What is your school's cutoff birthday for kindergarten?

[mjkacmom]

First to the OP: Cut off date is September 31 here. School starts in mid-August.



I'm going to go off on a tangent here. My son's birthday is in late September and we decided to start him late. There were a lot of reasons for it -- academic and social -- but NONE of them were sports related. It really bothers me that people say "they did it because of sports." And I knew it was coming as soon as I saw the subject of the post... someone ALWAYS says it.

It really trivializes the decision and makes it sound like parents are willing to sacrifice their kids' education for the possibility of some high-school "fame" on the sports field... rather than the real reason which was to make their education better. There may be some weirdos that look at their 4 year old and see the next star quarterback, but do you really think that's why "a lot of boys" are started late?

My son's in high school now and he does play sports. He's an average player for his grade level. He's not a star. Of the other families I know who also started their kids late (boys and girls) there's not a star athlete among the bunch... and I don't think anybody's parents expected them to be. And several don't play sports at all.

I'm not saying that's the only reason. I think the majority of boys who are born late summer should be held back a year, both of my nephews spent an extra year in preschool. I don't know of anyone who regrets holding them back, but know if many who regretted sending them, and having them be the youngest.

I was replying to the person who mentioned sports. I do know parents who held back primarily for sports, and know of several who had their boys repeat 8th grade in private schools solely for sports (basketball and baseball).

 

[JDX4]

Here in CT a child can start kindergarten if they are born on or before Jan. 1st of that school year. So the child can be 4 years old for a full four months of kindergarten.

 

[maxaroni]

As previously stated, NJ is October 1. We know some that held back for a later birthday, mostly boys but some girls. For the girls it was mostly due to not wanting to be the youngest in the class. The boys tended to be for maturity reasons. My neighbor has 2 girls, each with end of September birthdays, she held one back but put her other daughter in as the youngest. She regrets that decision of being the youngest but it all worked out at the end but those first few years were a bit rough. She just felt her DD was a firecracker as far as personality and would be bored if "held back" that year.

 

[stsomewhere]

In MI, it is Sept. 1st. It use to Dec 1. But a few years ago, the state started pushing back date one at a time. the following year it was 11/1, then 10/1, now 9/1.

 

[mombrontrent]

December 31st here in Ontario, two year kindergarten program that is not mandatory but highly recommended. My youngest is a November 21st baby so she was still 3 when she started. She also has always been very tiny but other then always being the very smallest in the class she has done excellent.

 

[melanielll]

September 1. One of my kids was born on September 1st. Off she went.

 

[RedAngie]

It was September 30 when I was growing up in Philadelphia.

The same for older daughter when she started school in Delaware.

I believe it was August 31 for younger daughter in the Los Angeles school district.

 

[Hikergirl]

Dec.1

 

[IAHFTPT]

August 31

 

[minnie1012]

October 1st which is actually my daughter's birthday so she just made it.

 

[Vicki926]

First to the OP: Cut off date is September 31 here. School starts in mid-August.



I'm going to go off on a tangent here. My son's birthday is in late September and we decided to start him late. There were a lot of reasons for it -- academic and social -- but NONE of them were sports related. It really bothers me that people say "they did it because of sports." And I knew it was coming as soon as I saw the subject of the post... someone ALWAYS says it.

It really trivializes the decision and makes it sound like parents are willing to sacrifice their kids' education for the possibility of some high-school "fame" on the sports field... rather than the real reason which was to make their education better. There may be some weirdos that look at their 4 year old and see the next star quarterback, but do you really think that's why "a lot of boys" are started late?

My son's in high school now and he does play sports. He's an average player for his grade level. He's not a star. Of the other families I know who also started their kids late (boys and girls) there's not a star athlete among the bunch... and I don't think anybody's parents expected them to be. And several don't play sports at all.

I never understood that either. How do you even know if your son will like sports later on?? Lol
Between kids who moved here from different districts, kids who were held back, kids who started late like him, but have summer birthdays, not September birthdays like him, he's not the oldest around by any means.
The repeating of 8th grade just for sports to me is nuts. Though, one of the kids I know who did that, got a full scholarship to a D1 school for basketball. He also left public school and went to boarding school. So who knows. Not an option for my son, but I guess if it works for you.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

Dec 31st in British Columbia. Basically, it's set up so that every kid in the grade has the same birth year.

 

[Gracie09]

October 1

 

[kimblebee]

Dec 31st in British Columbia. Basically, it's set up so that every kid in the grade has the same birth year.

I was always the oldest kid in the grade because of a January birthday. I went K-12 with most of the kids in my grade and I can still remember a lot of their birthdays lol

 

[PrincessShmoo]

When I was young, my dad was stationed in Germany. And the school system there had no cut off date. If a child was going to be 5 anytime during the school year they started kindergarten at the beginning of the school year. My sister was born in December, so she started kindergarten at 4. At the end of the year they made a big deal about "graduating" from kindergarten to first grade for all the kids. Big ceremony (with the commanding officer of the unit participating), diplomas, reception afterward.

Then we moved back to the US. And my sister was "too young" to go into first grade because they had a cut off date. Boy was she unhappy that she had to go back to kindergarten. Silly thing is, they skipped her from 1st to 3rd grade later.

 

[Jaime4004]

Sept 30th here. I just had this conversation with my daughter because she missed the cutoff by a few days and is in 8th grade now. If she were born closer to her due date, she'd wouldn't have missed it. She would rather be in high school. I told her not to rush her childhood.

 

[Turn the Page]

Here, our schools start the day after Labor Day and it used to be that kids had to be 5 by December 1st to start kindergarten that year. However, due to the increased academic standards and the switch to full day kindergarten from half day they have been steadily moving the date back to September 1st but from what I understand they haven't yet changed the law so if you push it you can get your child in so long as they are 5 by December 1st though I'm not sure how accurate that is.

 

[Skippy918]

It's September 1st here as well. My son made the cutoff by 4 days and I started him on time. He's doing fine. In our area, even if you do private kindergarten because private K cutoff is dec 31st for most schools, kids still have to repeat public K unless they can test out of it. most parents I've talked to don't mind that their kid is on the older side.

 

[penn19]

I get that lots make that decision for reasons other than sports. But around here it does happen a lot for sports. They all think their kid is going to be the next pro athlete. I find it to be over the top, and it changes the dynamics in school. I started mine on time when they were supposed to and they ended up being smaller and less mature than many of the other boys because everyone else holding their kids back.

That shouldn't trivialize your decision though. Everyone has an individual decision to make on the matter.

I live in Texas. I think (just my opinion from random sampling of people) that most people who hold their kids/boys back is because of sports.

 

[mom2rtk]

I never understood that either. How do you even know if your son will like sports later on?? Lol

Most of the ones I've encountered just assumed their kids would be star sports loving athletes until proven otherwise. For some it didn't even matter if the kid loved sports.