Personal Experiences on Kindergarten Readiness

When my son turns five should I make sure that he is enrolled in kindergarten? I am confused which will be the best for my child to be the oldest or youngest in kindergarten.-- Mom of a "5" year old.
Answer: Remember that no matter what age your child is when entering kindergarten there will always be some children who are younger and older in each class. There is just no one perfect decision for all children. As parents you need to know you child. We asked readers your question and as you can see everyone has a different opinion.
A reader from Florida feels that after consulting with their child's preschool teachers, elementary-school teachers, and the principal, they decided to have their son start kindergarten right before he turned 5. He has always done exceptionally well academically and was in the highly gifted class in fourth and fifth grades. He also has always done well socially, having developed good friendships in elementary school. He is currently in sixth grade (middle school) and still doing well in all areas but wishes that he was in classes with kids his own age. We believe that our son is well-adjusted but now wonder if this is true after he asked why we did not wait a year before putting him in kindergarten.
On the other hand a readers from New Jersey feel that their son, currently 17, who has a May birthday and started kindergarten at age 5 has always been one of the youngest in his class. Although he has done well socially, he has struggled academically. Their advice is for parents to go with their instinct; however, if they are in a town where the majority of kids start school at 6 or older, they would seriously consider doing the same. Most schools offer some type of gifted or challenging studies, so they would not worry about a child being bored in school if he or she started later. They said that they would worry more about a child being frustrated in later years and continually trying to catch up or stay afloat with older classmates.
Minnesota Parent said that their son's birthday is in the middle of June. They had a friend who encouraged them to think of the consequences of having a child who was a young teenager if they started him in school when he was a young 5. Their friend suggested that they think of whether their son would be able to withstand peer pressure when encouraged to do things that were not good or unsafe. Our decision was to start our son late. Now, for the flip side, my son will be 18 his entire senior year. Hopefully, we will we be able to handle having an adult in high school.
Finally, a teacher wrote us that her 20 years of teaching experience has taught her that the real impact is not the age of the child starting kindergarten but the sex. Boy starting school with a summer birthdays are very rarely the strongest students and/or leaders in the class. Their later development also impedes their performance in competitive athletics as their peers pass them up physically.