Is this a good reason to not want to delay my son's kindergarten entrance?

His peers will be the people in his grade, not the children his age.

So yes, the teachers are right, he could have an academic advantage over his peers.

If he's not emotionally ready for kindergarten (not socially ready), he may just end up doing kindergarten twice. Is there a benefit to that?

this is just bullshit

have you participated in any parenting classes?

About 15 years ago there was a little boy in my daughter's kindergarten class who repeated that year. I'm not sure of the reasons but he was Chinese and he seemed to struggle with English and wasn't interacting with the other children very much. A few weeks ago his picture was in the paper because he got a perfect score in his grade 12 results and was equal top student in the state with three other students. I'm sure everyone else was as happy for him as I was and I would be very surprised if anyone thought - 'oh but he was competing against kids a year younger than him so it's not really that impressive'.

But that's not the point. I don't know if your son should be 'redshirted' or not but your priorities are all wrong! Parenting isn't about 'glory' and impressing other people it's about helping your kids achieve their potential and be the best people they can be. I pity your son if you will always be measuring his success in relation to his classmates. I have two adult children. My 19yo daughter won various academic awards at school and is studying medicine and hopes to be a cardio-thoracic surgeon. My 22yo son has an intellectual disability and autism and his career goal is to increase his hours mowing and watering at our local garden centre. Both are doing their very best and I'm equally proud of both of them.

Great post Pearlylustre.

You're one of the parents here who always makes very good sense.

Good on your son and daughter

Oh thank you! You made a lot of sense as well.

My daughter didn't make the cutoff for September 1, either, her birthday is September 18th. She had to wait another year and at the time I was upset, but in retrospect it was the perfect age for her to enter Kindergarten - she was more mature and eager to learn.

My question to you is: what is the rush? Chances are your kid is going to school for many many years, why not let him off the hook for another year before he has to sit in a classroom for many hours without any playtime.

How would school teachers know his suitability for class when he is not in their class? Are you sure by "teacher" you are not taking about his preschool minders? What are their credentials for evaluating your son?

Absent an expert that I respect giving me advise I would send my kid to school on schedule.

Ever heard the phrase, "It was worth a try"?

Thank you, and yes, I meant his preschool minders.

Dammit, Pearly, you made me tear.. from the pleasure of reading about that child and yours.

I can see the legitimacy of the question by toughcookie, as well as the questions re the "proud of" attitude; as I'm not all that versed in education issues, don't know current thoughts on all this, but others here do and will probably show up with opinions.

Me, I was an only child whose parents moved around, and I never had preschool, and only less than half a "semester" of kindergarten, and was admitted to first grade past present deadlines, given my birthday. Plus, I was small then. Grew up to be an almost 5' 6" woman, but was a squirt in first grade. Shy, beyond shy. So, I could have been held back, with reason. On the other hand, I remember that kindergarten, and I'm sure, sure, that I was much more engaged in a real first grade class. The shyness didn't just wipe away, but over the years I've become ms. tell you my opinion, which I think of as progress. Re me and my peers, age wise, not all that different; experience before first grade, I was a blank slate, more or less, except that my parents did read to me, etc. So, in my case, I'm not sorry I snuck into first grade past the deadline.

and because of "no child left behind" the schools are chock full of professionals who can properly evaluate your kid. I have no doubt that the school would love to avoid dealing with a possibly problem kid for a year, just as they try to push out all who will not graduate or who will take a lot of work to graduate, but what they want is not always what is best for your kid. Talk to Boomer for instance, over a couple of year the schools kept pressuring her to put her kid on drugs, not because he needed them, but because when her kid was drugged up he would take less work.

I would sent the kid to school, if there were a problem have him evaluated, and keep in mind that those who are doing the evaluation are employed by the school and that what the school wants might or might not be what is best for your kid.

..and your expertise is based on what?

Answering myself, I was still privileged, and I can see that more time both with socialization and thinking could be useful, not just for underfunded children, but for many others.

Not sure on that. Preschool was a concept new in my life.

I was right at the cut off date, so I entered kindergarden slightly older than the other kids.

No one, including myself, ever compared me to the kids in the grade above me. Why would they? I wasn't in that grade. Like ehBeth said, my peers were the kids in my grade.

To the OP, you say you want to be proud of your son? Isn't that part of being a parent? It's not like you're going above and beyond to be proud of your child. We're talking about a matter of a few months here. It's not like anyone is going to be pointing fingers and comparing him to children in another grade. Except for you apparantly.
However, in those few months his maturity will grow and he'll more likely be the leader in maturity in the classroom, rather than struggling to understand why things are done the way they are.

One good thing about being a few months older than my classmates throughout my school years was that I was among the first to get my drivers license. That was super cool.

It's not like everything he learns will be super easy for him because he's a few months older. At best, there will be some subjects he will have more of an appreciation for, rather than concentrating on just getting by.

By his 2nd year of school, any advantage he may have had over the other kids will be gone anyway. Why not let him be comfortable in his learning?

7 years of homeschooling experience, 3 kids in public schools, including one who repeated 1st grade because of dyslexia. Not to mention education has long been one of my interests, at one point I was going to be a teacher.

It might be worth a try to have him enter school later.

As other people have said, what's the big rush?

He's 5 years old, and has about years of school, and more years of work ahead of him. It's not like letting him wait a while will destroy his future career.
Pushing him in before he may be ready could make him nervous, scared, resentful and unsure of himself.

Having a happy little boy that's relaxed and a little more mature than others might be worth a try.

In any event, if you put him in school sooner than he may be ready, HE's the one that's going to have to try harder, and it might not be worth it to him. You have given him a say so in this, right?

From what I can read, you appear to be more concerned about how it's worth it to you, i.e. you can't be proud of him because he's older, so if he does well, that doesn't count.

What if he waits, and when he does go to school he still has struggles with schoolwork and socialization? Can you imagine how much worse that would be if he was pushed even earlier?

I'm thinking back, and I remember my mother talking to me about waiting or going ahead and starting kindergarden.

I was nervous about starting kindergarden that year. I'm glad I waited because I felt much better about meeting all these new people the following year.

Wanting our kids to hit commonly accepted developmental milestones is normal. In this case we are talking about a parent being told that his kid does not make the grade...this is a big deal to some parents and I dont think it is very nice to tell such a parent that they are being narcissistic. If you were a better person you would have lead with " I understand your concern of being told that you kid is not ready for school but..."