I judge

[Deleted]

I just met my new neighbor.

She has a 7 year old. He's in Kindergarten.
I have a 5 year old in K and a 7 year old in 1st grade.

[dev22]

7 is way too old for kinder. Good lord, I was 7 in 2nd grade! (bday is in July, so I was 7 in ALLLLL of 2nd grade)

[Deleted]

Whaaat. This whole phenomenon is so weird to me. Wont it catch up to them at some point?

[marie427]

Geez. Even at 5 I was one of the tallest kids in my K class. At 7 I would have been Andre the Giant in my K class.

[msmerymac]

I probably would have wondered what was wrong with a kid who was 7 and in K. Maybe not in K, but definitely by the time we got to 3rd or 4th grade. I'd assume he was held back. Of course, now I know there's nothing WRONG with being held back if necessary, but at that age my thought process was more like, "God, I'd be so bored if I had to take the same classes again next year."

[alleycat]

Did they move from another country? Is there a language barrier?

[Deleted]

May 11, 2012 12:15:14 GMT -5 alleycat said:

Did they move from another country? Is their a language barrier?

no.

[druidp]

May 11, 2012 11:46:38 GMT -5 @septimus said:

I just met my new neighbor.

She has a 7 year old. He's in Kindergarten.
I have a 5 year old in K and a 7 year old in 1st grade.

Scoot over on the couch. I'd ask HAB for some chips & dip, but her fucking husband ate it all.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

Redshirting?

[emisi]

May 11, 2012 12:26:51 GMT -5 lyssbobiss, Command, B613 said:

Redshirting?

Maybe, but that's pretty old for redshirting. I was redshirted, and that just meant I turned 6 within the first month of kindergarten, not 7.

[Deleted]

I'm pretty sure she red shirted. Kid probably has an April birthday... I'll have to find out more.

[eclaires]

We have a few kids in our preschool class who turned 6 starting in MARCH. They will be 7 by the end of K, too.

Bananas.

[Deleted]

May 11, 2012 13:03:58 GMT -5 eclaires said:

We have a few kids in our preschool class who turned 6 starting in MARCH. They will be 7 by the end of K, too.

Bananas.

Someone needs to start busting these parents for truancy law violations.

It is actually the law in TN that a kid must be registered for school by age 6 so technically if they turned 6 in March they should have been registered and in a K classroom.

[ttt]

I think I would react to that with "Oh...I'm sorry" and a sympathetic look.

[Deleted]

Hmm, once we would have judged this kid for being stupid. Now we judge the mom because we presume she held the kid back so he'd be athletically and socially ahead of the rest of his class.

I'm not sure we're making any progress at all.

[Deleted]

You just met them. He could have special needs. (edited because I replied to Sandsonik by mistake).

[Deleted]

May 11, 2012 14:51:08 GMT -5 @vanessadoof said:

You just met them. He could have special needs. (edited because I replied to Sandsonik by mistake).

I highly doubt it. He's at a competitive private school in town.

[earlgreyhot]

I was tall in K as well and all the kids though I was 7. I did turn 6 pretty early on. I know it's common for summer birthdays (July/Aug) to be redshirted, but March, April, May seems excessive.

[pugz]

I am so dumb, I about posted "septimus probably would have something to say about this!" and then I realized....you started the post ::headdesk::

[mayflowers22]

A 7 year old in Kindergarten? I started when I was 4!

[Deleted]

May 12, 2012 12:44:29 GMT -5 mayflowers22 said:

A 7 year old in Kindergarten? I started when I was 4!

me too.

There are 8 year olds in DS's 1st grade class. I was 8 at the start of 4th grade.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

This whole phenomenon is so weird. I remember when it was a point of bragging to have been YOUNGER in kindergarten and now we want bigger, older kids in there.

[basilosaurus]

At the end of the year I don't find this all that odd. We were all expected to turn 6 at some point during K. Summer was flexible, but some kids with late spring/early summer birthdays were held back so there were always a few with May/June birthdays who turned the next age before the end of the school year. My sister was one of them. She turned 7 the last week of K. She was still always one of the smallest.

[mrswizard]

Wow! Both my girls will be 4 when they start Kindergarten. (In NYS you have to turn 5 by Dec. 1st) That's so unfair. I really resent parents who "red shirt" their kids - for selfish reasons - ie. wanting their children to outperform their classmates etc. Someone's kids are going to be the youngest! They shouldn't have to be more than 12 months younger than their oldest classmates though.

Also - ESL (English as a Second Language) and any Developmental Issues should be addressed long before these kids turn 7. Holding them back and forcing them to recite 123's and abc's when they should be reading and studying much more interesting topics, history, planets etc. must be frustrating for them. If these children need to learn in a different way or need extra help - keeping them at home won't help them. Completely Ridiculous.

GL!

[Deleted]

May 12, 2012 21:20:00 GMT -5 mrswizard said:

Wow! Both my girls will be 4 when they start Kindergarten. (In NYS you have to turn 5 by Dec. 1st) That's so unfair. I really resent parents who "red shirt" their kids - for selfish reasons - ie. wanting their children to outperform their classmates etc. Someone's kids are going to be the youngest! They shouldn't have to be more than 12 months younger than their oldest classmates though.

Also - ESL (English as a Second Language) and any Developmental Issues should be addressed long before these kids turn 7. Holding them back and forcing them to recite 123's and abc's when they should be reading and studying much more interesting topics, history, planets etc. must be frustrating for them. If these children need to learn in a different way or need extra help - keeping them at home won't help them. Completely Ridiculous.

GL!

I'm pretty sure NYC public schools enforce no redshirting too. If you show up red shirted they put you in 1st.

I debated holding my son back (he turned 5 the first week of K). I didn't. He gets more services being in the schools than he would otherwise. (He has speech and sensory issues).

[IIOY]

May 12, 2012 13:44:02 GMT -5 lyssbobiss, Command, B613 said:

This whole phenomenon is so weird. I remember when it was a point of bragging to have been YOUNGER in kindergarten and now we want bigger, older kids in there.

{nodding}

I continue to believe that my generation of parents has some completely fucked ideas about parenting.

Also, when I lived in NYS, the cut-off was 12/31. As a result I was able to start school earlier than most and was always the youngest in my class. I wondered what triggered the change to 12/1.

[Deleted]

May 13, 2012 7:28:13 GMT -5 @bunnybean said:

Fortunately, it's likely only 1 year older (because you should start K at 5 and turn 6 sometime during the year), but yeesh. Really, I don't think it's appropriate under too many circumstances.

1 year is a huge difference at 5 though. 1 year not as big of deal at 18.

If it isn't obvious I really hate the whole red shirting. Our cut off was Sept. 31 and it doesnt' bother me the parents who hold back Aug & Sept b-days (the kids that haven't turned 5 by the start of the school year-We start beginning of Aug) but it really irks me when I start hearing March/April/May kids being held back by their parents for some sort of "advantage" or because mommy just can't let go and send her baby to school)

[IIOY]

May 13, 2012 7:38:26 GMT -5 @septimus said:

1 year is a huge difference at 5 though. 1 year not as big of deal at 18.

If it isn't obvious I really hate the whole red shirting.

Ditto and ditto. This is a huge part of my relief that my son is starting K this coming year. I felt as though he'd waste a year of his life if he didn't. He must attend a private school in a district other than his sister's in order to meet the birthday cut-off, but it's the best thing for him academically, which is paramount.

[GailGoldie]

(former K teacher here) - i can't stand redshirting - for any reason. It's SO rare that a child really should be held back... and in those cases it's usually b/c of a severe learning delay of some type. Most kids catch right up easily.

but i'd be careful to judge too quickly - even in a private school - he could have had issues... and maybe they have been dealt with and he's doing fine now - but until you know, i'd hold off on assuming anything.... I'd just think "hm... that's odd."

[Deleted]

May 13, 2012 7:53:08 GMT -5 GailGoldie said:

(former K teacher here) - i can't stand redshirting - for any reason. It's SO rare that a child really should be held back... and in those cases it's usually b/c of a severe learning delay of some type. Most kids catch right up easily.

but i'd be careful to judge too quickly - even in a private school - he could have had issues... and maybe they have been dealt with and he's doing fine now - but until you know, i'd hold off on assuming anything.... I'd just think "hm... that's odd."

If redshirting weren't so rampant here I wouldn't judge, and I have friends who have red shirted spring birthdays for decent reasons (severe health issues and international adoption of an older child) and I know people who have red shirted so their kid is bigger and quote "K is the old 1st grade".