<p>My DD is currently in 8th grade public school, her birthday is the last week of August. When she entered kindergarten, the cutoff was you had to be 5 by Sept 1, so she made it with one week to spare.</p>
<p>Many parents, mostly boys but a lot of girls, were held back, with the result that she is the youngest in her class, by 13 or 14 months in some cases.</p>
<p>At the time, we were advised to not hold her back because she was so clearly ready to get out of preschool. But I can see now that she is younger than many of her peers, although I kind of think that is her personality anyway, she is not the type to be 13-going-on-30 at any age.</p>
<p>Now that she will be in BS next year (although as a day student . . .) I am wondering what ages her peers will be. I know other schools have different cutoffs, so perhaps there will be some Sept or Oct birthdays in there.</p>
<p>Just curious as to the birthday cutoff in other areas or types of schools.</p>
<p>My S also has an August birthday, and he is also the youngest in his class. One of the elite private schools in our area has a cutoff of March 30th. Our public school has a cutoff of Sept. 30th, but the vast majority of kids with a summer birthday (even the month of May) wait another year before they start Kindergarten. I know that some public school systems in my state have a cutoff of Aug 1st. Since No Child Left Behind (I recently saw it referred to as No Child Left Untested) many school systems are encouraging parents to wait an extra year before sending their child with a summer birthday to school.</p>
<p>My S is now a 14 year old freshman. We have not regretted the decision, although it has been aggravating for my S sometimes to be competing in sports against kids who are more than a year older.</p>
<p>I’m wondering as well! I’m 12, going on 13, and will have just turned 13 when I enter BS. In my school I am sometimes over 1.5 years younger than my classmates! I feel that in high school, it wont be that big of a deal.</p>
<p>Same here laughalittle my birthday is in May, but I’m the youngest male student at my school. My brothers birthday is on September 20 and our parents had to PUSH for him to be in his grade. He is a over 2 years younger than most of his peers.</p>
<p>Yes! Someone who understands. One of my good friends is almost 3 years older than me. The negative of being the youngest is that everyone us ahead of you. They are doing these things that aren’t appropriate for you to do.</p>
<p>I have an August birthday also, but in my school the cutoff is September 30. I actually have two friends though who were born in the last week of September who are in my grade.</p>
<p>Here it is is end of September. I know in California it is December 2. Our daughter is an October birthday and skipped third grade- she will be 13 when she leaves for school in the fall.</p>
<p>When my daughter started school, the cutoff in the town where we lived was 12/31. She has a mid-November birthday. She now goes to a school in a town that had a 9/1 cutoff, so there are kids a grade below who are older. She has always been a strong student, so there was never a “right” time to hold back a year. She will be starting 9th grade at age 13 (turning 14 in November), and has gotten in to some very competitive schools, but, like you, surfcity, I wonder what it will be like for her to be younger than nearly all her classmates. She’s very bright here, but very bright here is likely to be average bright at Exeter. I’m taking it on faith that if the AO there believed her ready, she is ready. It’s always a delicate balance. Best advice: have your babies in January or February. But too late for most of us!</p>
<p>Surf–I was exactly in your spot 11 years ago. Our public school system (Chicago) has a cut off of Sept 1. My d was born August 25th. I sent her to school and she was really ready. </p>
<p>It is true that many kids, especially the boys were 11.5 months ahead of her (early sept. birthdays). During K-2 grade it was difficult because her fine and gross motor skills were age appropriate, (writing, throwing, etc) yet her intellectual ability was advanced (3 grade reading in K). The school had to group (ability based-grouping) the youngest 6 in their own reading group. They could read their books and they answered their questions on tape or dictated to parent. Her organizational skills were behind for a long time.</p>
<p>Fast forward to present time. Her organization skill are still behind (or will she never be neat–I dont know), but academically and socially she is just fine. There will always be kids like her and they will seek each other out and be fine. </p>
<p>In my d’s class, there are 14 year old to 16 year olds. I think day student or boarder, she will find her nich!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I know there is no easy solution, and I know that someone’s kid has to be the youngest. It’s just frustrating that by having so many people hold their kids back, it creates an “artificial” deadline, so that the teachers end up testing to the “real” ages in their class (often older) rather than what the ages on paper are supposed to be.</p>
<p>I am not too worried, although I think it may be harder in high school when her friends can drive before she can etc. In fact, I was only 50-50 that she would be admitted to Hill, and so I thought if she were declined, I would have her do 9th grade at our public school and then redo freshman year at Hill, if she got in after reapplying.</p>
<p>But luckily she was admitted so I am going to trust the AO and my instincts. One of the reasons we looked at this school is the great student-faculty ratio, so that will be most beneficial for her.</p>
<p>My school’s cutoff date is Dec 1st, but I have honestly not observed any difference in intellectual/athletic ability between anyone- the top athletes and scholars are born as early as December and as late as October</p>
<p>My D’s turns 13 at the end of May and fortunately, Peddie’s AO did not seem to have any issues with that. She has always been very independent though and is accustomed to having classmates up to 1.5 years older. She has assured me that she would be just fine in BS and not to worry at all!</p>
<p>@surfcity Don’t worry! I’m sure your daughter will be fine, and if she does better than her older peers (oxymoron?) she’ll most definitely be even more content with herself.</p>
<p>This is an interesting thread for me to read because I approached school with the opposite mindset. I have a son with a late summer birthday, and kept him “back” even though he was ready academically and physically (he was always big for his age), simply because I thought later was better when it came to being in school all day long–I wanted my little ones spending most of their time playing, not sitting at a desk (of course that was a boy–now I’ve got a little girl who thinks sitting at a desk is as fun as life gets ). And when it came to bs, I guess I was just glad to have another year with him at home. </p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t think it matters much–between kids who skipped grades and those who are repeating their grade , bs kids’ ages vary so widely that I don’t think anyone thinks twice about it. But just wanted to chime in to say that those of us who choose to hold our kids back sometimes do it because we want to delay the race a bit, not because we want to create superstars.</p>
<p>I have an early December birthday and where I grew up the cut-off was September 1. Therefore my parents decided to not hold me back (I was actually begging to get out of kindergarten because it was so boring) and let me test into a private school. After I took the test, the principal even encouraged me to skip ahead to 2nd grade because of my test results, but my parents decided I was already too young so I entered the 1st grade that year. Right now I am 13 going on 14, and I am much much younger than some of my peers. It has never really mattered that much to me though, and I don’t think my actions or choices really reflect my age because I’ve gone to school with people older than me for the past eight years. :)</p>
<p>I considered the driving issue and for my bs student it is a non-issue, we live in a big city and do the driving, no extra car. </p>
<p>We are considering a gap year since my d will be young going to college. I am trying to show her that she should enjoy being a teen. Once you finish school you are a working adult the rest of your life.</p>
<p>I’ve already posted on this, but I wanted to contribute more:</p>
<p>I was born in June of 1998. That’s already a late birthday. I read early and was intellectually ahead of many of my peers. My teacher suggested that I try to skip a grade. So I took a day to visit a school, and tried a day in first grade. The teacher there told me that I was already ready for second grade. I spent two months in first grade (to finish the year), before jumping to second grade. I have to say, being younger than your peers when you are a child is hard. I faced a lot of “discrimination”, because I was 4 and they were 6 and 7. In second grade, I was only 5 years old, and pushed to my limits. At 5, you are napping and playing with blocks. I was learning cursive. Soon I realized that wasn’t the school for me, and repeated second grade to close the age gap a bit at another school. Many of my friends are now a full two years older than I am, with the youngest in my grade still being 8 months older. It doesn’t matter too much anymore, but I feel that in high school I will realize everything that I won’t be able to do. Some of my classmates will have driver’s permits or have gone to college parties before. I’ll be a naive 13-year-old. That is the downside to being younger than your classmates.</p>
). And when it came to bs, I guess I was just glad to have another year with him at home. </p>