I don't think I would have regretted holding my kids out until this coming year (July 26 b-day). However, at the urging of my husband AND the preschool teachers, we didn't. We went ahead and put them in school at the tender age of 61 months. I have regretted that off and on throughout this kindergarten year!

Why? In our case, I think putting them in kindergarten for another year would be socially devastating for 2 of them. And academically, there is just no reason to hold them back! I wish we had made the decision to keep them out FIRST as it doesn't seem feasible to do it NOW.

One has become a very hard worker and I think has moved to the top of his class academically despite being younger. However, he is socially immature -- doesn't really have the great playground skills of his peers...yet he is very competitive and would know darned well for YEARS that the kids he went to school with the first go round were a year ahead of him. I think this would crush him. Plus, academically, there is no way he could spend another year in kindy. No way.

Our #2 son has been diagnosed PDD-NOS. He appears to be extremely mildly affected. He has made leaps and bounds of progress in the writing/academic area and has tested average to high-average IQ. I'd say he has the social skills of a 3.5 year old. He is very anxious and shy and socially unsure of himself and that goes along with the PDD-NOS. However, another year of kindy would be boring academically. I'd say he is right in the middle of the pack academically now. Yet he could certainly use another year to mature before moving on with the big kids. Socially, I don't think he'd care at all about spending another year in kindy. Academically, there would be no challenge there for him.

Our #1 son....well, has the social skills and attitude of a 10-year-old. He would be super-devastated by being in kindy another year while his buds moved on. It would crush him. He has kept up academically - knowledge-wise -- but has struggled with the fine motor tasks and still does. He just isn't ready. I'm not so worried about the writing as I think it will come in its own time. He is also having attention/behavior issues that could be due to age -- just not ready to sit still and learn in that academic environment. Yet he DOES learn -- he just can't behave and sit still appropriately. He is very bright, but attention is a huge issue in the classroom. I think he is too young to determine ADD/ADHD and he can finish projects of HIS choosing but almost never finishes anything in school! If he decides he is going to do something, there is very little that stands in his way. If he decides it's "boring", there is very little that gets him moving. I don't think he has gelled with his teacher AT ALL. I think his self-esteem has been hurt by this teacher's approach and the fact that writing has been so heavily emphasized. He needs a TON of encouragement and does not take correction of his writing attempts well at all - thus he hides his work. Don't want to hold HIM back as the same teacher is the ONLY kindy teacher and I think another year with her would do more damage (on top of the huge blow he would feel seeing his buds in 1st grade).

So....I wish we HAD waited. I feel in our case that all 3 could have benefitted from an extra year at home for different reasons. Now I feel it is too late and holding them back in kindy for another year would be the wrong decision for all 3 of them (for different reasons). I even thought about just taking them out of school for a year! In our state, school attendance is not mandatory until age 7.

BBB born 7/26/04 at 35 weeks