<p>A parent in neatoburitto's "gut feeling" thread chimed in about being anxious about their child going away to school. I know many parents who are thinking about sending their first child off to boarding school will start to feel this way. Whether a child receives financial aid or not it's a sacrifice from a financial standpoint. We give up the daily influences we have over our child education and maturation. Not to mention the fact that we will not see them for weeks at a time. These are real concerns and real sacrifices we make when our children go away to school. None the less, we send them off and hope for the best. My daughter entered boarding school this past September and I missed her far more than I ever thought I would.</p>
<p>For our family, boarding school has been everything that we hoped it would be. I knew she would benefit from an educational standpoint. She had to, our local school does not have anything close to the resources, classes, and facilities that are at her boarding school. It was the reason she wanted to go in the first place. What I did not expect was her growth as an individual. She has become more self-confident and has a greater ability to communicate and interact with adults. The diverse student body has taught her to look at the world from a more global perspective. She is more interested in social issues, has stronger opinions, and likes to discuss them with us. We have always had a very strong relationship so I can't say it's stronger now, but I will say it has expanded. When she is home she values the time she spends with us and she may even care more about her brothers well being. Some of this growth is because she is maturing and would have happened anyway. I guarantee it would have not happened to this degree if not for her current school.</p>
<p>I am not going to tell you that boarding school had been a panacea for everything that was not right in her life. There have been bumps in the road, everything has not gone smoothly. Her boarding school career is far from over and things can change. But there is not a day that has gone by that I am not happy that she went to boarding school, even during the first few months she was away.</p>
<p>I thought it would be helpful for anxious parents to hear about some of the positives of boarding school from someone who just went through the process.</p>
<p>I can second that. This is also my first year with my daughter away. The first term felt long and my daughter complained of being homesick quite a bit (more than I expected). That was compounded by the fact that we did not see her again until Christmas break. Parents weekend was very difficult for her, as was Thanksgiving, even though she spent it with a very caring family. </p>
<p>The second term has been much better. She sounds happier on the phone, doesn't complain about being homesick. She said she feels like she is fitting in and starting to understand what it takes to do well. She is proud of her study skills. She is even more busy than she was the first term and we find it hard to reach her on the telephone sometimes. The time has flown by and it's hard to believe that she'll be home again in just over three weeks.</p>
<p>It gets easier for the parents too. It was really hard to put her back on the plane after Christmas break but I find that staying busy myself helps. Sending care packages and making phone calls also helps. And eventually you find yourself having fun without her and not thinking about her quite 24/7, maybe just 23/7 :)</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your experience. I am listening. Most of the prospective schools are quite far from where we live - it'd be more than a couple of hours of drive. We'd for sure miss at least some parents' weekends, and probably wouldn't be able to be around when he's sick or for a long weekend when <em>everyone else</em> is gone. He's adaptable and generally work well with adults and mature kids, but it'd definitely a good strech for him (for many others as well I'd think) to fit in and hopefully thrive in the competitive environment of a BS. Is it worth it? If things don't work out well, would it crush his self-confidence? Those are some of things we are thinking about. Sometimes seeing him all confident, excited and not concerned at all, we think maybe we are worrying too much?</p>
<p>Only you can judge whether or not your son is ready for boarding school. No one else can. I actually overestimated my daughter. I didn't think she'd be homesick at all and she was very homesick the first term. I worried about who would take care of her when she got sick, but she is so busy that she just goes to class when she is sick and doesn't worry about it. (The health center only excuses them from class when they meet certain illness criteria that she hasn't met yet.) She has scheduled doctor appointments on her own for a sports injury. She has learned very quickly to take care of herself. In fact she was very offended when over Christmas break I reminded her to do some exercising and other things that I am used to reminding her about - but she got used to doing herself while at school. </p>
<p>I am sure you will be glad to hear that her teenage temperament and mood swings were very healthy and intact when she was home. :)</p>
<p>Edit: She did manage to bring some laundry home and was happy to let me do it for her.</p>