Boarding Schools should Be Scrapped. Children Need Their Parents

Over the last decade, boarding schools have been gaining more popularity, with parents opting to send their kids to such schools as early as fourth grade. While this has been happening, we have also seen other trends on the rise, which is immorality amongst school-going children. Children seem to have a knack for testing life early from drug and substance abuse, delinquency, exam cheating, and reckless sexual behaviors. The lack of active parenting is a pivotal contributor to this as children miss from an early age to be socialized into society by their parents. In schools, especially with the abolishment of corporal punishments, regulation and discipline of a child’s behavior have become a significant problem. Teachers have resolved to limit their duties to academics, thus promoting the rot in the character of most students who do not have continued mentorship and support from their parents—the idea of going back to day-schools is becoming quite appealing and a better option for several reasons:

1. Children have a solid foundation for mentorship.

While under the care of their parents and their immediate community, children are often easy to monitor and mentor. Keen parents often read signals from their children regarding how they communicate through their dressing and peer involvement. They can present themselves as understanding and approachable hence children can consult if they are stuck on specific issues. In other cases, parents can quickly initiate conversations surrounding drugs, sex, and life without waiting for the child to ask if they sense the time is right. 

Because they are closely monitoring their children, there are high chances they will be sent to camps, religious centers, and campaigns to foster their personal, spiritual and social growth. If they are constantly being shipped off to boarding schools, they have limited time to relax and partake in these empowerment programs early enough. Parents assume that their children are taught some values in school, which may not be the case. Sex education is not well established in our schools. It also becomes hard to notice strange behavior from children that have been away from the vicinity of their parents most of the time.

2. Children get to bond with their parents and grow mentally and emotionally.

It is well known that early interactions between a child and their parents determine how they socialize and understand the world around them. Children who bond with their families over dinner, spend time together and receive positive feedback-invalidation and love often develop secure attachment styles and are more emotionally stable. They can also interact well with others and can maintain a healthy social life regardless of their personality. This means they can regulate their emotions well and are capable of questioning right from wrong. 

Children need to establish these mental skills early to guide them when making decisions. If they cannot learn these, they can commit reckless acts such as arsons and unprotected sex until the world teaches them a lesson. They also become masters of deceit. Most of them live double lives, angels at home and devils on the street, making it challenging to help them. The lucky ones may be summoned to school only to be shocked by their child’s behavior. But at least they have a head start towards initiating change. Sometimes, when the parents get wind of what is happening, it’s already late because boarding schools can provide a breeding ground for radical ideas and immoral behavior.

3. Children get access to extended social support.

Human beings need social support, and man is not an island. We need people to talk to, share social activities with, and lend a helping hand once in a while, whether in fulfilling tasks or financially. When you put your child in a boarding school, chances are the only social support they will build will be around their peers. At this point of development, it’s easy for them to mislead each other as they lack information, wisdom, and emotional maturity. Therefore, falling under adverse peer pressure becomes easy.

In a home setting, things change. They can draw support from their parents, and that support extends even to close family members such as elder siblings, grandparents, and close aunties and uncles. Even if they have little family support, in a community, there are always solid spiritual leaders who can still support a child emotionally and mentally. It is crucial for a child to grow up close to their parents for support, emotionally, mentally, and even financially. To be giving them sane advice and leading them in the right direction. Many ladies fall victim to being lured by money from men when that brokenness hits them while they are still boarding schools, and they need a few things to survive on. This happens especially when their parents are not willing to send money or rarely pick calls.

 A word to the parents: Always being eager to send your child away may end up communicating to them that they are unwanted at home, creating a rift between you and your child. It is your primary role to guide them reasonably, not to hand them over to teachers. That means that even at home, you have to create a conducive environment for them to develop well. Make it a habit to invest in your child’s well-being.

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