How old will your child be when they start college?

notre_dame_AL
Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:32:30 +0000

Glyptothek-agree about the personality and age. Our own student turned 18 the day we moved into the dorm for the start of college. B’day was late August and kindergarten was at a public school where many kids are “academically redshirted”, mainly for sports later on. We did not hold ours back based on advice of Pediatrician and the fact that student was a very early reader. We have no regrets! We do know several students that were held back and it does not seem to have made one bit of difference with regard to academics/personality. Three of our student’s best friends have “summer” b’days. They were all either National Merit Finalists or Scholars. Our own student has never been an athlete and never will be. I do not beleive that holding our student back would have changed the personality–student is what you see. What we did witness w/ some of the kids that we saw held back was boredom in school (caused trouble) and during the teen years, they matured physically so much faster and in a couple of cases, looked very out of place(they looked like they had been held back), thus I think these kids were very self-conscious. Our pediatrician said it best when trying to help us decide–it all levels off around high school age. Yes, holding a student back has its benefits for some kids–but I think it is a case by case decision. Many people autmatically assume that if you have a kid that has a “summer” b’day, they should be held back no matter what!