To feel really uneasy after reading this article??

[MyHouseIsASquashAndASqueeze]

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1248547/Would-send-child-boarding-school-eight.html

I know that boarding school is something I would neither choose nor could afford so it's not a choice I'll ever face. I personally think 8 is far, far too young to be sent away from home like this but obviously that's a gut feeling with little real experience.

I just find the way the mother speaks about it slightly disturbing:

"She's my soul mate,' says her mother, Sandra. 'But I feel I'm making a sacrifice here, and I'm hoping that, in the future, it will prove to be for April's benefit."

I've never heard anyone refer to their child as their soulmate before (especially when they're still only 8).

I don't think I have a main point, but it's just weird isn't it?? I find it hard to understand anyone sending a child that young away, but especially when the mother obviously feels so uneasy about it.

my ex boarded from 7 (in a differnet country to his mother) and was a weekly boarder in th esame country from 5. He was to a nice small co-ed boarding school, wasn't bullied, says it was a nice school... however the story of him crying for a week when he first went is terribly sad and even sadder is his assertion that he hardly knows his mother and has worked out that he has spent the sum total of (I can;t remember how long!) say 2 years with her since he was 7 and hardly knows her. You can tell a mile off that he was a boarding school boy.

My brother boarded by necessity for a couple of years about 9-11yrs and was terribly bullied.

My SIL boarded (forces family) and concedes that she struggled to raise her own family as she has no idea how families "work".

None would ever consider putting their children in boarding school until they are at least 11 (as a minimum)

I do accept that it will vary depending on child and parent but I personally think that the majority of 7-11 year olds would be better off at home unless there is a particularly pastoral boarding school with frequent visits home.

And besides - like Hecate I am far too selfish to be separated from DS for so long and as he spent his first year inj an institution, I think he's done enough "time" for one lifetime!