<p>I think it’s helpful to remember the reasons parents make these kinds of comments. Some are genuinely befuddled by the idea of boarding school, some think BSes are places only “bad” kids are sent. But in my experience some parents who hear your child is going off to a selective boarding school are secretly worried that their own child is being left behind. “Oh, my gosh, we never even thought about sending little Janie to boarding school. Does this mean Zookeeper’s child will be heading off to Harvard in 4 years while mine will be at Directional State U?” Parents can be crazy and thoughtless in their panic over schools, and I find it helps to reframe the conversation in my head from “That parent is criticizing my family and our choices” to “That parent is worried about their own child and the possibility that s/he’s missing out on opportunities we’ve jumped on for our own.” </p>
<p>I also find that it helps to home in on a specific program or opportunity the school provides for your child that wasn’t available at home. That way you can explain why your child’s at a BS without denigrating the choices of the parents who have kept their child in the school yours has just left. An example might be, “Zoobaby’s really passionate about astronomy and X school has their own observatory. She’ll miss her friends at home but we know we’re doing what’s right for her.” or “Zoobaby really wanted the opportunity to row crew and the closest program to us is over an hour away. This way he won’t have to spend 2 extra hours in the car each day and I’ll be able to keep my job!”</p>