@ JustOneDad… I am not sure why you keep posting on this thread. It seems as if many parents here have given you honest answers as to why they send their children to boarding school. Are you considering sending your child to BS? If not, why on earth would you care why others choose to?
@dreamcatcher3: Simple. Because he wants to confirm that we are, as he suspected, terrible parents who use BS to fast forward our lives to “empty nest” status so that we can enjoy G&Ts at the club on the daily.
@SevenDad… clearly, you have exposed my deceitful plan. Now, if only I could send the 7 and 11 year old sibs with her, would it truly be perfect.
@dreamcatcher3 So many heartfelt responses to your original question, so many different answers and different views. I cannot figure out what information you still lack. What is it that still confuses you? Or makes you a skeptic?
If you’re simply trying to get a rise out of a group of people, why not take the high road and spend your time on the college boards where you are a heavy user; certainly this board isn’t giving you the satisfaction you seek. Or, be specific about any questions you have that have not been answered already.
^ @dreamcatcher3 is not the OP, @JustOneDad is. But the rest of @parlabane 's post is valid.
I prefer martini’s and only had one child so we could become empty nesters sooner than the Jones’s.
@ChoatieMom: In truth, I prefer campari & grapefruit juice, but I was trying to tone it down for the hoi poloi.
I wish people would share which* schools they sent their kids to because some of the info is excellent. Getting started on the boarding school search and now realize your child can end up ANYWHERE far from home and get a great education. No need to keep to close.
@gama: Welcome to the forum. Here’s a thread that contains family affiliations: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-parents/1624008-updated-bs-parent-resources-p5.html
But remember, the point is to see your children as little as possible. So send them as far away as possible. Le Rosey is the goal, if you live in the US. Plus, their blazers rock.
^^^This last para is a joke, btw. I am actually in the “closer is better” camp…even the 45 minute difference in driving distance to our kids’ two schools has made a huge difference in terms of getting to see sporting events, etc. The part about the Le Rosey blazers is not a joke, though.
@gama54321 yes, welcome! If you live on the East Coast, I favor sending them to the West Coast. I know just the school.
I have questions. It’s sorta how I am.
@JustOneDad - Agree. There is complexity to the decision. Parents and kids agonize over it. It’s strange - for my son it became an obvious decision to go away to BS and all of the anguish was over which one was the best fit. For my younger daughter, she is completely convinced that this would be a mistake for her and she has no intention of even applying to BS. @SevenDad - There goes our hopes for early empty nest status and drinking old fashion’s at the club.
FWIW - the “smart/mature/brave” description was not meant as a collection of reasons to go to BS. I used these adjectives as a description of different perceptions I have seen in different regions of the country (Northeast vs. West). There are plenty of kids that fit this description who choose not to go to boarding school, although I bet many of those kids don’t really know about it or at least are not presented with the opportunity.
Maybe JustOneDad is like someone I know.
He lets Jehovah’s Witness/LDS/etc folks in the house and have 2-3 hours of conversation. He is an atheist and will never convert but keeps doing that. He also answers telemarketers and talks for 30 minutes without getting excited. Usually the other party is the one who gets offended but he maintains the conversation. Usually the others hang up or leave the house hugely disappointed.
I never understand such a person as I’m one who slams the door or the phone to save time on both parties as I know I am un-convertible.
I am counting days till the other one is out of the house - 2 years and one month. - high school graduation, I won’t let him stay home for summer. :))
Empty nester in 4 months… (I feel like I should start a countdown, complete with a bottle of champagne right after we drive past the school and slow down slightly to shove him out the door)
That’s the spirit, @gusmom2000! Welcome to the forum! 
You probably haven’t gotten a ton of replies from boarding school parents because the OP sounds like you’ve already decided that there is no good reason. It reminds me of the “questions” I would get about my kids being in daycare. “Why have kids and then give them to someone else to raise?” Why waste my breath insisting that I am still raising them and talking about the positive side of daycare? They’ve ready decided. And the answers are similar, actually, but we get tired of answering questions that are actually implied judgments.
I have one child in boarding school and one who will go to HS at our local public school. We are not a boarding school family. My older son is very adventurous, outgoing, and independent. We went to a boarding school open house when he was in 8th grade and were blown away by the maturity, independence, and focus of the kids. My son said that he felt that he wanted to be one of those kids. The opportunities are amazing - great teachers available night and day by text or by knocking on their door, tons of activities right there, the need and expectation that you push yourself but focusing on the things you care about - music, athletics, art, community, etc. Being part of a community of teenagers, but for the most part very mature and hardworking teenagers. The mentorship of an advisor.
Do I miss my son? All the time. But I don’t make parenting decisions based on my wants, I make them based on what I believe will serve my children best in life. My son believes that going to his school has made him a better person and been helped form his ethics, focus, and drive during an age where kids can really go astray.
I also find that we are really close, perhaps because he doesn’t live at home all the time and I am not the one managing and disciplining him. With teens there is an element of more is less in parent interactions.
Hmmm…interesting theory. I can tell you it is not at all correct.
As to daycare, some studies have shown daycare to be good for children, improving academic progress and maturation in the way of independence and others have shown it to create more problems for children later in life. Whatever the answer is, the studies actually agree more on the observation that the worse things are at home, socioeconomically, the better daycare is for the child.
@JustOneDad - Do you have HS age children? If there is a legitimate curiosity over the benefits of BS for your kids, check out some of the marketing put forth by the association of boarding schools (TABS).
http://www.boardingschools.com/discover.aspx
I think that the daycare and pre-school analogy is reasonable - I am sure that when daycare and pre-schools first became popular 50+ years ago, there was a great debate over it. I bet that there was a debate when kids starting traveling across the country to go to college - this is a relatively new concept and more prevalent in the US compared to other regions in the world.
There was a family with two adopted girls in the Montessori school my kids went. Someone commented why adopt kids if you are going to send them to daycare? With that logic, adopted kids need home schooling?