Keep him back or let him play on?

Great post and thanks for sharing your story. As a teacher, I often saw dads really reluctant to delay the start of school for their sons or hold them back once they got into school. I don't know exactly why, but I saw moms ready to give their sons an extra year, but for boys... the dads just seemed to struggle with that idea.
I am of the opinion that whatever we can do to help ensure our children have successful experiences, we should do it. Our kids face so many tough things today and the more ready they are to handle them, the greater chance they have for success.
Keep telling your story and maybe others will learn from it!

 

Outstanding post! I'm glad that you decided to share

 

An alternate view

My wife is also a transitional k-garten teacher like Sportsmom above, and I think she would agree 100% w/ Sportsmom - it's all about the whole child, and possible gain of some future sports advantage should be the last thing from any parent's mind at that age.

Our son has a midsummer birthday: he turned 18 barely a month before heading off to college. If that month had instead been a year, I'm not sure which one of us would have survived unscathed.

 

nothing suprises me anymore when it comes to what parents will do for what they think is best for their kid and sports.
moving schools.... etc etc

 

Hold him back

I am speaking from exp.My son would be a senoir in High School instead of a freshmen in college.It had nothing to do with his grades but how mature he is going to college as a 17 year old.Most colleges do not care if he is 17,18,or19 just how good he is. One more year makes a big difference.My son would tell you today he wishes he would have stayed back in the 8th grade.I know some parents who made their son stay back and if I had it to do over I would have to.Just my two cents!

 

Answer this.....

....if you bought a home with an inground pool in the backyard, would you fill it up with dirt so your kid would not drown. (GOD forbid) but for the sake as an example! Or would you keep the water level at 3 ft because he can keep his head above the water the easy way. Or would you teach him to swim?

 

I say think about the child. I have a son who has a mid-September B'day. He started to school on time even though he was physically smaller than his friends. He was mentally ready to go. We were continually asked to let him skip a grade every year until the eighth. We said no because of his size and athletics. Think of how bored he would have been in school if we had held him back.
Would he be better athletically if he was a year older? I don't know. He started his first varsity football game as a 14 yr. old 5'7" 135 lbs. sophomore and the first game this year as a 5'8" 135 lbs. 15 yr. old junior. Not much difference in a year. He still lead the varsity baseball team in Batting Avg as a 14 yr. old freshman and made all conference.
I say think academics first and let athletics fall where they may.

 

To me this is a no-brainer. Definitely hold them back....but only early.

Don't forget the social & academic benefits. Being more mature increases the odds that your child will be a 'leader' instead of a follower. And even if sports aren't his bag, there's alot of college $$ for higher SAT's & GPA's.

Nobody has mentioned this, but if for some reason a held-back kid has to sit out a year of school (sickness...whatever), he would be ineligible his last year of high school.

Also even in high school...kids can transfer to a private school & 're-classify' to gain an extra year. I don't understand this completely, but I know several who have done that locally.

 

I'm not usually in here, but this thread really sparked interest. I agree with you here. As a preschool Head Start teacher, I think you should look at the child and see if it would indeed benefit the child to hold them back. A local school district around here in Kansas likes to hold boys back if they have an April - August birthday. Parents of course have the final option, but I guess the school district feels that boys aren't mature enough to start school if they have birthdays that close to the beginning of the school year. There are boys out there who are quite ready for kindergarten and I wouldn't have any qualms about them starting school, but there are also boys out there who can benefit from an extra year of Pre-K.

I started public school in central Illinois where you had to be 5 before December 1st. Having a late October birthday allowed me to start kindergarten. Personally, I look back and wish my parents would have waited another year especially so I could mature more. I did ok through school educationally. I just would have benefitted from another year in Pre-K before starting kindergarten. BTW, I didn't learn how to drive until right before my junior year instead of my sophomore year. I also was 17 when I graduated from high school and started college.

 

Great info Coops...thanks for visiting. I hope you check in more often.