Advice please for 4.11 year old

upinthesky

So my little fella did a full preschool year last year and loved it, as i have had two children go to school already and this being my last child i decided to hold him back a year and do another year of preschool, he started last week and was ok about it as i told him there will be new boys and girls in his class.

He came home that day saying the class is full of babies and there the other class that used to be in the baby room and he wants to be with his old friends in big school, i feel so bad now for not sending him as i know he would be well able looking at the preschool year now they are too babyish for him, if there is such a thing.

I have tried to get him into junior infants now as there only starting week two and waiting for them to get back to me, it is a big class mostly full of his old preschool class so fingers crossed,

So do you think i would be right to send him to school now if i don't im afraid i will have the same problem next year!

Mink

Don't feel bad, you weren't to know. A year (or even months) passing at that age brings huge changes.

If it were me I'd be trying to do what you're doing and get him into junior infants. Best of luck, sounds like he's definitely ready.

MiddleOne

Definitely don't feel bad. You know what's best for him and where he developmentally. I hung on to my little lady until she was 5 before sending her to school. She was only just 5 and still she was the second oldest in the class. Every day the teacher was coming to the door after school with a bag of wet pants for some parent. It was always those with a four-year-old. If he doesn't manage to get a place in school, don't worry. He'll soon get back into routine, make new friends and will probably be happy that he's older that the others.

Personally, I think i'd rather my child be one of the older ones in the class than the younger.

upinthesky

So an update, my little man is starting school Monday and myself and him are delighted!

lukesmom

upinthesky wrote: »

So an update, my little man is starting school Monday and myself and him are delighted!

That's fantastic sounds like he is very ready.

heldel00

upinthesky wrote: »

So an update, my little man is starting school Monday and myself and him are delighted!

Great news. Could have been a long year for you and him. Fair play to the school as they could have easily said no. Best of luck

Pansygirl

I know this is late and your wee man has already started school. I sincerely hope that he is settling in well.

I was in the same situation as you last year. My son was 4 in April but had only done 3 day week at preschool - I sent him back to playschool for the free ECCE year and he was so lost without his usual friends and asked why he couldn't go to "big school". I felt really guilty and was regretting holding him back but the primary school said it would be more unsettling to come in after everyone else had started. I put a spin on it that he was going to make loads of new friends and that he was the big boy at playschool now!

Thankfully it all worked a treat - he settled in well after a month and looking back he wasn't mature enough to start primary. He is now in a class where the average age is 4 and 10 months. I'm much happier that he is older in the class rather than the youngest as he would've been last year.