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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Boarding school syndrome

184 replies

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 15:19

I’d love to chat with people who’s dealing with a spouse that may be experiencing the boarding school syndrome.

The lack of love they received during their teenage years. Unable to pass down the love they think they have towards their own children. Always critical, no matter how hard their kids try (and do well). Always think they’re the best at everything. Very critical towards their spouse. Think their family are happy purely because of their existence.

I don’t know if I can tolerate this anymore.

OP posts:
godmum56 · 03/11/2025 23:34

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 22:17

Just wanted to say thank you to all who have kindly commented on here and shared their thoughts and experiences.

DH is home and is in a good mood, chatting to DS as if nothing happened.

I’ve sent him a text and demanded him to read up on narcissistic parenting, the family scapegoat and the golden child, and that his behaviour needs to stop right away otherwise I am leaving him.

He’s read my message.

Great start, I hope its the wake up call he needs.

Grinsta · 03/11/2025 23:35

OP I would suggest you get some good quality counselling yourself. A space to talk through how you relate to your marriage, and how you parent with this man.

This is not just about how he is and what he does. Ultimately you have no control over that. Whereas where you can really make a difference to to your own life, and those of your children, is by looking at what is within your power to change. Therapy can be really good for that. Focus on your own experience, your own sense of self and figure out how to do best for yourself and your children.

If you just drift along and wait for him to change, every month he pulls the same old shit is another month your children are being impacted.

Can you tell I was a boarder?! Self reliance above all things! But when you see children interviewed about difficult upbringing they can hold a huge amount of anger towards the parent who sits by and lets it happen. I know you are here posting for ideas and insight so you are not being passive here, but I think therapy might help you find a more productive way forward than just sending him links accusing him of being a narcissist.

Gair · 03/11/2025 23:40

clinellwipe · 03/11/2025 19:45

Jumping in after reading one of your replies to say I also believe my parents in law are both autistic, as is my husband and our son

In this case it might be difficult to seperate out what might be caused by Boarding School Syndrome and what might be caused by the autism.

Since persistent deficits in reciprocal social communication and social interaction is the primary criterion for an autism diagnosis, your husband's behaviour/"emotional unavailability" might be due to autism. Have you looked into this as a family? Understanding each other's sensory needs and triggers and working on sensory processing (e.g. interoception influences being able to recognise one's emotions) can really help improve quality of life. Understanding differences in communication is also very helpful. This does all require effort and patience and compassion (including self-compassion) though.

MsPavlichenko · 03/11/2025 23:46

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 19:26

Thank you all for your comments. I am now starting to wonder whether his traits are really related to BSS as I stated on my original post or something else.

The fact that he bullies our DS telling him everything that he’s doing wrong I’m guessing stems from his childhood, though I don’t have a clue what. DH and DS have similar personalities they are both very intelligent and all rounders. However DH adores our DD to bits (she is less high anchieving than DS) always praising her for everything she does.

Some of you have mentioned I might be better off separating from him but the kids love him so much (even DS) they wouldn’t even consider leaving him, so the only thing I could do is for me to leave by myself but they would also hate that as I am very close to them too.

I would personally be happier being away from him however. Will consider therapy even if just for myself (I’ve had therapy myself for various things as I’ve had difficult upbringing which is very different from DH’s)

Edited

Your DC might well love him. Children often love their abusive parents. That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for them to continue to be damaged by him. It’s not. You need to face up to this, however difficult it is.

If your DH has an epiphany, if he suddenly seeks help that’s excellent. Regardless your job is to protect your children which means accepting you, and they are living in an entirely dysfunctional and abusive situation ( albeit he’s nice sometimes ), and get out of it. Otherwise the consequences will be heartbreaking.

Jambags · 04/11/2025 00:03

My ex was a boarding school kid and after being with them I can spot adults who have been educated that way a mile off. They had very different perspectives on parental relationships, always seemed to have this scarcity fear over resources. Very very possessive around personal items being touched or moved or thrown away (even if legitimate rubbish).
I don't think it made them the best person they could be by any stretch and certainly gave them some tough experiences that they had to navigate with absolutely no parental support.

Gair · 04/11/2025 00:10

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 19:46

Criticises how DS eats, how he sits, makes him tell us what he did today and criticises that. “So what did you achieve today?” He asks. “Nothing really” DS replies. Obviously DH gets upset and makes a scene.

Gosh, I really recognise this pattern of at table issues and communication issues.

Your husband seems to be taking your son's "Nothing really" at face value. He is interpreting it literally. This is an autistic trait. Your husband might also be struggling massively with sensory triggers during mealtimes. I have this issue with my son - we are a total sensory clash, but are learning to navigate it with patience (well, we try...) and compassion (when we've got a grip and are able to better regulate). I do find his need to touch his food (sensory seeking) and the constant swinging/wiggling/slouching very hard to put up with while I eat, I get a negative physical reaction to it. He's just started secondary school, so this is quite different to the standard behaviour at this age, but his nervous system needs this. As the adult I have to try and make sure that I am well regulated to cope with mealtimes, since he depends on me for co-regulation - it is not always easy, and very occasionally I need to eat seperately for the greater good. Funnily enough, until recently, my son also told me he'd done nothing at school when asked what he'd been up to. This would happen every day! Eventually I realised that he needed to decompress from school first before answering. Also it is much better to start with a low stakes question such as "What did you have for lunch?". Then I might ask how his day went before I asked about how he'd got on in his lessons. Asking specific questions works much better than asking open ended questions. This seems to be working much better. Only this evening he asked me if I was OK because I had not asked how his day was (routine!). I was distracted by a bad migrane and they had come home late from after school activities, so it was nice in a way that he noticed and missed my asking.

@boardingschoolwife , I replied earlier to a comment made by @clinellwipe , and I think some of that info might apply to your family too from your description.

However, autism/ND differences are not an excuse for being a horrible person. So, if your DH won't do anything to improve the situation (even with help and understanding from you), then that's his failing. First I think you need to identify what the root cause of the behaviour is, then proceed accordingly. Our day to day family life has improved massively since we identified that we are dealing with a complex combination of neuro developmental differences - even when things are going totally pear shaped we can now understand why and try to do better next time.

ComedyGuns · 04/11/2025 00:11

My Mum went to boarding school and tended to shut down anything too personal.

I was really bullied in my first term of secondary school and, when I bucked up the courage to talk to her about it, just replied “You’ve had a wonderful life” and went back to reading The Telegraph.

I still adored her and miss her terribly.

Tvtvtv · 04/11/2025 00:54

You’ve had a lot of replies already and well done for plucking up the courage to step up to your husband.

just our experience:

My DH didn’t go to boarding school but he was a child actor and was in academies/programmes that did tours/worked away. His parents were definitely pushy, he spent everyday apart from one school night either working/at classes and his favourite night was the one at home. He’d get picked up from school, eat his dinner in the car, and be ferried around to his classes. He talks fondly of his chaperones like they were some kind of second aunts but he was bullied badly. He was in an ALW show and kept being made to perform on a sprained ankle and when he was 11 on tour the other boys in his dorm (including current household names) bullied him as he was the only one not in full time acting school/posh but he just wanted to be at home watching his cartoons. He had to do that tour for a couple of years until he stood up in his audition and refused to part take.

Now he refuses to stay away from home. For his best mate’s stag do he drank coke all night so he could drive home. If he has to travel for work (left acting at 17 much to his parent’s horror..) we travel with him. He collects vintage toys and I’ll quite often find him sitting in his pj’s in the living room watching cartoons. It’s like he never got to be a kid so now he’s making up for it. Home is his happy place and his family is his safe space. He’s a wonderful husband and father but sometimes I wish he went to therapy for his sake.

shhblackbag · 04/11/2025 01:23

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 19:46

Criticises how DS eats, how he sits, makes him tell us what he did today and criticises that. “So what did you achieve today?” He asks. “Nothing really” DS replies. Obviously DH gets upset and makes a scene.

Your poor child. He deserves not to have to live like this.

I’ve sent him a text and demanded him to read up on narcissistic parenting, the family scapegoat and the golden child, and that his behaviour needs to stop right away otherwise I am leaving him.

Good for you. Good luck.

PrincessFiorimonde · 04/11/2025 01:27

Some years ago I knew a man who'd been sent to boarding school at the age of 8. He could actually see his family house from the windows on the top floor of his school. Not surprisingly, he felt abandoned as a child. He later married and had two children of his own (swearing he'd never send them to boarding school!). As far as I know, he was/is a loving and involved dad, determined that his children would never feel the way he had felt as a kid. He never had a great relationship with his parents, though.

Best wishes, OP.

XWKD · 04/11/2025 03:41

Apart from the bullying, a lot of it depends on the home environment I suppose. I knew a girl who went to boarding school because her parents' careers meant that they worked abroad a lot. She seemed to be very well adjusted, but must have had a desperately lonely childhood.

PennyRest · 04/11/2025 03:57

Good luck OP

mathanxiety · 04/11/2025 04:25

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 19:26

Thank you all for your comments. I am now starting to wonder whether his traits are really related to BSS as I stated on my original post or something else.

The fact that he bullies our DS telling him everything that he’s doing wrong I’m guessing stems from his childhood, though I don’t have a clue what. DH and DS have similar personalities they are both very intelligent and all rounders. However DH adores our DD to bits (she is less high anchieving than DS) always praising her for everything she does.

Some of you have mentioned I might be better off separating from him but the kids love him so much (even DS) they wouldn’t even consider leaving him, so the only thing I could do is for me to leave by myself but they would also hate that as I am very close to them too.

I would personally be happier being away from him however. Will consider therapy even if just for myself (I’ve had therapy myself for various things as I’ve had difficult upbringing which is very different from DH’s)

Edited

You're not running a democracy.

As a grown adult, you are allowed and supposed to make executive decisions on behalf of your children. You're making one every day you decide not to take action, after all.

Your H is doing something very sinister to both of your children - there's a golden child and a scapegoat. He's making mealtimes miserable. He's showing both of them what a verbally abusive relationship with a spouse looks like.

Every single one of you will reap what he is sowing, and part of that harvest will be the destruction of your relationship with both of your children.

funmatters · 04/11/2025 07:23

Tvtvtv · 04/11/2025 00:54

You’ve had a lot of replies already and well done for plucking up the courage to step up to your husband.

just our experience:

My DH didn’t go to boarding school but he was a child actor and was in academies/programmes that did tours/worked away. His parents were definitely pushy, he spent everyday apart from one school night either working/at classes and his favourite night was the one at home. He’d get picked up from school, eat his dinner in the car, and be ferried around to his classes. He talks fondly of his chaperones like they were some kind of second aunts but he was bullied badly. He was in an ALW show and kept being made to perform on a sprained ankle and when he was 11 on tour the other boys in his dorm (including current household names) bullied him as he was the only one not in full time acting school/posh but he just wanted to be at home watching his cartoons. He had to do that tour for a couple of years until he stood up in his audition and refused to part take.

Now he refuses to stay away from home. For his best mate’s stag do he drank coke all night so he could drive home. If he has to travel for work (left acting at 17 much to his parent’s horror..) we travel with him. He collects vintage toys and I’ll quite often find him sitting in his pj’s in the living room watching cartoons. It’s like he never got to be a kid so now he’s making up for it. Home is his happy place and his family is his safe space. He’s a wonderful husband and father but sometimes I wish he went to therapy for his sake.

Interesting experience and shows it's not just about boarding school but aspirational middle class culture. Thankfully, I imagine this sort of child acting where they are away from home doesn't happen any longer in this day and age?

ConcernedOfClapham · 04/11/2025 07:41

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 20:05

He puts me down. DH was criticising DS for something so I stepped in and said DS tried his best and it was great watching him do xyz DH raised his voice and said “you don’t know anything about xyz, you’ve never tried it yourself have you? Let me talk to him”

I went to Boarding School, and am still dealing with emotional issues relating to it 35years after leaving.

Your husband DOES NOT have BSS; he’s just nasty.

Please re-evaluate yours and your children’s lives, and think about getting out of this toxic and abusive relationship.

Snugglemonkey · 04/11/2025 08:12

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 19:46

Criticises how DS eats, how he sits, makes him tell us what he did today and criticises that. “So what did you achieve today?” He asks. “Nothing really” DS replies. Obviously DH gets upset and makes a scene.

Why do you allow this? This is bullying!

Snugglemonkey · 04/11/2025 09:01

CatherinedeBourgh · 03/11/2025 22:42

Dh went to boarding school. He has told me before that until he met me he had never felt loved.

He is nothing like you describe. He never, ever puts me or the dc down. On the contrary, he acts like I'm God's gift or something (I'm really not).

Loves us all completely unconditionally, would be willing to die for us (and it's not just saying that, he did in fact put himself seriously in harm's way for ds and me and has never once complained about the lifelong consequences of doing so).

Doesn't think he's the best at anything despite the fact that he usually is. And it's taken me 35 years to persuade him that we are happy for his existence, and don't actually secretly wish he wasn't there (we're getting there).

He is incredibly supportive (and grateful) of my relationship with dc. He once told me 'when I see you being so loving with our boys, the little boy inside who never felt loved heals a little'. It was and remains the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

That is really lovely!

gannett · 04/11/2025 09:17

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 19:46

Criticises how DS eats, how he sits, makes him tell us what he did today and criticises that. “So what did you achieve today?” He asks. “Nothing really” DS replies. Obviously DH gets upset and makes a scene.

This sounds less like boarding school syndrome and much more like pushy tiger parenting where nothing less than high achievements and straight As are accepted. I'm familiar with both, and sometimes they occur in the same family, but they have nothing to do with each other. The former is emotional repression stemming from deep-seated childhood abandonment issues; the latter is vicariously living through your children and seeing them as extensions of yourself, rather than individuals in their own right, either to compensate for a parent's lack of achievement or because the parent was a high achiever themselves.

Both very very hard to fix in my experience. Boarding school syndrome is almost designed to prevent self-reflection in the people going through it. But pushy parenting comes from a very fixed and rigid worldview and I've actually never seen anyone who's inflicted it on their children ever acknowledge they were wrong.

Both very damaging in their own right and well done OP for pulling her husband up on it. Make no mistake that your son's love for his father is not mutually exclusive with his father having a huge negative impact on how he grows up - in fact it is because he loves his father and wants to please him that this is so damaging.

Whatabouterytoutery · 04/11/2025 09:29

Grinsta · 03/11/2025 23:35

OP I would suggest you get some good quality counselling yourself. A space to talk through how you relate to your marriage, and how you parent with this man.

This is not just about how he is and what he does. Ultimately you have no control over that. Whereas where you can really make a difference to to your own life, and those of your children, is by looking at what is within your power to change. Therapy can be really good for that. Focus on your own experience, your own sense of self and figure out how to do best for yourself and your children.

If you just drift along and wait for him to change, every month he pulls the same old shit is another month your children are being impacted.

Can you tell I was a boarder?! Self reliance above all things! But when you see children interviewed about difficult upbringing they can hold a huge amount of anger towards the parent who sits by and lets it happen. I know you are here posting for ideas and insight so you are not being passive here, but I think therapy might help you find a more productive way forward than just sending him links accusing him of being a narcissist.

Really good advice. At the very least he is avoidant so you sending this is likely to be met with avoidant habits, minimising, dismissing, projecting that you are the problem, etc.

Topseyt123 · 04/11/2025 09:34

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 22:17

Just wanted to say thank you to all who have kindly commented on here and shared their thoughts and experiences.

DH is home and is in a good mood, chatting to DS as if nothing happened.

I’ve sent him a text and demanded him to read up on narcissistic parenting, the family scapegoat and the golden child, and that his behaviour needs to stop right away otherwise I am leaving him.

He’s read my message.

Well done. I hope he responds properly to your message and you are able to find a way forward.

If he either ignores the message or kicks off at you for it then you'll need to be able to follow through.

Good luck to you.

Tabbymctatty123 · 04/11/2025 09:44

boardingschoolwife · 03/11/2025 22:17

Just wanted to say thank you to all who have kindly commented on here and shared their thoughts and experiences.

DH is home and is in a good mood, chatting to DS as if nothing happened.

I’ve sent him a text and demanded him to read up on narcissistic parenting, the family scapegoat and the golden child, and that his behaviour needs to stop right away otherwise I am leaving him.

He’s read my message.

sorry @boardingschoolwife but thats actually a bit weird? is that the way you normally communicate about issues in the marriage? do you never go out for a coffee together away from the kids and just sit and have a proper talk together? i'm just a bit concerned that you seem so easily influenced by peoples opinion on a faceless social media site.

boardingschoolwife · 04/11/2025 09:47

This morning, we spent some time discussing the issue. Thanks to your advice, I was able to talk objectively about our family dynamics and that there is an urgent need to put an end to this to protect our DC’s childhood and their future.

It was a good chat, not perfect but much better than I’d expected to be honest. I know and believe he still wants the best for both our children. We both have our own past to process and get over, but I think him learning about the “psychological terms” put things into context and understand how damaging it could be to our DCs, is going to help him.

I also think he may be on the spectrum and have adhd. He is extremely sensitive to smell and chewing sounds. I am sensitive to loud noises. As one of the posters said, those are some of the issues we’ll also need to be working on going forward.

I don’t think he’s ever had any chance to talk back or express his inner thoughts to anyone growing up. Never opposed to his parents, had to abide by the strict rules at Boarding school.

I‘ve also learned here that BSS is completely different from his symptoms. However he may still yet to realise that “being sent to BS at a young age” felt like neglect. He may well still be in the “there’s nothing wrong with me” protective phase.

Anyway, as you say that’s not an excuse to let go of his terrible behaviour and I fully appreciate it now. It’s just me wanting to find out the root cause of it all. Did I marry a man who I thought was completely the opposite to my abusive father, in fact share a lot of similarities? What happened there? Why did I want to marry him and have children with him in the first place? Did I let him become the angry father? Was it me?

I know this is (probably) not the case, but I do go in circles thinking like this sometimes. As you could probably tell by now I have very low self-esteem.

Thanks all for reading my thread and for your kind words. I am truly grateful.

OP posts:
Platinumplate · 04/11/2025 11:37

Coming back to this OP. I don't think you say how old your kids are, but only you can make the decision as to how your family functions and whether or not your DH's behaviour/parenting is acceptable to you.

You sound like a self-aware person who asks questions of themselves and I think this is a very positive thing as we get older and raise our own children. I know that I have questioned my choices as to who I married (and the way I behave in relationships) in light of my own childhood dynamics and relationship with my father (who was not abusive, but there's a complexity there - a whole other thread!)

The point is, these questions are a good thing - but can you make your DH ask similar questions of himself? For my DH, it's been a slow process. I've had to reach a point of acceptance as to who he is. Will he go to therapy because I think that would be good for him? No. Will he ever truly recover from the crappy relationship with his parents? No. Will he be the most emotionally insightful person in my life? No.

HOWEVER - is he a good father? Yes. Is he loving towards our kids? Yes. Does he acknowledge that some elements of his behaviour can be negative, and does he try not to behave that way? Yes.

Bluntly, you cannot change who he is or the impact of the background he came from. All the understanding as to 'why' can be helpful for you of course, but it might not be enough if he's entirely unwilling to acknowledge his own behaviour and make effort for it not to impact on your family in a negative way.

101trees · 04/11/2025 17:57

Quite often people do accidentally marry a version of their abusive parent. There's a lot of statistics around it, I think the theory is that you're drawn to what's familiar in your childhood, not quite sure.

But it's worth going away and reading about that - and considering the implications for your own children.

If a daughter grows up with an exemplary and husband, she's seen how her husband should treat her. She's less likely to accept less than what she's seen. If she's grown up seeing her father put down and belittle her mother, and her mother tolerate it - what's the message there?

The trouble is, that there's no point in telling kids to "stop fucking swearing" because kids learn by example. You telling them something isn't acceptable doesn't mean anything if you continue to accept it with your actions.

With children of alcoholics, for example, they are hugely more likely to either turn into an alcoholic themselves, or marry one. That's despite having absolutely despised it as a child. Children of smokers are the same.

It's a similar deal with growing up in an abusive household. Your norms and boundaries are different. It's the example you witness as a child. No one on purpose marries someone abusive, mostly its that they haven't recognised it as abuse or excused it away in their own head. You're less likely to recognise abusive behaviour and move abruptly away from that person if you've grown up with it.

People who have very clear high boundaries know that they would not tolerate someone belittling them, so the first time it happens, that person is gone. The person who is has weaker boundaries will write more things off, be more likely to offer second chances, give excuses for the behaviour. So they are more likely to end up in an abusive relationship because the person with the high boundaries walked away at the first instance.

I think, if you're in a relationship you think might be abusive, the things it could be better to consider might be more along the lines of: what are your personal boundaries? What is and isn't ok to be done to you or under your roof? What would you want your children to see you taking action over because it is unacceptable? What example do you want to set for them to learn is just not acceptable to have done to them? Rather than trying to think of the reason the person who might be abusing you and/or your children might be that way.

To not end up in an abusive relationship by accident, you need to be clear on what is and isn't ok with you. It doesn't matter why the person who has crossed your boundary has crossed it, it just matters that its unacceptable to you. Then you need to take action. Boundaries only work if there are actions/consequences. It's extremely hard to do all this if you've grown up in a household where abuse was tolerated, you're on the back foot, your instinct is to give another chance and make an excuse for it, whereas someone else's would be to run in the opposite direction.

Duechristmas · 04/11/2025 18:19

I'm really surprised by the comments here. My DH was at boarding school for ten years, I don't recognize anything of him in what others are posting, except that he has zero relationship with his parents, he grew up in a completely different country and he is culturally very different to them.