Boarding school - good idea or bad idea?

[mudskipper]

Is your son a puppy?

Damn.

He is excitable and doesn't like having a bath, so possibly.

Hang on, that would make me a bitch...

[realityhack]

We really need an 'innocently whistling' smiley.

Edit: This'll do: <fail />

[AtW]

Prepare for boarding!

Arrggh

[EternalOptimist]

4 year olds? Why in heaven's name did their parents have children?

think about it.
If they are chavs, their kids sit in sh!t all day with their snot encrusted faces turned to day time tv or the ipad waiting for the macdonalds to arrive.
If they are a bit better off the kids are farmed out to family or child minders while they go for a nice quiet meal before they get plastered
If they are well off, they send them off to a boarding school

not everyone is cut out to be a good parent mich.
im obviously not saying that everyone whose kid has a snotty nose is a bad parent, or everyone who send kids to board

[Mich the Tester]

think about it.
If they are chavs, their kids sit in sh!t all day with their snot encrusted faces turned to day time tv or the ipad waiting for the macdonalds to arrive.
If they are a bit better off the kids are farmed out to family or child minders while they go for a nice quiet meal before they get plastered
If they are well off, they send them off to a boarding school

not everyone is cut out to be a good parent mich.
im obviously not saying that everyone whose kid has a snotty nose is a bad parent, or everyone who send kids to board

Fair explanation, but not much of a justification.

[MarillionFan]

In Russia, boarding school was tough. There would be no vodka before lunchtime and PE consisted of running across a minefield being chased by Alasations. Every month I would take my turn in the barrel(sometimes I would even nominate myself for extra duties). It was very tough.

ftfy

[d000hg]

Is it Roald Dahl's autobiography where he talks about older boys yelling "FAG!" when they needed a job doing, and whichever boy got there last had to do it?

[AtW]

ftfy

WHS

[shaunbhoy]

Especially that very English middle class fear that one's kids might turn out to be something other than 'middle class'.

How are you getting on with that one Mich?

[DodgyAgent]

I'll go a step further and challenge people on this now. Now you've read the stories, not just mine, but some of the others; maybe my school was an extreme case, but if you've read what some of the posters who did go to boarding school have said and you're still prepared to pay tens of thousands of pounds to let someone else take your children away and give them their idea of an upbringing then I can't help thinking you're a sad, deluded loser who should never have had children in the first place; maybe a sex starved bisexual 18 year old bullying prefect can actually do a better job than yourself. If only you'd used contraception you could have prevented a great deal of human suffering.

OK, maybe the horror stories are those of a minority, but it's a bigger minority than you think; do you want your kids to become a part of that minority? Well? Do you think sex abuse at boarding schools is peculiar to Irish catholic schools? Do you think children tell their parents everything that happens to them? If so then perhaps you're too naïve to have kids.

You chose to have kids; now give them an upbringing. At home. And don't give us weak excuses like 'oooh but my career, you know I can get that great job abroad but they'll have to start boarding'; what's it to be? Bring up your kids and let them be kids or have your bloody holy career?

I'll make an exception if your kids are disabled and they can get proper schooling in a caring environment in a boarding school for disabled kids, but I'd still say you should be very careful and listen to your kids very carefully.

You have now lost sight of objectivity here -things have moved since the old days . I went to boarding school at 7 and all my children so far have been to them albeit from 13. My first boarding school was one of the cruelest places on earth and parents didnt really want to know. Boarding is not right for every child but for me and my children (public school onwards) it was fantastic. The first thing it teaches you is independence - for good or bad- and it also when it works gives children confidence. And provided that confidence does'nt turn into cockiness (usually the fult of parents) it gives one a great start in life. If you are a confident sort or good at something (every child usually is) then it is great. For a lot of children it can be miserable but that tends to be the fault of the school and or the parents.
The other key is the terms of engagement. As long as children are not allowed to "coast" and have the full attention of teachers and housemasters then they will not fail.
Nowadays boarding schools are overwhelmingly inclusive with the parents and they now aspire to building parent associations to make the parents feel comfortable visiting the school and engaging with teachers and housemasters in particular. One o fthe great things about competition is that these schools are constantly striving for improvement and nowadays with so much information being so freely available it is difficult for bad private schools to hide.
One of the things I have learnt is never to be intimidated by "poshness" or "wealth" which is what happens to many who have come from the state sector who reveal their chippiness on the subject of private school.
As for day schools I am not sure I like the idea of having teenage kids hanging around the town after school. Incascerate them in a boarding school and bring them out at weekends