My second thoughts over my son starting school at 4

My son was four and a half when he started school.

I debated forward and back over whether or not to wait until the following year to send him. People told me it was better to be older - better pencil grip, less-clingy at the school gates and a better attention span for learning. And all those things are true - had he just turned four I would have held him back, but after two years of Montessori and a very obvious passion for learning, I figured he would be fine. And he is physically and mentally, but perhaps not as ready emotionally. My daughter started at a similar age but boys do seem that little bit more emotionally behind at this age. It is not so much now that this can impact but when they are a little older - there is a big difference between just turning 12 and being around children who are well into their 13th year. Today, the Irish Times reports that more parents are waiting until their child is five to start school which has changed the profile of junior infants, with the proportion of five-year-olds climbing from 52 per cent to 72 per cent between 2000 and 2017. Equally, the proportion of four-year-olds fell from 47 per cent to 27 per cent over the same period, based on data collected on January 1st each year. And the reason seems to be because of the recent extension of the early childhood care and education scheme. Children may now avail of the free preschool scheme from the ages of three up to 5½. If you’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, you probably know that he believes in competitive situations, a person who's relatively older than the others will usually win. He bases his book on the reasons behind success and starting school later, he believes, gives your child a competitive edge - they are more likely to have better judgement than their school peers and have a better understanding of situations. Holding your child back purposely to ensure they are bigger for sports is known as redshirting. Here in Ireland, sporting cutoffs (for the most part) are based on the year you were born rather than your class at school. I have my reservations about my son being among the youngest of his peers but because he is thriving in school at the moment, it's not about now, but about when he approaches his teen years that it could pose a problem. Perhaps I will hold him back at some stage, but I have a feeling that he may have something to say about that - especially when he is on the cusp of being a bolshie teen!