The Oldest Kid Smartest Kid Summary

In this era of hypercompetitive parenting, more families are choosing to delay their children's entry into kindergarten, under the impression that the children will have an academic and social advantage over their peers. This thought is referred to as kindergarten redshirting, named for the red jersey worn in intra-team scrimmages by college athletes kept out of competition for a year. Nowadays there are many different opinions on redshirting children. In this essay I will discuss two articles by different authors with opposing views on the topic.

In the first article “Youngest Kid, Smartest Kid” by Maria Konnikova, she discusses how many parents tend to redshirt their children because they feel holding off an extra year will give them a boost relative to their peers. While most parents think that this will benefit their children, it actually does just the opposite overtime. Earlier studies argued that redshirted children do better both socially and
She interviews a number of mothers and gets their opinions on redshirting their children’s. In her interview with Kathy Taylor, she explains how her son Nolan was not ready to start because he was behind in skills. She was also told that he was not quite ready to focus for longer periods of time. She put her faith in the teachers’ advice based on their knowledge, and after the fact she has no regrets about her decision. She states, “Today we have an 8-year-old boy who is happy socially, and the appropriate levels for reading and math as he is preparing to enter 2nd grade this fall as the second oldest in his class. While bright, he is not ahead.” She figures that if necessary it’s in the child’s best interest for him/her to be held back in order to more develop the skills they need in order to succeed in the earlier stage of their learning