re: Holding young kids back a year/Repeating a grade.

There really aren’t any drawbacks except for paying for an additional year of school if private school. If you can afford it, do it.

Holding me back was the best thing my parents ever did for me

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Do your research. Holding a kid back does more harm than good. There are many interventions available that will take effort.

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One thing I learned with parenting is there is no substitute for time. Meaning, when they are ready they are ready. Until then, you are often just frustrating everyone involved. Potty training, memorizing the alphabet...etc.

Not holding back and having the kid struggle their entire school career is a terrible thing. Maturity has no substitute.

It also is self defeating. If the kid can't grasp it, they assume they are stupid or just not smart enough. Too many losses early on and that becomes their expectation/reality.

We held my son back in K, and it’s kind of fricked with him as far as friends go…though not terribly.

He’s probably right where he would have been class rank wise had he not been held back…so I don’t think it helped one bit with school.

As far as sports go…he had to give up his position in soccer, that he was way better than the ‘older’ kid because that kid already had one year experience in that position and there were others to fill. My son quit. He’s a boss fricking athlete otherwise, tops in the nation at what he does now. So give and take with sports.

I say don’t do it.

i would hold him back. everyone matures at different maturity points in life differently. i think a year difference could make a big change in his case.

He may be "keeping his head above water" but that may cause him alot of stress a strife to keep up. giving him a chance to catch up would do alot for his own self esteem.

Did his kindergarten teacher see any of this? Most of his struggles are probably developmental and not cognitive at this point. He might not be quite ready for 1st grade.

Side note- homework in first grade is dumb and I'd question the motivation behind it and the benefit to my student.

6 yrs old for 1st grade is typically a year early depending on his birthday.

We held our son back in kindergarten, because he wasn't ready for school, he just wouldn't participate with class work. We talked to different education professionals, and all concluded, You can let him go on and he'll struggle, or you can hold him back and he'll progress much better and easier.

We held him back. Kid has been on the gold honor roll for 90% of his time in grammar school.

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My 6yr old son has really struggled this year. 1st grade at his school, they really start pushing homework, heavy on grades, etc.. Long story short, he is struggling. It's been that way since the year started. We thought maybe it was the teacher, since it was her first year teaching that grade. We've proven that to be false, because we've seen him struggle with basic concepts in homework etc..

The idea of having him repeat first grade is starting to be thrown around by my wife and his teacher. I am not a fan of the idea, but I obviously want what's best for him. But aside of his struggles, he has still managed to keep his head barely above water grade-wise. I'd be more open to the idea if he were absolutely bombing everything. I repeated a grade, but my parents did it in Jr. High. I admit, it was a good thing, I liked the people in my new class better, and it gave me a year to mature. But I am still not a fan of doing it for him.

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well if he is only 6, he is already one of the youngest in the class. if he doesnt turn 7 before the end of the school year he would graduate at 17, which imo is too young and puts him at a disadvantage

so on top of that, him struggling....hold him back, use the age excuse as to why

but also might want to pay close attention to his behavior. does he have trouble concentrating...is he having trouble seeing etc etc etc

No shame in holding him back, IMO.

If he is struggling enough to have your wife and his teacher notice, then it needs to be addressed.

Maybe just make sure if he repeats 1st grade he gets a different teacher. Obviously yours isn't the problem, but so that it feels new and exciting to him still.