On the flip side of social promotion, my parents and the schools seriously considered holding me back a year because I was younger and smaller than everyone else in my grade. I started Kindergarten at age 4 (birthday in October) and was small for my age. Always pulling straight “A”s wasn’t enough to convince the wise acedemics who thought I belonged with children my own age and size.
What a bunch of dolts.
My parents tried to get me to hold my son back a year in kindergarten. He turned 5 in September.
We didn’t.
He is now 13, and just finished middle school. He made 3 B+’s in all of middle school, and he took high school Algebra I and Geometry while in middle school. He also hit puberty early and was taller than most of his friends and shaving by 12.
He is so ready for high school! I can’t imagine him still having another year of middle school to go.