Mother’s day conversation and thoughts

Yesterday during our Mother’s day brunch, I met a nice English lady that was sent to boarding school when she was 3.5 years old.  She didn’t seem upset or unhappy about it, she just said “It was normal at the time”. When I asked if she spent weekends and vacations with her parents, she answered “No, mostly with my grandparents”.  I tried hard not to be judgmental and just ask questions to satisfy my curiosity. Am I too harsh to judge those parents who don’t want to participate much on their kids’ upbringing? Is it easier to be a parent when you just pay a monthly tuition? Can you imagine growing up without somebody hugging you or kissing you when you’re upset or fall down?

Never thought much about boarding schools, not even while watching Harry Potter.  I put some thoughts into it when I read the news about the AirFrance Plane crash. One of the victims was an 11 year old boy that died alone. He was part of a British family living in Brazil and was sent to a boarding school in Europe. I had bad thoughts about the parents, how could they send their little kid alone to a boarding school in another continent?

But lately I have found that it’s quite common for the English to send their kids to boarding school for “proper British upbringing”.  Most of the English that I work with went to boarding school, and some of them have kids on boarding schools. It may create wonderful business people as they grow up without strong attachments; you see British bosses/leaders at almost any multi-national company. Are they more cold headed and can make better business decisions? Are they scarred for life?  Were their emotional needs met?

In my mind, it is OK to send a teenager for international exchange or to a boarding school, but just the thought of shipping Lucas any time soon to some boarding school makes me cringe.