In sports lingo, “redshirting” is holding college athletes out of competition for a year (usually their freshman year) to extend their eligibility.
In mom-speak, “redshirting” is all about the choice to send, or not send a child to kindergarten.
I’ve elected to “redshirt” Dylan, at least for now.
He turned five 3 weeks ago, and while he is eligible to go to Kindergarten – children must be 5 by Sept. 1 in Texas— he would be one of the youngest in his class. Granted, someone has to be the youngest, but do you really want it to be your child? Part of me says that's just the way his birthday worked out, yet I can see that Dylan does act younger than some of his would-be classmates. Plus, his fine motor skills aren't as advanced as others. So, for now, I’ve decided not to simply “hold him back” but I’m giving him “the gift of time” – I wonder what marketing genius came up with that one?
So while many of his friends started kindergarten today, next week, Dylan will go to “junior kindergarten.” This class is specially geared for children with summer birthdays who aren’t yet ready to enter full-day kindergarten (about 2 hours less time spent in the classroom per day). At the end of this school year, he could go to kindergarten, or, if we decide he’s ready, jump straight to first grade.
So I’ve bought myself a year… for now.
This decision is the one I’ve questioned more than any in my parenting career. Do I send him down a slippery slope of social development if he’s intellectually ready but socially not as mature? Or do I risk that he’ll be bored out of his ever-developing skull in kindergarten NEXT year since he can read words like “lifeguard” and knows all of his states and capitals?
As I investigated, I started asking directors of these pre-kindergarten programs when parents elected to hold kids back. I was FLOORED to learn that some parents who have children born as early in the year as February or March elect to hold them out of school. The other thing I quickly learned is that boys are held back more often than girls, especially because they can be slower to mature.
I would be naïve to think that in football-crazy Texas, athletic considerations don’t play any part in the decision of to enroll or not to enroll, and some parents have flat out told me so much, which floors me again.
It would help if there a national guideline. If we were still living in Missouri, Dylan would NOT go to Kindergarten – the cutoff is August 1. If we eventually move to, say, California, Dylan will be old man of the class as the cutoff there is December 2. So I’m left to make these decisions and hope they are the best ones. Get back to me when he’s 18, and perhaps I can tell you if it was the right one…