BoardingPOV

Dad:

I think Michelle thought it was a trap. “Your readers have been listening to you now for almost a year, talking about the boarding school application/admissions process – now they probably want to know what it’s REALLY like to live in that sort of environment”… “Maybe you should write about DATING this time”?

Woop! Woop! Parent alert!  Or, at least that’s what I imagine she’s thinking. “Ah, sure dad” is what she says…

But honestly, my motives are pure – I just imagine you readers would like to hear more about things like boys and relationships, maybe about friendships gone awry, the things that can be complicated in a live-in community.   What do you think?  Now that you 8th grade readers have made it into boarding school, starting in the fall, are you interested in what it’s like to live there?  Parent readers, are you interested in what really goes on at a boarding school?

On the subject of boys and girls, I’m a realist – I know, everyone knows, that  high school is where people “try on” relationships and in rare cases people in high school end up getting married.  That’s O.K.  But like most parents, EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING screams “NOT YET!”.  I remember too well Michelle when she was much, much younger – and it seems like they grow up so fast!  (How many times has that been said in the history of parents and their kids? Yes, I know it’s lame!)

Oh, having been through high school myself, I recognize that any single relationship is unlikely to last for 4 years – but if it does, that’s O.K. too.  Michelle’s mom and I met it college – after all, we were pretty young too – if you count mid-twenties as young.

I remember meeting with another family, about this time of year, last year – and the other parents (of a junior at the same school) were telling us about their daughter’s friends and how we should expect that the best friends Michelle has her first year of school, likely won’t be her best friends her final years of school.  Makes sense – people change, you change.

So, what about it readers?  Shall we collectively encourage Michelle to talk about what it means to truly LIVE at school? Openly, honestly? Michelle, you have a chance to tell younger students what to expect.  I promise not to freak out – much.