This why I do not support boarding school for young children - a boarding nursery and primary school caught fire and the TV reporter was asking a young 20-something parent what class her deceased child was in. "Top Class" she responded as she sobbed!!
Age 5 - that's Top Class - nursery! An unkind reporter should have told her that she had killed her own child!!
I believe a child belongs at home and therefore they should attend day school until S4. It's really simple logic. By saying boarding children spend only 12 weeks at home you're being generous. The fact is it's less than 12 weeks: the bitter truth is that boarding children are sent home purely to collect fees and perhaps give teachers a break. The time the learners arrive home doesn't signal that parents must be home earlier and more often.
The arrival of the learners signals that dad and mom if both are working, (which is the case most times these days) must go out to look for the money needed by the learners. But Venansio - the Author of 'Chaos As Parents Create a Vacuum That Nobody Else Can Fill' raises the interesting point of the parents who have affluence and can even afford such luxuries as holiday coaching. They happen to be the same parents that send six-figure pocket money to their boarding learners. Many actually don't even turn for Visiting Day (VD), preferring to send relatives with a lot of money and tons of food-related supplies.
Read: Chaos As Parents Create a Vacuum That Nobody Else Can Fill
A lot of money in the hands of financially illiterate children from even more illiterate parents is breeding some little monsters at school that the school authorities cannot touch. The little monsters understand the power of money (that's the full extent of their financial literacy) and will turn "their not so well resourced counterparts" into virtual slaves - washing, ironing, cleaning, collecting food, doing their share of school chores, and for a little extra cash they do homework for the little monsters! The little monsters are parented at home by full bouquet cable television, by adult maids and by fellow older monsters in the shopping malls where they congregate!
Parents of the monsters are either blissfully unaware of what's going on or don't know what to do. So, they throw money at the problem - hoping it will magically disappear. It never does! The little monsters of mid-primary to O-Level grow into big menacing and bullying monsters of A - level. Their hormones often lead them to rape and sodomy.
Can I for once play Devil's Advocate and defend all the dysfunctional and absentee parents - even the undeserving ones - just for once! The dysfunctional absentee parent of today is probably aged between 38 and 55. Take a long hard look back into the past and you'll find a parent born in the 80s who was himself the victim of serious parental dysfunction. He/she cannot give what they did not get growing up. The chickens have come home to roost. The clock has turned full cycle. For those who have and can read the Bible (even if you're not Christian) meditate on 1 Kings 3:16-23 - If you go to sleep on parental duty, no matter what the cause of your being sleepy - you could be tired or unwell, overworked or stressed - no matter how justifiable - if you sleep on parental duty the child will die!!
By John Bigyemano
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An active, involved and engaged parent
Email: jbigyemano@gmail.com