Researchers are claiming that parents should hold their kid back a year to boost their self esteem.

Researchers found students who started first grade at an older age relative to their classmates scored higher on measures of self-esteem years later.

Grouping children by year of birth is a necessity for most school systems. But in recent years a debate has emerged about whether children whose birthdays fall near the "cutoff" for their age group should be held back or encouraged to enter first grade early.

Speaking as someone who started school at age 4 because my birthday was near the "cutoff", I think this is a travesty. I take great pride in knowing that I started school earlier than most kids and graduated at 17. I was chided a little bit in college when my friends threw me an 18th birthday party, but for the most part I felt like I was ahead of the curve.

On the flip side is my friend Meathead. He was also an early starter whom I met in the 2nd grade. But he was held back after the third grade, which we all still make fun of to this day.

The only real disadvantage I had was in sports and fending off bullies. Being up to a year younger than everyone else made me a much easier target for early bullying. Luckily I had an older sister who didn't like bullies horning in on her action. She beat up more than one neaderthal thug telling them that beating me up was her job.