Should I Let My Son Repeat Kindergarten? If So, What Should I Tell Him and How?

I think the current recommendations are NOT to hold kids back. That kids that are held back feel bad about themself.. bad about school.. and sort of give up.. In the long terms.. kids that are held back are more likely to drop out of school.

Talk to your dr and see if he will give you a prescription for behavior modificatin therapy. A friends daughter with ADD ..(also in kinder also young for grade.. also very very distractable...) is in behavior modificatoin and they are hopeful. Do not be afraid to try medicine .. it is a TRY.. if you try if for a week or a month and your son was much better behaved and much better mood.. then the medicine is a good thing.. if you try it and it makes him drugged and sleepy then it is a bad thing and you dont have to do it anymore.. peopole are so afraid to try mediciine .. but for some kids it is so so helpful.

Our son is in first grade this year and struggled with the same problems last year and a little this year. I think mainly it is a maturity problem and we did decide not to hold him back and I am so glad we didn't. We talked a lot with his teacher this year and even got him involved with the counselor at school, who was great in working with developmental play and helped with a lot of his distraction. Boys are naturally inclinced to be un-focused, especially at this age! We did get our son tested for ADHD and ADD, its not to early, and turns out he did have ADHD, is what the Doctor told us, but I am not ready for the meds and we have tried other methods or re-direction and maintaing an incintive type system for him. He is on par academically just like your son, he just needed a little extra time and attention from the teachers and school. You should see if they have a program with the counselor or another teacher who does developmental play groups or something similar. I however think if he isn't struggling with the academic part of kindergarden you should let him advance, otherwise he may get bored next year and start to act out even more. And that can lead to another set of problems. Best of luck to you and to him!

Have him tested outside the school for accuracy. Seek out an expert that is skilled in this area.
Get him tested this month or in June and make your decision based on the testing.
I am a Parent Educator and I can tell you that all of the parents who gave their kid an extra yr due to one reason or another usually do not have regret because the academic load gets more intense after grade 2.
See what is really going on and take it from there.
You need to have an accurate answer before you can make that decision.
A 504 plan would be most helpful.
In the meantime, have him tested for ADD, Sensory Issues...

Since the teacher didn't think of it, and since he is doing well academically, I can't see a reason to hold him back.

You have the summer to help him retain all that he learned and gained in Kindergarten, and you can be intentional on helping him increase his attention span during the summer. The teacher might have some good suggestions for this, or some of the terrific mamas on this site might.

No, do not hold him back. Kids go through a huge mental growth spurt when they are 5, 6, and sometimes even up to age 7.

He will be with younger kindergartners, he will act like them, grow at the same rate as them, etc...why not put him if 1st grade with kids his own age and see how he does.

I think kids need to be with kids their own age. They will act like the kids they are around. If the kids in his classroom are sitting down and listening he will get the idea. It may take time, but his peers will influence him. Kids just don't start sitting down and staying on task because the get older. They do it because the kids around them are doing it and they want to fit in. It's called Mob mentality. They go with what is going on around them.

What stands out in your question to me is that his name is called by coaches also. That is a huge red flag to me. Even if you don't wish to medicate, I would suggest talking to your doctor about it. If he has a medical diagnosis there is more help available to him under 504. If he's on track academically, I personally would not retain him. That is my suggestion as a teacher. Hope this helps!

I would definitely hold him back. He sounds just like my son did when he was in kindergarten. We ended up holding him back in 1st grade, since we couldn't really make our minds up before then. We told our son we were holding him back because we wanted him to catch up better on his reading. That is just what worked for our son. And we also made a point to tell him that we ASKED if we could hold him back. You know kids talk and he was afraid he "flunked" so we wanted him to know that it was our choice not the schools. I always said my son needed to mature more, and he is still working on it in the 7th grade now, so I say give them all the help you can. I was also a mom who didn't want to put her kids on meds, and it has been really hard.

If he has shown improvement over the course of the year, this may well be an issue of maturity and he might do much better next year in kindergarten. If another year might make him better prepared for 1st grade and he is young-ish, I'd probably retain him.

I'm so sorry you felt you were "forced" to sent him to kinder. No district evaluation can MAKE you enroll your child... and they can't have done an evaluation unless you gave them permission. Keep in mind for future, that a recommendation is NOT a requirement.

If your son does in fact have ADHD (it's still called ADHD even if he isn't hyperactive, it's still the name of the disorder, although caution does not mean he's not hyper) another year probably won't help much unless you're doing some specific things to address his needs... however, it could just be that he's young at school AND young at his activities which is the reason he is less mature than the other kids.

Last, but not least, how does your son feel about school? Is he attached to his friends in his class? If the other kindergarteners move on and he has to make new friends, will he feel left behind? Will he miss them?

You know your kid, and I'm sure whatever choice you make will be the best one.

If the teacher didn't recommend it, then I wouldn't hold him back. He may just be a high-energy kid, and this is how he is. It's unlikely he'll sprout a Type B personality during his second year of Kinder. :)