If your kid is sad at all I’d encourage you to have them actively reach out to their advisor and set up a coffee/lunch to talk and connect. I disagree that the schools are “good at this.” I think they are shockingly bad at it and fully expect that boarding kids are mature enough to raise a hand to say if there’s a problem.
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Fair enough. I should have said “Some schools are good at this.”
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Yes! Definitely tough. Down 2 boys. My golden retriever is confused her brothers are not home to play with her. The baby is crying because he misses his big brothers. All I can hope is they are adjusting well.
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I agree with this…so often kids can slip through the cracks and the advisors and dorm heads have a lot on their plates, so it’s easy for them to assume everything is fine. If that still doesn’t work, the school counselors can be a huge help. Kiddo1 met with one her first week, and now kiddo2 is doing the same.
Fingers crossed that all of our new students will be feeling happy and comfortable soon and that we’ll be complaining about never hearing from them bcs they’re too busy with their friends to call home!
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Best advice I received and has worked so far is: think about your teen being away at a sleepover. They will come back soon, and they are having a great time. I hope this helps.
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I have a class of 24 who was new last year and I sympathize with those of you with struggling newbies. Rest assured, I was in your place last year and spent A LOT of time worrying and trying to fix: remember, this is part of the boarding school experience-to be independent, to reach out for help to those around them, etc. Also, it’s very typical for a teen to call/text a parent, dump a bunch of emotions and then go on their merry way and you’re probably worrying and they feel lighter and better.
I promise you it gets better. I dropped off my DD for her second year almost a week ago and barely hear from her!
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Hi!
My son is starting BS this year and I would love to connect. Any advice on how to proceed is welcome. I know that is so broad. Any other parents of kids joining in as sophomores?
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My daughter started BS in November this year - she loves the BS experience! She is changing schools in the fall, so even though she won’t be a “rookie,” she’ll be in a brand new environment!
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My S26 is joining BS as a 10th grader! Down to 2 schools now waiting for revisit days and receptions!
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Welcome to the 2026 Board! Keep us posted on how the revisit days go. Exciting times!
Hard to believe we are entering the home stretch for freshmen year - it has flown by! I hope everyone is doing well. I expect the last two months of the school year to be action-packed.
We are starting to think about summer activities. We are probably a bit late on this, but better late than never!
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My daughter heads back to school tomorrow for the final stretch! I cannot believe her freshman year is about to be over. She has had a doozy of a year… indeed, a roller coaster of a year. But she is coming out of it more mature, more confident, and actually excited about her education - which is amazing to see since school has never been a priority for her.
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My son learned last night of another local student who is going to the same school that he chose. We are really excited about this as it is a family we have always enjoyed time with and when our children were younger they were pretty close. Over the past few years they have gone to different schools and no longer played on the same team but they have always cared about each other. I am hopeful this means some comfort seeing a familiar face in passing and a potential for shared rides etc as we are close to a 5 hour drive away.
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Did he choose?
Yes our S26 chose on Friday! Phew - what a long journey and stressful at times! He had to make a very difficult call to a coach today who had really tried hard to recruit him to tell him that he was going elsewhere. Luckily the coach was gracious and my son is very happy to have that uncomfortable call behind him and we are proud that he did it on his own.
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IMO, it’s so great that he made the call. Congrats!
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