Hmm, this sounds sort of like my son. He is 5, and he is eligible for kindergarten this fall. The teachers say he's exceptionally creative and excels at math. They told me he likes to create his own charts to record what happens in the class and is great with addition and even subtraction. His reading/writing is about average for his age (he'll spell "dg" for dog, for example). They told me that, socially, he's still very immature. He will lay down when he's upset and refuse to move, that kind of thing. They kind of brought up the idea that maybe he's not ready for kindergarten. I just can't get on board with that. He's going to be adjusting socially no matter where he goes--another year of preschool or the first year of kindergarten. Yet I worry he'll be bored in a repeat year of preschool and act out more. I know kindergarten is going to be a HUGE adjustment because it is full-day school here. He absolutely is going to struggle for a couple of months. Still, I'd rather him struggle in a place that stimulates him and is with his peers and friends than hold him back for basically being an emotional kid. His emotions will catch up at some point. I feel like if he does really, really bad with kindergarten, he can always repeat kindergarten and at least be at the "real" school he needs to adjust to. To me, that is better than repeating preschool... but maybe that's just me!

I get a little tired of hearing everyone saying they're holding back their kids because they're not ready. In my opinion, most kids aren't ready! They learn how to do it by doing it. I just hope those teachers have the patience to understand that all their kids develop differently. Just like some kids will need extra help with reading or math or speech, others need a little extra help socializing and working in groups and not getting their way. I think the difference is that, if a kid needs help in math, they try to figure out a way to work with the kid and get him/her up to speed. If a kid is socially behind, they try to hold them back, which studies say might do more harm than good.