To start off, I wouldn't call my early May birthday "late" (the cutoff date was September 30.) But I don't remember very many boys in my classes who had a later birthday than me. Why? Even a lot of the boys with June and July birthdays were held back a year. That meant that even with a birthday almost four full months before the cutoff date, I was almost always one of the youngest kids in my class.

And also one of the smallest. It certainly didn't help that my father is short and small-boned, meaning I was likely to be one of the smaller kids in my class either way. But the disadvantage of being one of the youngest didn't help, either. I don't know about girls, but for boys, being the smallest in the class sucks. Boys won't dare to pick on the big kids in the class, but they'll mercilessly pick on the smaller boys. Why? Because they can. I felt like I was always being picked on throughout middle school.

Physical maturity helps in ways other than in athletics. It's not just that parents think that if he's 15 instead of 14 when he starts high school, he'll have a better chance of making the freshman football team, but also that he'll have an easier time fitting in socially.

Of course, my elementary school was going the other way with me, considering skipping me ahead a grade instead of holding me back. And I probably wouldn't have liked having to wait an extra year to graduate from high school.

I have to completely agree with you, tdd.

I am the oldest of three and the only girl. My parents didn't hold me back but held back both of my brothers, admittedly for athletic reasons. Which for both of my brothers proved to be a very smart choice.

What this article failed to address was the social side of this issue. My brothers were slightly older, yes, but they also hit puberty along with their respective classes. On the other hand one of my brother's childhood friends didn't fair as well. He was well into high school before any "growth spurt" began. He was often teased and left out. He might have been as intellectually mature as his classmates but they literally towered over him. He ended up taking two years off after high school and then restarted his education in College.

With my own son about to start school my brother's friend advised me to wait until he was six. He has a June birthday. Even though most of his high school friends are completing college and he is merely starting I think that this young man finally feels like he belongs.

My mother had another reason for holding my brother and I back a year. I was born on the December cut off date but my brother was born in late June. Her reasoning was that it would make it easier for us to find wives. Yeah, I know. When she told us that we both responded with "What?!!". She got her high school year book and went thru her senior class pictures. Mind you this was in the early 1950's when she graduated. Over half of her Senior class was either engaged to be married or got married the summer right after graduation. Her logic was that if half the girls were already engaged during their senior year, being a year younger than everyone else would put us at a disadvantage, leaving only half of the girls to choose from.

But, but, but, but. . . there is the flip side people! The redshirted kids who mature on schedule push the envelop for the younger kids. There is a flip side ESPECIALLY for girls. Everyone wants to be the same and this is just not possible. Someone always has to be youngest. Someone always has to be oldest. Redshirting creates bigger differences in one class.