Waiting for Kindergarten
Here in the U.S., kids must be at least 5 years old to start kindergarten. But, some parents hold their child out of school another year until the child is 6 years old (”redshirting” them, for you non-sports folks). The reasoning is that the child is more mature, will have an easier time keeping up, and won’t be the runt of the class. According to the post, the number of parents who have withheld their child for a year has doubled since 1980.
The initial research to date seemed to back up the theory. It was concluded that children who started a year later ranked 4 to 8 percent higher than the youngest children in both 4th and 8th grades. However, two new studies now contradict this thinking.
The first study looked at the seasonal patterns of when mothers gave birth, and found:
So it turns out those fourth and eighth graders aren’t doing better just because they’re a few months older. They’re doing better because more of them are born to mothers who are affluent, college-educated, married, and white.
Then, the second study really debunked the whole “older kids do better” theory:
It used to be argued that older kindergartners can soak up more from their teachers, learning at a faster rate. Each school year, this tiny advantage compounds. Like the NBER team, Elder and Lubotsky found the driving variable wasn’t how old the kids were, but how prepared the kids were by their preschool, day care, and home environment. The better-prepared kids learned more.
The authors of the second study also noted that the math and reading abilities increased much more quickly once in kindergarten than not during the same time period. Again, it appears one of the biggest factors for success in school is what happens at home.
So, what do you think? Did you hold your child back, and what were the results? Or, did you find any difficulties in sending a younger child to kindergarten?
molly Said,
March 22, 2010 @ 6:24 pm
In some circles, the opposite is desirable–starting a kid early so they have a head-start in life. Both of my inlaws have false birthdays they used to start school one year early. I fail to see the big deal about graduating at 17 instead of 18 or whatever, though.
April Said,
March 22, 2010 @ 7:44 pm
So many parents are stressing about this! FWIW, I started my girls early, and I started early and it was not that big a deal. What my day care providers told me was that they were ready, and they’d be bored if they were to stay in day care for another year so that’s why I chose what I did for my girls.
sandy Said,
March 22, 2010 @ 7:52 pm
My Bean had been five for just a few weeks when kindergarten started, and we did think about waiting another year — but she was reading, already, and we couldn’t imagine keeping her back. Still, we’d have waited, if she hadn’t been up to it socially.
I’m very glad that our town had half-day kindergarten though. She was tired at the end of it, just from all the stimulation. She’d been in a half-day preschool program, and I thought that the larger class, new school, and going from 3 days to 5, plus the bus(!), made for enough changes in her young life. Plus — they’re 5 years old! They have their whole lives to be in school. For us it would have seemed like a mistake to give up that unstructured play time, and for what? To “get ahead”? Get ahead of who — other 5 year olds? Pfffft. It’s not a race.
If she’d had to go all day, it might have been a harder decision. We might have gone to a private half-day program.
Anyway, lots of towns, for lots of reasons, have decided that full day is the way to go. Our district now offers full day K for which parents pay tuition, and has kept “free” half-day as an option. The overwhelming majority of parents chose the full-day program, which surprised me.
fanisse Said,
March 22, 2010 @ 8:26 pm
I don’t see what the big deal is with all day. My three yo currently goes two full days a week. She digs it. We’ll probably kick her up to three days once there’s room. Besides what are we talking about? She’ll be home by three!? OMGZ.
Sounds like you’re the one with the problem.
Alicia Said,
March 22, 2010 @ 8:44 pm
When I moved to California I found it odd that everyone had half day Kindergarten. Where I grew up in Seattle (Shoreline School District), I went to full day, more recently my friend’s kid went to full day. I suppose it depends on where you’re located?
My daughter’s birthday is in the middle of December so we had no choice but to hold her back until the next year. The cutoff for enrollment was sometime in November, she was five, almost six when she finally entered in Kindergarten. She was ready the previous year and I wouldn’t have hesitated. Then again, she soaked up preschool, as she thrives on interaction and learning.
Helene Said,
March 22, 2010 @ 9:56 pm
It’s so simple – be guided by your kid. I’ve known parents who start their kids early and regret it. I’ve know parents who wait a year because some book said they should and who now have incredibly bored 4th graders. You can’t make broad generalizations and say that ALL summer babies need another year or whatever. Different children mature at different rates and you have to do what seems best for your individual child. And these nice new studies show us that whatever choice you make, if you stay involved in your child’s education he/she will be fine in the long run.
catgirl Said,
March 23, 2010 @ 5:49 am
I think it depends on your child. Because of my birthday, I was one of the youngest in my kindergarten class. When I got to middle school and high school, I was taking advanced classes so I was often much younger than my classmates. Throughout school I was always one of the youngest but also always at the top of the class. If you don’t think your kid is ready, then wait a year. If they seem ready, then go ahead and let them start at 5.
Julie Said,
March 23, 2010 @ 7:04 am
I just made sure we live next to an awesome school, and as for the rest, I’m going to roll with it.
When I was a kid, my mom tried to put me one grade ahead. I went to second grade in the morning and came back to first grade in the afternoon. I hated the second grade teacher, so when this little experiment was over, I got to decide what I would do. I decided to stay in my own grade.
But later I regretted it, as the grade ahead of me seemed to have all these ridiculous advantages. For example, the sixth graders got to go to outdoor school, this big camping trip. The class ahead of me was the last to go. The program was cut after that! So I could have gone if I’d jumped a grade.
Later, I went to a magnet high school, and I would have been in the first class to graduate if I’d been one grade ahead. And my best friend was in that class.
So these are the things that are probably important to kids about their grade level. Academically, I did fine and probably would have either way.
Stepan Said,
March 23, 2010 @ 7:34 am
I’d say it really depends on how ready your kid is. I hear some people red-shirt their boys in kindergarten to have a size advantage in athletics later in school (football is big here in Texas).
Our public kindergarten cutoff age is 5 years on Sept 1. Our daughter’s b-day is in October so she was too young for Kindergarten (and would have been bored silly and driven mom crazy if she stayed home another year).
We ended up going with a wonderful private school that meets three days a week. Her class is mixed-grade and has kindergartners and first graders so the ages ranged from 4-6 years. She’s thriving both academically and socially (the latter was a bigger concern for us) but a lot of that has to do with her teachers.
Diane Said,
March 23, 2010 @ 7:34 am
I think it’s easier for girls to do well with early entrance–school seems set up for girls. We started our May birthday boy in kindergarten at the “regular” time. But this year, we had the opportunity to have him repeat 7th grade, and it has been unbelievably great. It is without a doubt one of the best decisions we have ever made. Socially, he so needed to be with slightly younger kids, and to have an extra year before high school. He was changing schools anyway, so the repeated grade was much less painful: none of his peers would know. And, though he is reasonably intelligent, he always felt dumb in his classes. Now he is considered a leader, and the teachers give him extra challenges because he wants them and is ready for them.
Corey Said,
March 23, 2010 @ 8:05 am
I started kindergarten at 4 1/2 years old (this would be in the 70’s) and I skipped grade 5 as well. It ended up I was in grade nine when I was 12. I graduated when I was 16. If anything, this made me a far more mature young man than I would have been otherwise. I saw no harm in this at all, and I lived it.
If possible, our son is going straight into grade one as soon as he’s legally old enough to go. I don’t even see the point of kindergarten. He’s been in full-time pre-school since he was two. Forget ‘redshirt’, I want him to get in, and get out, as early as he can. His real education won’t start until college anyway. He’d be far ahead of his peers if he finished college two years younger.
And the very idea that anyone would even consider school sports in deciding the educational path of a child is asinine. What a disgusting idea. I’d rather my kid get into a good college because he’s smart, instead of because he’s older, dumber and bigger. Yegads, what a waste.
Kristin Said,
March 23, 2010 @ 9:48 am
Around here, “redshirting” is a big deal, and happens often, although it usually has nothing to do with academic maturity but with sports. Parents want the kids to be larger and stronger when they play sports in middle and high school… we need those championship teams of course. I think it’s ridiculous. My son will be going to kindergarten at 5.
sandy Said,
March 25, 2010 @ 6:12 pm
@fanisse – thank you, what a lovely thing to say.
Elizabeth Said,
March 30, 2010 @ 2:13 am
I think that red-shirting makes sense where the curriculum has been modified so that kindergarteners are learning skills that most five and six-year-olds are just beginning to be able to grasp. I live in Europe and have been here off and on for the past 10 years. Children in most countries in Eastern and Western Europe begin school at six or seven, and begin reading at seven or even eight. They end up ahead of our kids.
That is not to imply causation (late starts = better readers). To me it just implies that there is a certain logic behind starting children at six or seven (average cognitive development) and that a couple years’ wait in the beginning does not prevent children from learning all the material by grade 11 or 12.
If I cannot put my children in the local schools at six (readers or not), I may keep them in pre-K longer, if they do not appear to be socially ready for the whole hog at five.
(Though… since my first is an October baby, and tall for her age, she’ll already be one of the oldest, so red-shirting would be unlikely.)
Christine Said,
March 31, 2010 @ 4:04 pm
My daughter was *4* on the first day of kindergarten! However, she had been to preschool the previous year, was wild to ride the bus, and generally seemed ready. She got on that bus without sparing a glance back at her frantically waving mother, and had a blast.
This was 5x/week, 8:30-4 (including bus travel). They did give the kids a nap period toward the end of the day, which IMHO was vital, since they weren’t used to go-go-go all day. But it was fine.
I really think it’s more an individual kid thing than an age thing.
Michael Said,
April 20, 2010 @ 8:48 am
Our son’s birthday is in early November. We send him to a charter school in Culver City/Mar Vista and we have no choice in the matter as kindergarten is two years there. I think he’d be fine if he were to move on to first grade next year, and I think he’ll be fine staying in kindergarten another year. Personally I think that grades are an imposed concept and instill a “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality. If every school independently named all their grades as something other than numbers would it even matter if your kid waited a year to start Olive or jumped over Fuschia to get to Yellow a year earlier? Personally I’m trying my best to instill a love of learning in my kids over manic achievement. They currently have enough to worry about what with the dark and strange noises and all. Right now I’d rather they learn through playing and having fun than school anyway.
Good luck.