When I started kindergarten, I was already 5 years, 8 months old. Had I been born a few months earlier I would have begun kindergarten a year earlier. When you are in your fifth year of life, whether you are barely five or almost six can have an enormous difference in how well you adapt to kindergarten and an even bigger impact on success in youth sports. Because of the difference a year can make in a first grader, some parents choose to hold their kids back and start kindergarten a year later.
Redshirting is the term used to describe when parents decide to delay their child’s entry into kindergarten:
Parents choose to redshirt their child for various reasons, all based on the belief that it sets their child up for greater success.
Redshirting can provide an athletic advantage due to physical maturity. It also gives more time for the child to be ready academically and have more emotional maturity. Finally, being one of the oldest kids in the classroom can provide increased confidence. It is estimated that between 3-7% of children are redshirted, mostly from families with high incomes.
Is redshirting a good idea? Well, that depends. It is a good idea for some kids while not for others. The following are some potential benefits of redshirting, according to the website Choosing Therapy:
- Can boost reading and math scores in the early school years.
- Has a lasting positive effect for economically disadvantaged kids
- Lowers the risk of being held back a grade later
- Allows children born in the summer to be on the older end of their class
- Gives children a chance to grow physically stronger than their peers
- Allows them to mature emotionally and socially
These benefits tend to level out around 3rd grade, however. For a few kids the benefits can last longer. Getting off to a slow start can accumulate as each successive year the child falls farther behind. The benefits are strongest for poor kids, although poor kids are less likely to be redshirted than kids from affluent families. Keeping kids out of school for a year longer often means an additional year of daycare. While redshirting is sometimes recommended for children born in the summer (especially boys) and those who appear immature in preschool, there is hardly any correlation between the children held back for a year and development concerns. Indeed, some research finds that kids whose parents held them back performed better in preschool than many of their peers.
Other research points to problems with being the oldest in a class. The older (often bigger) children were more likely to show aggression and bully other kids. I suppose the risk is whether your small kid is bullied, or a year older and is the bully.
A researcher at Brigham Young University, while trying to decide whether to redshirt her own child born in the summer, concluded:
I also found NO differences at all between the groups in terms of GPA during middle school and high school, whether they were bullied, anxiety level, empathy, self-esteem, shyness, perseverance, or leadership skills.
She found no lasting advantage among people who were not economically disadvantaged, and those whose kids were not developmentally slow. The researcher did not discuss the advantages of athletic redshirting. I suspect that is another reason some families hold back boys. One woman who was redshirted as a child said it harmed her in youth sports because her travel sports league had stricter rules about birthdays and grade levels. She ended up having to play in a league level with other girls who had a year more experience because she was held back and they were not.
A contrary opinion I found on redshirting is that kids are like an information sponge from age 1 to 7, learning easily. Waiting a year to begin their education is wasting a valuable opportunity.
If your kid is developing slower than peers redshirting is an option. For most others, it has no advantages that extends beyond 3rd or 4th grade. In that regard redshirting is like Head Start programs. They too appear to benefit economically disadvantaged kids but exhibit little benefit past 3rd grade for most others.
Read more at:
Choosing Therapy: What Is Redshirting & Reasons Why Parents Do It
Brigham Young University: Should I start my child in Kindergarten this year? – Academic redshirting