I am trying to decide whether to start my daughter this school year or hold her out another year. She has a late August birthday and has multiple, severe food allergies. Academically she is very ready, but socially I think she is behind and I am not sure she is ready to handle the responsiblity on her own. The school has been cooperative with us but we are trying to weigh out the benefits and negatives to holding her out. There seems to be more positives for keeping her out another year.
What are some of your opinions and experiences on starting school if your child's birthday falls in August or September? With severe food allergies would it be too much of a negative to be the youngest in the class? Is one more year going to make that much difference in maturity? Do you feel like you made the right decision by sending them on or keeping them out?
Hi,
One of my good friends has a daughter who turns 5 on August 8th. She has been trying to figure out the answer to this question the past few years. Then the school made a policy that the child had to be 5 by August 1st. So she did not make the cut off.
But before that they had decided to send her to one more year in pre-school. The parents felt that it would be better NOT to be the youngest child, socially, educationally, and even down the road in sports, extra activities, etc.... They would rather her be older and more mature, then younger.....
I know this is a child by child question. I know we are struggling with our little boy who has a May birthday. I have heard to go both ways with him.
Good Luck!!
Our daughter's birthday was the cut off day. We sent her because we felt it could be a buffer year if she got sick. We are still not comfortable with the decision. I know it was hard on her when she was so much younger than everyone. Would the teacher be honest with you? They know in the first week or so if she is going to be able to handle the social side of things. Personally, I think she would have benefited from another year of half day pre-school. My husband sees the "progress made in the year."
We didn't think we would have to worry about it with our second. Her birthday is 2 1/2 weeks later-then we got the new dates and she is one day inside the cut off. I do not think we will start her that year, we will wait. She is a 'younger soul,'
even though I think educationally she is ahead of where her sister was at this age.
I have four kids all in school now. Luckily Ryan was one of the older ones in his class because of his November birthday.
If he was an August baby, it is highly likely I would have held him back because of his PA. Being one of the older kids was definitely to his advantage.
I have a June 28th baby, he just turned 4, but I do think next year I will be sending him to Kindergarten(he is milk and egg allergic...plus a couple other foods). If they are ready, they are ready. One option I thought about trying was to do 1/2 day K, then if the year is just difficult, I can re-enroll him into full day the following year, if not, he can go onto 1st grade. But you know your child, I wouldn't hold her back just because of her allergies, if she is ready, then let her go [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
if not, take advantage of an extra year.
edit, our cut off is Oct 15th...so end of June isn't so bad, if the cut off was Aug, then I think I would wait.
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Chanda(mother of 4)
Sidney-8 1/2(beef and chocolate, grasses, molds, weeds, guinea pig & asthma)
Jake-6 1/2(peanut, all tree nuts, eggs, trees, grasses, weeds, molds, cats, dogs, guinea pig & eczema & asthma)
Carson-4 (milk, soy, egg, beef and pork, cats, dog, guinea pig and EE)
Savannah-1 1/2 (milk and egg)
[This message has been edited by chanda4 (edited July 22, 2007).]
Our daughter has an early August birthday and K was too much for her. She changed schools and instead of going to 1st we put her into K again.
No regrets. Good move. She fit right in and did fine instead of having to "catch up" all of her life. Mostly maturity wise. Academically she was way above her peers but maturity wise no way.
Peg
DS will be starting K at 4 1/2. His birthday is in November and the cutoff here is December 2, so he makes the cutoff by less than 2 weeks.
His good friend who is 2 weeks older will probably wait another year, but I just can't see having DS wait. He already did a Kindergarten class in his private preschool and is begging me to send him to first grade. If he can't go to first grade, he told me he would settle for medical school [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
I would say that this decision can only be made on a case-by-case basis. You know your child best, listen to your instincts.
Cathy
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Mom to 8 yr old PA/TNA daughter and 4 yr old son who is allergic to eggs.
Our cut off date is Sept. 1. DS's birthday is Sept. 13. I just knew he would be the oldest in his class in K. Wrong! Fully half the class was older than him becuase of waiting to start or holding back the summer birthday kids. If your DD is in any way immature I would consider waiting to start. If you start her now, there is a chance there will be kids a full year older than her in her class who had summer birthdays and did wait to start.
Rebekah
Here are some interesting articles on this topic:
[url="http://naecs.crc.uiuc.edu/position/trends2000.html"]http://naecs.crc.uiuc.edu/position/trends2000.html[/url]
[url="http://www.kidsource.com/education/red.shirting.html"]http://www.kidsource.com/education/red.shirting.html[/url]
[url="http://www.journal.naeyc.org/btj/200309/DelayingKEntry.pdf"]http://www.journal.naeyc.org/btj/200309/DelayingKEntry.pdf[/url]
Cathy
[This message has been edited by Momcat (edited July 23, 2007).]
DS is an October baby. Our cutoff is December, so he started K at 4, almost 5. I had been warned by some that he wouldn't be ready, but my gut told me that it was the right thing to start him right away. And I was right, in that he had some issues that I wasn't aware of that needed to be addressed, and would not have been for another full year if we had waited. I don't think he would have been any more ready the following year, either.
But I do understand the argument for waiting, and I see nothing wrong with it, but it would not have been the right choice in our case.
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[url="http://www.the3day.org/boston07/deedaigle"]http://www.the3day.org/boston07/deedaigle[/url]
My DS' birthday is Sept 25 and I held him for another year. He's starting K this year. You asked about maturity over a year and HOLY COW, he's matured so much that people are commenting. I couldn't imagine what we would've gone through, but I was in the same position you are in. Here's what made me decide to keep him home:
- I wanted him to have the confidence to say no to people, and he didn't have that last year.
- Many people that sent their child early/on time said that realized in 2nd or 3rd grade that is was a mistake. They found a huge maturity jump later, AFTER they made their friends. Many have their children in services, like reading help, because they're just a little behind.
- I don't want my DS to be last to drive, get a job, etc.. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
My DS also gets speech, and his therapist said...If you hold your child back, just make sure he's getting more schooling than the year before. So, my DS started with 2 day (3 hrs) Pre-K at 3, 3 day (3 hrs) at 4, and 5 day (3 hrs) at 5. It's worked really well for us and he's really ready to start.
HTH! Good luck with your decision! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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