I have a late summer boy. He is ready for kindergarten but I have the flexibility and ability to gift him another year of play in pre-K. He can be a bit shy and wonder if this will help in his later years. Any feedback on how you handled this situation?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/upshot/boys-kindergarten-redshirting.html

I have a late September boy (our district has a 9/30 cutoff) and we held him back. It was absolutely the right decision for him and I like the fact he won’t start college at 17.

I got feedback from every adult in his life, but the pediatrician put it best when he said that no one regrets an extra year of childhood.

Good luck with your decision - whatever you decide will be the right one.

My son's an August birthday. Before deciding whether to move him forward to kindergarten when he technically could go, I asked every teacher in my life that I knew. They ranged from elementary school teachers to high school and even one who taught in college. They all said to hold him back one year, which we did without regrets. Academically, he probably would have been fine. But socially, it's been a good decision. People have mentioned that there's a big difference when you notice kids who are a year apart in high school and even college.

I was an October baby. Academically I was ready for kindergarten so my parents sent me. Socially it was not a good decision for me. Even through college, I was always closer to friends who were a year behind me. Trust your instincts.

Mine will be early Sept baby, and I'm already planning to keep him back if the option exists come kindergarten time.

I kept my oldest son back when the school recommended it and it was great for him (October bday). He would have struggled in the older class if we wouldn’t have. He was also a shy kid and needed more time to develop socially, so the extra year really helped him.

With my youngest (also October bday), the school didn’t say anything and we left him as is. He’s the youngest in his class now but doing amazing. He’s generally a social butterfly and naturally makes a lot of friends. I think it really depends on the kid. If you think he can benefit from it absolutely no harm in keeping him back another year.

My son is a Sep 4 birthday and agree with everyone here. He did two years of pre-k and is now a rising 5th grader and one of the oldest in his class. Had we not done this, he would have been the youngest, just turning 11 this fall when all the other kids are turning 12 in 6th grade. I absolutely think it was the best decision - not only is he excelling academically, but socially as well. And if your kid likes sports, that's a win too bc they often have the added advantage of being older/more mature on the field, or have the opportunity to "play up" and play with the next grade up, if that's how the birthday dates fall for that particular sport -- I look at that as an advantage too, bc then they will get used to playing with older kids if they want to compete for high school teams. My son absolutely loves sports so it's a big deal in our household! He plays tackle football, basketball, and baseball.

Best advice I got was that you won’t regret holding him back a year but you might regret sending him. There’s also a saying to “send girls and hold boys” and while that could never apply to all children it has absolutely been the right call for ours. We held our son (first born) and sent our daughter (second born), both with summer birthdays.

Did not hold back my late July boy and had no regrets about this until middle school when his overall maturity was just not up to the increased workload and academic demands in seventh and eighth grade. After a disastrous freshman year we up sending him to a small all boys school for high school where he did well. He then took a detour into playing junior hockey before college but he is now a successful division one hockey player with a 3.5 average and he is a 21-yr old junior. It’s fine.

Following because my son is also August (he’s not yet 3) and starts preschool in the fall but wondering what I should do for kindergarten!

I can almost guarantee you will not regret holding him back. Much more likely that you may regret not doing it as it is easy now. Much more difficult to navigate later. Although I know ppl who have switched schools and had their son repeat freshman yr of HS.

I have three Summer girl birthdays and I sent them when they were supposed to go as they were on par social and emotionally. My boy is a March birthday so we don’t have this issue, but if he was a summer, I most likely would have held them back since boys tend to mature slower than girls.