How old were your children when they started kindergarten?

[gohawks50]

We've been arguing about the age of the school shooter in another thread. This thread is just to get an idea of how many students start kindergarten at 6 rather than 5. Please share the age your child started school and their birth month (no need for SS numbers or their mother's maiden name ).

 

[gohawks50]

I don't have kids of my own so I'll share my experience. I was 5 when I started kindergarten and my birth month is August. My brother was 2 years and a day younger than me, but he started school when he was 6 because he was so small along with being my mom's baby.

 

[Mayland]

5. Two oldest had June birthdays so they had just turned 5 as well. Youngest also 5 but February.

 

[HawkeyeGenius]

5

 

[BelemNole]

14

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

6, 6, nearly 6

 

[gohawks50]

5

How many kids?

 

[gohawks50]

6, 6, nearly 6

Were the 6 year olds summer birthdays?

 

[Dr. Phil Seuss]

We've been arguing about the age of the school shooter in another thread. This thread is just to get an idea of how many students start kindergarten at 6 rather than 5. Please share the age your child started school and their birth month (no need for SS numbers or their mother's maiden name ).

Our son was an August Birthday, we started him at 6. Most summer babies here start at 6. It was the right call for him. He wasn’t mature enough and still isn’t. He was either going to be in the 10% of oldest or the 5% of the youngest, so it wasn’t hard for us considering how silly and immature little boys are collectively. Get 3 of them together and they’ll get down to the lowest common denominator within 5 minutes while girls will be civilized.

 

[stillh8unlv]

14

Not when you started, when your child did

 

[gohawks50]

Our son was an August Birthday, we started him at 6. Most summer babies here start at 6. It was the right call for him. He wasn’t mature enough and still isn’t. He was either going to be in the 10% of oldest or the 5% of the youngest, so it wasn’t hard for us considering how silly and immature little boys are collectively. Get 3 of them together and they’ll get down to the lowest common denominator within 5 minutes while girls will be civilized.

Speaking as a former kindergarten teacher that's pretty common especially for boys.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Were the 6 year olds summer birthdays?

Late summer

 

[The-Dude-Abides]

Ours will both be 5 (winter-ish birthdays) barring some unforeseen reasons to delay. I was 6 (summer birthday).

 

[hawkbirch]

Both girls were 5. January and April birthdays. If they were boys, we would have redshirted them and started at 6.

 

[3boysmom]

I and both of my brothers started at 5. 1 July and 2 August birthdays. Myself and my younger brother are the August birthdays and we both graduated at/near the top of our class. Never discipline issues. My boys all started at 5 and are 2 October birthdays and 1 April birthday. Our youngest is the April birthday and our friends were flabbergasted that we didn't hold him back. Why would I hold him back? I can understand the late summer birthdays although I probably still would have sent them. They held back both of their boys and had no better outcomes in any way. And I was ready to ship them off when they turned 18, knew it all, and thought they were adults so they should be able to do what they wanted. Lord help me if I would have had to deal with that for a year and a half.

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

Two no pic daughters. July and November birthdays. Both went at 5, one almost the youngest in her class and the other on the older side.

No difference in outcome here.

I was an early starter myself…was 4 with a September birthday. I don’t regret it looking back although I took my lumps in sports when a lot of the other boys growth spurted before me. Oh well - it’s not like I was going to be a pro athlete anyway.

 

[General Tso]

August b day. 5 the first go round, but we had him repeat this year. Academically he was fine, but socially still in preschool.

 

[InsaneHawkJJP]

6 July
5 November
6 July
5 February

My no pic is an early childhood teacher and thought it was best to wait on the 2 July birthdays. Both are late July and I disagreed on both, but was overruled because that’s her wheelhouse.

 

[luvmyhawks]

5 - april
5 - july
4 - September.

The 4 year old is currently in 8th and should be in 7th. A bit of a point of contention between my wife and I. I wanted to wait, but she won. She is small but certainly holds her own. Would have been a standout as a 7th grader.

 

[Hawkman98]

5-may

 

[TJ8869]

14

 

[TJ8869]

One of my daughters is a January birthday and she started at 5. The other three are all July birthdays and they all started at 6. I felt like they were ready at 5 but TBW insisted they wait a year so they would be one of the oldest in their grade rather than one of the youngest.

 

[bojihawk44]

Daughter is currently 3 and an April birthday. Not sure how it's all going to shake out. She's smart enough and big enough to start K at 5, but I really don't want her to be 17 her whole senior year.

 

[gohawks50]

Daughter is currently 3 and an April birthday. Not sure how it's all going to shake out. She's smart enough and big enough to start K at 5, but I really don't want her to be 17 her whole senior year.

Being one of the youngest in my class didn't bother me until almost everyone else had their driver's license.

 

[cfbfan23]

5, but he turned 6 a few months later after school started.

 

[bojihawk44]

Being one of the youngest in my class didn't bother me until almost everyone else had their driver's license.

I hear ya, but my biggest concern is sports. We'll see.

 

[artradley]

4
5

 

[artradley]

Daughter is currently 3 and an April birthday. Not sure how it's all going to shake out. She's smart enough and big enough to start K at 5, but I really don't want her to be 17 her whole senior year.

My son was 17 when he started college. Everyone holds their kids now, and if we were to do it again I would have held him. He wasn’t merely the youngest in his class, he was the youngest by a long shot.

 

[ISUBryce]

We started our two summer birthdays at 6. Statistically outcomes are better for kids when they wait and I’m no expert so I play the odds.

 

[DeangeloVickers]

We've been arguing about the age of the school shooter in another thread. This thread is just to get an idea of how many students start kindergarten at 6 rather than 5. Please share the age your child started school and their birth month (no need for SS numbers or their mother's maiden name ).

No, the real question is how many of you had children turn 7 by December of their kindergarten year. That's the point being argued in the other thread that the OP is avoiding mentioning.

 

[thewop]

My wife, kids, and I were all 5.

Considered holding one back, but didn't want to strip him of a year of earning power/capital gains at the other end of his schooling and life.

Kids who are in the younger half of their class tend to catch up within a few years, and many don't lag behind at all. 6-8 months is a big difference in Kindergarten, not so much by 7th grade.

For sports/physical activities kids are better off being in the top half of their grade, but outside school it's all done by birth date anyway, so if sports is your concern...it's maybe not as critical as it once was.

 

[QChawks]

Oldest = 5 (May birthday)
Youngest = 4 (September birthday)

pluses and minuses starting them early, although both have done great in school.

It’s really weird for my youngest as he typically plays against kids a grade younger when he plays travel sports. But he’s bigger than most of the kids anyway.

 

[Derekd3408]

6. June 23rd Bday.

 

[gohawks50]

No, the real question is how many of you had children turn 7 by December of their kindergarten year. That's the point being argued in the other thread that the OP is avoiding mentioning.

I didn't talk about the specifics of the argument in this thread because I figured they could look in the shooter thread if they wanted to know. How about you share the ages of yourself or your children's ages starting kindergarten in this thread and we can argue in the other one?

 

[DeangeloVickers]

I didn't talk about the specifics of the argument in this thread because I figured they could look in the shooter thread if they wanted to know. How about you share the ages of yourself or your children's ages starting kindergarten in this thread and we can argue in the other one?

Because you misrepresented the point being argued in the other thread in this one. Again. It's amazing the steps some people will go to avoid conceding a basic point.
Mine were all 5, June, Sept and Nov birthdays.
I've coached hundreds of kids in multiple youth sports for 20+ years and my wife taught in the schools system for just under 10. Neither of us ever had a non held back kid that was earlier than a May birthday, and that was 1 kid for sports reasons. I'm done discussing this with someone unwilling to concede a very simple point.

 

[gohawks50]

Because you misrepresented the point being argued in the other thread in this one. Again. It's amazing the steps some people will go to avoid conceding a basic point.
Mine were all 5, June, Sept and Nov birthdays.
I've coached hundreds of kids in multiple youth sports for 20+ years and my wife taught in the schools system for just under 10. Neither of us ever had a non held back kid that was earlier than a May birthday, and that was 1 kid for sports reasons. I'm done discussing this with someone unwilling to concede a very simple point.

Fine with me. I hope you feel better. You and I have given anecdotes of our experiences. Turning 7 in kindergarten is not rare. Turning 7 before Christmas for first time kindergartners is rare, but does happen.

The main point I've been attempting to make is the shooter's age itself is not an automatic red flag because she is older even if she was held back. I have no doubt that there were red flags for this student, but her age alone is not one.

 

[artradley]

Turning 7 in kindergarten is not rare.

I have to disagree with this one. That has to be awfully rare. You do see a handful of kids graduating at 19; but I believe that usually involves being held back a year at some point.

 

[stanzithemanzi12]

6 years and almost 9 months.

 

[gohawks50]

I have to disagree with this one. That has to be awfully rare. You do see a handful of kids graduating at 19; but I believe that usually involves being held back a year at some point.

I guess it depends on your definition of rare. @bojihawk44 liked your post, but he is considering waiting until 6 to enroll his child with an April birthday. If he does so she will turn 7 during her kindergarten year.

 

[Old_wrestling_fan]

Our son was an August Birthday, we started him at 6. Most summer babies here start at 6. It was the right call for him. He wasn’t mature enough and still isn’t. He was either going to be in the 10% of oldest or the 5% of the youngest, so it wasn’t hard for us considering how silly and immature little boys are collectively. Get 3 of them together and they’ll get down to the lowest common denominator within 5 minutes while girls will be civilized.

Similar to us. ^^ We started our oldest as a "young" 6, birthday in late May, but was born 2 months premature, so he really should have been born in late July. He was very ready emotionally and academically to start when 5, but was pretty small physically.

We relied on the advice of a friend of ours that was a school counselor...in short, if you're on the fence about a boy starting school and he is small for his age...wait a year. He had seen way too many kids in Jr High as "customers" that had started young/small and then had a bad experience related to that and a few years later...they hate school, etc. We never regretted it.

Our youngest was an "old" 5, BD in November.