weeks or a month of that date, you can choose to apply to either hold them back or move them up based on your beliefs about your child, preschool teachers' opinions, pediatrician, etc. (maybe not a formal evaluation/application, but something to show thought went into the decision for this particular child, not just a thought of i want them to be the oldest, or i want them to be the youngest.)