Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy red-shirting of gifted kids

CFK, a lot of people have told me how much they benefited from the "gift of an extra year." I totally agree with you, however, especially if the child is already academically advanced and/or gifted. Maybe it's better for ND children, but if a kid is already ahead, being around even YOUNGER children for a whole year while they learn nothing isn't going to help them mature. They'll mature at their own rate regardless of what grade they are in, so you have to ask are you holding them back for THEIR good or the good of the teacher/other students? They might as well be learning while they mature if you ask me. I do know that some people really worry about their children being ostracized socially b/c of immature behaviors. We found that even the younger children are not accepting of behavior that is highly emotional or of children who frequently are being reprimanded. It's a tough decision, but like I said, if I had it to do over again, I'd choose not to repeat.

My experience, in the three different states in which we've lived, is that it is standard advice for teachers to suggest you redshirt boys with summer birthdays. I've heard this advice offered basically without regard to the actual child the teacher is talking about, and more in regard to their opinion that virtually all boys are socially immature at that age. But that really isn't the case, and I think the advice is way over-used. Sure there are boys that are socially immature, and arguably more boys than girls in this situation. But this is too often used as a blanket statement.

My DS11 has an end-of-July birthday and we sent him at 5 and he did great. My DS(almost 6) was ready for K last year in every way, but we knew they'd never consider early admittance for a BOY with a November birthday, so we didn't pursue it. But as time for K approached we realized at that point that he really did need to be in 1st grade. So he ended up skipping K. He's no more immature than others.

The range of kids' academic and social maturity is so vast in any classroom, that I would hesitate to question your own parental judgement. Maybe see if you can visit a K class where your son would be going to school and see for yourself what the range of emotional maturity is at the beginning of K.

Personally, I think redshirting is a mistake even for most non-gifted kids (summer birthday boys included) within the framework of the current public education system, which tends to discourage advancement beyond age group, and I find "socially mature enough for kindergarten" to be an oxymoron.

As a practical matter, in a typical public school, while it's easy to hold back it can be very difficult to be allowed a grade skip, even to get back to the child's original age group, let alone to accelerate above that.

Mostly, I would not want to sacrifice my child's academic progress, sow the seeds for underachievement, and have him graduate a year later from high school merely to make some kindergarten teacher's job easier. Moreover, I'd rather give the child the opportunity to rise to the occasion - it's hard to predict when huge leaps in development will occur.

An article:
http://www.naecs-sde.org/STILL_Unacceptable_Trends_in_Kinderg.pdf

Here's a related thread: http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....mic_red_shirting_are_they.html#Post44250

that's my two cents

IMHO, if boys who are old enough for school are often/regularly/usually too "socially immature" for school, then the yardstick for measuring what constitutes social immaturity is the problem, not the boys.

All kids are different and all that, but if school is going to be arranged by 12-months of age per grade, without flexibility for grade-skipping and/or subject acceleration or for kids having trouble to be held back without stigma, then the social demands of school need to work for the maturity level of kids who are within that age range.

Sorry, but I always find myself getting a wee bit huffy over this subject because I generally think red-shirting is silly at best and is indicative of problems with our current system at worst.

TOTALLY agree. I think it's sad that some kids get shamed their first year of school and get pigeon holed as a behavior problems. When in reality, their behavior is age appropriate. I think this is an issue for all kids, not just GT kids.

I understand why people make this choice, when faced with a structured, all day kindergarten program with a young, squirmy boy.

kimck - it is sad that some kids get pigeon holed as behavior problems starting in K. And it's especially hard when a girl acts the way a lot of boys do - seems to be more acceptable from boys.

True! We had an interesting K class. I expected my Oct 20 boy to be one of the oldest in his class. Not at all! The oldest child in our class had turned 6 in April.

And totally agree on the girl angle too. We had a girl in my son's kindergarten class that was right in there visiting with the principal on a regular basis. I have a daughter that could easily be in that situation this year in an all day kindergarten (summer birthday). She is sometimes perfectly behaved. But if she can find a partner in crime, she might hop right into that.