By: Jamie Peters
Updated: August 19, 2015
Originally Published: March 18, 2015
Leaving the hospital with your newborn can feel like an overwhelming challenge. Picture this: hours of aimless wandering around your home, gazing at the pristine nursery and the brightly colored play mats, all while wondering what on earth you’re supposed to do next. Each morning, your heart races as you instinctively reach for your phone to call the NICU for an update, breathing a sigh of relief only after hearing that your little one is doing well.
So, why am I sharing this? Well, we reside in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where the cutoff date for kindergarten enrollment is September 1. Had our daughter been born on her due date, she would have missed that deadline entirely. This led to the big question: should we redshirt her, or let her start school on time?
Given her rocky start, you might think the decision would be straightforward. However, it wasn’t as simple as it appeared. She may have been small, but she was feisty and confident—small in stature but large in spirit, and academically ready. Sure, she displayed a bit of separation anxiety, but so did some peers who were nearly a year older than her. Ultimately, her tenacity, evident from day one, influenced our choice. Just a month after her fifth birthday, we sent our daughter off to school, making her the youngest in her class.
I remain convinced we made the right choice. Now in seventh grade, she thrives socially and academically. Yet, a twinge of guilt lingers. When I see her grapple with math problems or walk alongside friends who tower over her, I can’t help but ponder what might have been. Fortunately, a recent study published in the Journal of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology offers some reassurance. It found that delaying school entry by a year doesn’t necessarily lead to improved academic outcomes for either pre-term or full-term children, and may even contribute to lower performance as they grow older.
“Many parents insist that pre-term kids should be held back, especially those born in the summer,” noted co-author Amy Richards. “However, our findings indicate that missing out on a year of learning correlates with poorer performance on standardized tests at age eight for both pre-term and full-term children.”
What a relief! Of course, redshirting is a personal decision for each family, but while I may still feel guilty about the occasional Pop Tart for breakfast, at least I can rest easy on this front. I might have different feelings when she heads off to college in five years, though.
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In summary, the choice to redshirt your child is significant, but recent research suggests that starting school on time may be the better option, regardless of a child’s birth date.
Keyphrase: Redshirting in kindergarten
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