Cutting the Umbilical Cord

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

Those parents are also the ones who insist on having their child repeat kindergarten because (and only because) when the mom was in school she also had a late birthday and didn't get her permit, liscense, first date whatever when all of her friends did.

I agree with this and that it's a pain to get your license last and I would prevent my child from being in that position. However, I would do so by just holding the kid back from going to kindergarten for a year. Can't they do that where you are?

We had to be 5 by September 1 to start kindergarten. If you weren't (ex, if your BD was Sept 3) tough - you did not start. I know some schools still do Feb 1, which I think is way stupid. When was this girl's birthday?

[AlphaFrog]

Mariana's birthday is Oct 11, and the current cutoff is Oct 16th. It will probably change by the time she gets into school, but if it doesn't we're going to have a decision to make, on whether she should start when she's 4 or 5. If she continues advancing cognitively at her current rate, we'll probably go ahead and start her at 4...but like I said, we probably won't even have the choice by then.

[alum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I agree with this and that it's a pain to get your license last and I would prevent my child from being in that position. However, I would do so by just holding the kid back from going to kindergarten for a year. Can't they do that where you are?

We had to be 5 by September 1 to start kindergarten. If you weren't (ex, if your BD was Sept 3) tough - you did not start. I know some schools still do Feb 1, which I think is way stupid. When was this girl's birthday?

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Mariana's birthday is Oct 11, and the current cutoff is Oct 16th. It will probably change by the time she gets into school, but if it doesn't we're going to have a decision to make, on whether she should start when she's 4 or 5. If she continues advancing cognitively at her current rate, we'll probably go ahead and start her at 4...but like I said, we probably won't even have the choice by then.

I am not fond of this trend of pushing the mandatory cut-off earlier and earlier in the school year. Every state has different cut-off ages. Some areas even have cut-off ages determined by town/city school systems.

My area's cut was January 1st so there were lots of 4y9m's in my class. You also could have your child tested if the child missed the birthdate. I would say at least the top 10 kids of my hs class should have technically graduated a year later. They weren't socially inept nor were they immature.

It never dawned on me until I had our first child in the month of September and heard that the cut where we were living at the time was 1 October, other states were even earlier and that this kiddo might miss the cut-off. Quite frankly, 3 years of AMI Montessori was plenty and did not need a 4th year of preschool. Luckily our next assignment was to CA were the cut was 1 December. I made sure the second child was born in the spring so we wouldn't go through this rigamarole again.

The late license wasn't an issue for our late-birthday child. The only thing it affected was that she couldn't have paid employment as a rising junior since she wasn't 16 that summer.

If you want a young child to go to kindergarten and 1st grade when they have missed the cut-off, find a good private school. Many public systems have their hands tied in terms of age waivers but privates can be a little more flexible. My youngest niece has a November b'day. I don't know what strings my sister will pull, but I would be very surprised if that child isn't starting kindergarten at 4y, 10m.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by alum

I am not fond of this trend of pushing the mandatory cut-off earlier and earlier in the school year. Every state has different cut-off ages. Some areas even have cut-off ages determined by town/city school systems.

Umm, to my knowledge ALL cut-offs are determined by the school system, not the state. Everyone I was talking about in my example went to school in Pennsylvania and all their cut-offs were different.

My mom was double promoted (I realize this is back in horse and buggy days) from I think 4th to 6th grade because her grades were so good. They weren't by the time she was in high school. Lots of kids that are super smart or mature when they're younger tend to, umm, level out when they get older. Not to mention, if you're talking about a boy, they reach their physical maturity later than girls as a rule and starting them to school early can really come back and bite them during adolescence (when they're 5 feet tall and their friends are all 6 feet).

Honestly, what's the hurry??

[Glitter650]

Originally Posted by alum

It never dawned on me until I had our first child in the month of September and heard that the cut where we were living at the time was 1 October, other states were even earlier and that this kiddo might miss the cut-off. Luckily our next assignment was to CA were the cut was 1 December.
The late license wasn't an issue for our late-birthday child. The only thing it affected was that she couldn't have paid employment as a rising junior since she wasn't 16 that summer.

.

I don't know about now... but back when I started school in CA, the cut off was Sept sometime because everyone with Sept B-days were the youngest in the class, and I, with my Dec. b-day was one of the oldest. They gave my mom the option to let me start earlier, but she didn't want me to be like THE youngest person for my grade and do EVERYTHING after everyone else. I didn't mind being on the olderside actually.

[ForeverRoses]

I think like everything, it really depends on the child. My son starts kindergarten in 2 weeks- he just turned 5 in July. His school's age cut-off is August 1st, so he will more than likely be the youngest in his class. However, when we mentioned to both his preschool teacher and his pediatrician that we were considering holding him back a year, both of them told us to seriously reconsider.

Why? Because my son tends to pick up on concepts fairly quickly and as his preschool teacher said- he has already mastered everything he needs to know in preschool. Holding him out another year would just make him really bored at preschool. And boys when they are bored tend to act out and not listen- and kids that act out and don't listen can very easily be labeled as ADHD or ADD.

My Ped. said she sees more and more kids being brought in to see her because a teacher has suggested ADD or ADHD when in fact, they are just bored and acting out.

So yes, when he is in middle school, he might not go through puperty at the same time as his friends, but some kids are late bloomers and some are early. We won't know until we get there!

[Still BLUTANG]

my b-day was always during the 1st week of school (in august) but i was never the youngest kid in class. i think we had people with b-days as late as mid-january... so maybe back in the day the cutoff was feb 1? or maybe more people "skipped" grades back then?

[alum]

If the parents have the right to hold their kids back for a year even if the birthdate is before the cutoff, parents should also have the right to have their slightly too-young kids tested for kindergarten readiness.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by 33girl

When was this girl's birthday?

Aug. 17th.

The thing is that the mom faught relentlessly with the principal. There was no reason to hold her back accept for that. When the principal blantantly refused, she moved and changed school districts.

I just wish the girl would grow up. Her parents are going to die eventually and probably before her...what is she going to do then?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

Aug. 17th.

The thing is that the mom faught relentlessly with the principal. There was no reason to hold her back accept for that. When the principal blantantly refused, she moved and changed school districts.

I just wish the girl would grow up. Her parents are going to die eventually and probably before her...what is she going to do then?

oh, well then, that is stupid. I was thinking of one of my sisters whose 21st BD wasn't till Feb of her senior year. then again, not being Pgh native born, it seems like some of the schools around here are much looser w/ early starts & double promotions than the schools where I grew up in hick-land.