Joining Form One in a boarding school is good for both learners, their parents

The week Form One students are joining secondary school is with us again. Most of the parents will be separated from their parents for the first time and are scared. I am glad I did mine last year when Miss Oj the lady who is allowed to use my resources without any excuse joined Form One. The surprising thing is that she opted for boarding rather than day school, which was a good thing. To my surprise, she coped well and could not wait to go to Form Two this year. My son survived boarding school and went to a day school but for college, I threw him in the deep end by taking him to a foreign land and told him to imagine he was joining a boarding school only that he would be cooking for himself.

Taking my daughter to boarding school reminded me of the first time I was joining Form One. It was a boarding school and was the first time I was separated from my parents. But things changed when I joined Queen of Apostles Seminary. I had a big blue metal box that contained my belongings with a huge tri-circle padlock with my keys around my waist. It was a culture shock as it was the first time I was going to sleep in a dormitory with 20 strangers yet I was used to my own room. I ate foods like githeri like every evening yet I was used to my mother's food, which was always prepared to perfection.

I was meeting with people from other towns: Some had never been to Nairobi, others only visited the city during the annual show. Interacting with them for the first time humbled some of us who came from Nairobi as we used to assume that the world revolved around us. This was the first time I was going to do laundry in large-scale and also learn about budgeting my pocket money. I had heard about bullying in schools, especially from my good friends Richard Gitiba and my brother Antony Kirori who had gone to Kabete Technical School.

But Antony had given me a good pep talk about always defending myself and never letting anyone bully me. That is one thing that never bothered me as I was from Buru and had dealt with bullies from Jericho estate and trust me that made me a hardcore. Studies were not an issue as my dad had instilled that in me from the time I was young.

Back to Miss Oj. First, she was to be bought a suitcase as per their school requirement, not a metal box. Unlike me who nearly carried the whole of my mother's kitchen, they were not allowed to carry food as their menu included what I will call nice food. Then I realised that actually, times had changed but I was happy because my dad always told me that I better work hard and make sure his grandchildren have a better life than what he gave me.

To the new parents taking their kids to boarding school for the first time, they should not be afraid; just hope for the best and hope the discipline they have instilled in them will work. That independence is a good thing but again one has to really check on them during holidays and if you are a keen parent, you will notice if there is a concern.

I believe Form One is the beginning of instilling discipline in life and just like a boot camp, the kids should adopt.