Redshirting your Kindergartner

Redshirting kindergartners is something that realy intrigues me.

I wouldn't go so far as to say we planned for our kids to have fall birthdays. Planning has never been my forte, even when it came to having kids. But I did hope that we would have kids who had fall birthdays -- for the very reason that they would be the oldest kids in their classes.

I had a bajillion different reasons for that -- it would give them more time to master the ABC's before heading off to Kindergarten. In the long run, looking ahead to high school and all the nightmares that it offers, our kids would (hopefully) be among the more mature students in their classes.

But all these people who are "redshirting" their kids are just throwing it all off -- and I can't say I blame them one bit. My friends who have taught say that while a very young Kindergartner might be able to handle the first couple of years of school okay, the problems really begin to show up in 4th or 5th grade -- when they're the least mature kids in their classes. This is supposedly more a "boy" thing than a "girl" thing.

I've had a couple of friends along the way who didn't redshirt their summer-birthday boys, and ended up holding them back in 1st or 2nd grade when school became just too much for them. I can totally see that. Kindergarten isn't the Kindergarten we all knew -- Kaitlyn's already covered all that. Kindergarten is writing stories and learning fractions and doing science research papers. YIKES!

So now that Kaitlyn is about to start Kindergarten -- with a September 17 birthday, no less -- she's likely to be nowhere near the oldest in her class. She could very well be in the middle somewhere. In the long run, it's a good thing I'm not a planner!