Boarding Schools can be very rewarding for your child…..

In today’s world of frequent shifting of careers, job hopping and transfers, children’s education has become quite an issue to deal with. Practically speaking, it is very difficult for the child to get adjusted to a new city/environment/school every 2-3 years, and even more so for the parent who has to seek admission for their children in whichever city they end up serving.

In such a situation, Boarding Schools provide a very viable alternative to worrying parents, more often than not. They provide stability to the child growing up, provides independence to him as he is away from home, inculcates a sense of discipline, helps him make friends for a lifetime and also they relieve you from the worry of mistimed hackles of getting an admission done for your kid. The children, in many cases, enjoy their growing up a lot more in Boarding Schools. They are provided laptops where they can download movies, get skype and have regular chats with parents. Parents can also visit their child at regular intervals. At the end of the day, they become self sufficient, which is very important.

However, the downside to all this is, children may get detached from their families if they are away for too long in a faraway place. Another common dilemma that parents face is that at what age they should send their child to a Boarding School, if they do decide to do so. I guess, in today’s world, one would typically do so when the child is about 9-11 years old, when the child is mentally developed enough to look out for himself, to understand why their parents are taking such a drastic step and also to have a prescience that this would build his personality to a great extent.

Boarding Schools, or in fact hostel life also, can be tough for people who find difficult to blend in with students from different cultural backgrounds. I have seen many people in my hostel in IIT who used to isolate themselves from the crowd and get themselves locked up in their rooms. Such behaviour can induce unwanted risks also, such as a mob of students beating up one poor guy, which is not uncommon either in Boarding Schools. In such cases, parents should never ignore the child if he is wants to come back home.

As does all things in life, sending your child to a Boarding School also has its share of pitfalls, but if the child is gutsy enough, to ride through the difficult times then he can come out of that in flying colours. It is a tough decision to make, but then, life is not a bed of roses either!