Red-shirting: Examining the New Trend of Holding School-aged Children Back a Year

Jimmy will be five years old in July, and makes the cut-off to start kindergarten in the fall. The cut-off for his district happens to be September 31, so he falls well within that guideline. His mother, however, feels strongly about holding Jimmy out of kindergarten for an extra year to give him more time to mature academically, emotionally, and socially. This means that Jimmy will be six when he starts kindergarten and almost nineteen by the time he graduates from high school.

This trend of holding five year olds back from starting kindergarten (known as "red-shirting") really got started about fifteen years ago and has grown significantly since that time. Middle to upper class parents of boys are the ones most like to make this decision. Some parents are even starting their children in kindergarten at almost seven years of age. Here are the most common reasons for red-shirting:

1. Parents choose to hold their child back from Kindergarten because their child is a boy.

Even experts agree that boys are at least six months behind girls developmentally. Some parents feel their son will have more of an even playing field academically if he starts kindergarten at age six instead of age five. Also, younger boys have a shorter attention span and are sometimes unable to focus and sit for the longer periods of time required in today's kindergartens.

2. Parents choose to hold their child back from Kindergarten because they want him/her to do better at athletics.

Some parents feel that if they wait an extra year to start their child, he or she will be bigger during the high school years and better able to compete athletically. Many educators view this as a very poor reason to hold back a child from school if he/she would otherwise be ready. The parents often feel that they would have done better if they had started later, or that their child would have more of a chance to secure college scholarships for sports if given an extra year of growth.

3. Parents choose to hold back their child back from Kindergarten because they do not have the necessary academic readiness.

Kindergarten is far more academic now than even ten or fifteen years ago. Children are often expected to enter school knowing the alphabet, counting, writing their names, and more. Some experts suggest that parents send their child to kindergarten on time and do activities with them at home to build fine motor skills and pre-reading skills.

4. Parents choose to hold their child back from Kindergarten because they do not have the necessary social or emotional skills.

Some children have not been to preschool or been in group settings of any kind before the kindergarten experience, and parents worry that they will not fit in, and that an extra year of maturing may help them. Experts agree that children in this category will easily adjust to the social demands of a group setting and holding them out for this reason will actually do more harm than good. Parents of preschool age children who do not have their child in a formal pre-kindergarten setting may want to consider enrolling their child in group lessons of some sort such as swimming or gymnastics. This also helps children to develop emotional readiness by learning to separate from their parents for a short space of time.

Before making the final decision on whether or not to hold a child back, parents need to consider the bigger picture. Seek feedback from the family pediatrician or the child's preschool teachers. Ask whether or not the child will be much older or younger than the rest of the children in his/her class (this is a big factor on fitting in socially). Make sure the child is being held back for the right reasons.

Parents truly know their children best. With the current red-shirting trend, it will not be uncommon for children aged nineteen to still be in high school. Many parents make this decision solely based on the question: "Would you rather your child have an extra year of childhood, or an extra year as an adult?" Educators, however, largely feel that a child should enter kindergarten the year he or she makes the cut-off, and that 99% of children are ready by that time.