Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 19: "The boarding school effects on children"

Imagine waking up by 5:00am in the very cold hands of the day to take a bath with cold water.😄
That was how most of my days as a boarder went.

I always wanted to experience what it was like be a boarder, what it was like to make somewhere else home.
With this mindset, I opted for a boarding house right after secondary and I spent all my six college life as a boarder.

_{A picture of my friends and I in front of our school library.}

Being a boarding student shaped my life a great deal. The way I think, talk, and act is partly as a result of going to a boarding house. I had good, bad, fun, sad and even thoughtful times.

As a JSS1 student who was new to the system, it was difficult adapting at first. I misplaced almost all I had, was always early for meals but late for any other function. I hated waking up early and this was another aspect I wasn't even ready to adapt.
Most times, I missed out on the morning devotion which was carried out outside our dormitory because I'm always too fast asleep to get awaken by the ringing bell.

Another thing I didn't quite like was the quality of most meals. The meals were good but on an average level and so we had to use additional species to make the food taste better to us. Even with the poor meal quality, I hardly missed any...lol.

My best days were visiting days when my parents and siblings came to see me with food, drinks and gist of course. Coming from a family of seven and having many relations around, visiting days felt like a mini picnic for me.
I usually skip school meals every visiting day just so I can eat the home cooked food to my satisfaction. Some days, I will even keep some to eat later at night. It's actually funny looking back at all I did and went through.

Asides visiting days, I also had amazing time when I'm around friends. Having people to talk and laugh with, people to motivate you when you're down and people to always look out for you.
Being around this set of people was incredibly refreshing, and it made up one of the reasons I kept resuming each term.

Dressed in our Sunday white.	Ready for sports in our sport wears.

In our school uniform.	In our compound wear and preps wear.

My boarding school being an all girls school enhanced my introverted lifestyle. I mean, I was never an extrovert but then, I wasn't also a total introvert.
Spending most of that six years of my life in an all girls school had a way of shaping my social life. A large part of my friend zone is made up of mostly girls due to my inability to freely interact with the opposite gender.
This, I'm actively working on.

In all, my experiences were interesting and they taught me a lot!

Sincerely, I will love my kids to experience both systems (boarding and day) by beginning with day and finishing in a boarding house.
This I believe, will give them the opportunity to experience and understand both lives without feeling left out in any.

What have been the experience trying to relate, to bond or to adjust a kid after spending years in a boarding facility.

After spending years in a boarding facility and adjusting to that way of leaving, you're definitely going to take that lifestyle to the larger society.

Bonding and relating with others might be difficult at first but then, you get to live out of that life. For others though, it might be nothing, I mean, not everyone in a boarding house gets influenced by the way of leaving there. Some still get to retain and live their lives the way they always had.

Do boarding school really produce people who are ready and able to cope with the reality of life without the traditional parental guidance?

Yes!
After spending such a long time away from home and parenting instructions and guidance, you slowly develop a sense of independence were you can think and act for yourself without always looking up to someone for that.

This is NOT to say other systems of schooling do not produce individuals who are independent and ready to cope with the reality of life. As a matter of fact, they do but with a boarding facility, the percentage is high.

Can the discipline obtained from such institution equal that of the parents at home? What can't be learnt in a boarding facility? Do you think they are missing out of any important aspect of their development?

Just like the school, the family (home) plays a vital role in the life of a child. A good family background and discipline influences a child's life in many ways a school might not be able to.

No doubt a boarding house offers good discipline to a child, but the family as well contributes to their well-being and that's why they're breaks and holidays where you get to go back home as well.
So in my opinion, they're not really missing a lot so far as they go back home from time to time.

_{A picture of my friends and I on our graduation day.}

A boarding system just like a day system has it's strengths and weaknesses.
As a parent or guardian, it is your duty to weigh these strengths and weaknesses and see which your ward is better off coping with.

Thank you @steem4nigeria for organizing this interactive contest. I'm inviting my friends, @bossj23, @basil20, and @whizzbro4eva to participate.

   Thanks for reading my post.