Possibly the wrong forum here, but my main goal is to see what other people think is the best option. Mods can move this as they see fit.
First off, I don’t want anyone to think my real purpose here is sneak-bragging, so I’ll start by just openly bragging: My kid is smart. He could do a bit of reading before he turned 4, and now, at 4 years and 2 months, he’s reading quite well. He also does great with numbers- he’s able to add and subtract and has started picking up some very simple multiplication. His day care, where he’s in a junior pre-K class, does some sort of testing (Bracken, if that means anything) that translates his academic abilities into that of a child of 5 years, 10 months, putting him in the 98th percentile. I don’t think any standardized test is the final word on someone’s intelligence or anything, but his reading and math (and some other academic skills) are what they are, and they do seem pretty advanced for his age. Teachers at his previous day care, which doesn’t do testing, also thought he was really smart, dating back to when he was less than two years old.
The current day care people are recommending that he start kindergarten in the fall. He’d be 4 1/2. (February birthday.) (ETA: the other option would be a year of what is basically Pre-K.)
The catch is, he’s always been a little bit shy and sensitive. He’s very sweet-natured and does get along well with other kids- his main teacher tells us that his classmates all like him- but he’s not particularly extroverted. He seems to be a bit… well, intimidated is too strong a word, but I can’t think of a better one, so: he seems to a bit one-notch-down-from-intimidated when other kids act dominant or aggressive. Not in a bullying sort of way, just, like, if one runs up to the ladder for a slide as he’s starting to get on, he’ll step aside and let the other kid go, even if he was there first. It’s not a big problem or anything, but the overall picture just makes it seem like socially, he’s about where we’d want him.
So, that’s our dilemma. Where he should be academically and where he should be socially seem to be different. I expect this is a fairly common dilemma for parents of gifted children. I’m curious what anyone here thinks, or what any other parents in a similar situation have found and done.
Unfortunately, I’ve already taken more time than I can afford from work to write all this, and I’ll likely be very busy this weekend, so it may be a few days before I can get back to this thread. I’ll certainly be interested to see what anyone thinks when I do, though. Thanks, Dopers!