The Redshirt Solution

By John Elson

Kathy and Jeff Hewson of Ocean Township, N.J., faced a tough decision. Their son Christopher had turned five and was eligible to enter kindergarten. Christopher had already spent two years at nursery school, but its director felt he was "developmentally young." She recommended that kindergarten be delayed; the Hewsons agreed; and a year later they could not be happier with their choice. Christopher, who started kindergarten in September, is now a secure, energetic little boy who plays easily with his peers. "By keeping our son back last year, we gave him a gift," says Kathy. "We allowed him to be a child for one more year."

Resisting the temptation to turn their child into an early overachiever, a surprising number of parents are consciously delaying their youngster's entrance to kindergarten even when age eligible. This is known, quaintly, as redshirting, after the common university practice of keeping athletes out of games to allow them an extra year of playing eligibility. To some teachers, redshirting children is necessary because all too many kindergartens are more concerned with academics than with the emotional and physical development of youngsters. To others, the practice is not much better than coddling.

Leslie Rescorla, a Bryn Mawr clinical child psychologist, notes that it is currently common practice for educators to recommend that socially or physically immature children with autumn birthdays enter kindergarten at six, ( rather than five. The practice makes sense, Rescorla says, if parents have special concerns about their child's social development: "If it's interacting, cooperating, playing with others you're worried about, then keeping children in nursery school for another year is good. It's nursery school, not kindergarten, where these important skills are now being learned."

Eric Dlugokinski, a University of Oklahoma psychologist, believes five-year- olds need to spend some time away from home, but, for late bloomers, an academically oriented kindergarten may not be the right environment. If a child does poorly in a first school experience, "that failure is very hard to eradicate. You want a child's first experience in learning to be satisfying." He thinks kindergartens should de-emphasize early exposure to the ABCs and concentrate on what he calls an "emotional competence curriculum," meaning one that teaches children such social skills as how to share and how to deal with their feelings.

Sue Bredekamp, an executive with the National Association for the Education of Young Children, feels that redshirting may be of value to about 1% of children but in some places is routinely suggested for 30% of kindergarten applicants. "Being older is no guarantee of success," she says. "By holding children back, you'll never know what they could have done if you let them go on."

How can parents decide if delaying kindergarten is right for their child? Psychologist Dlugokinski raises these questions: Is the child well-enough coordinated to hold pencils properly? Is he or she impulsive or shy about playing with others? Was he or she slow to walk or talk? Does the child seem fearful about leaving home? If any answer is yes, the youngster may be a potential redshirt.

With reporting by Michele Donley/Chicago and Lisa H. Towle/New York