A Letter From De NianBo’s Parents.

When my son turned six, my wife and I made the decision to enroll him in school in Beijing. It was not the housing cost or pollution that worried us about moving him to Beijing, it was sending our son to live at a boarding school.

At first, we did not feel very comfortable sending him so far away for boarding school. At first he was happy and excited. However, this could have been because he did not fully realize that he would be living at the school without us. Everything that he was going to experience would be new.
We were very worried during his first week of school. Would he get sick? Would he be scared to be without us? Would he cry? But we heard that he had learned so much and that he was being looked after well by all of the teachers. We were relieved.
However, we did discover that he was having trouble being away from us for a full week. He’s happy to see us every Friday, but always sad to have to say goodbye Sunday nights. We tried to convince him that this is the best thing for him, and he pretended to understand, but we could tell he really wanted to stay at home with us. One Sunday, he could not stop crying, and begged us to let him stay at home with us. This absolutely broke my heart, and I was in tears.
My son’s homeroom teacher sent us pictures everyday so we could feel closer to him, and could see him grow up. This made us feel so much better. No matter how busy we are, we will never miss flying to Beijing to pick him up. We want to hear him tell us all about his week, what he learned, his friends at school, everything.

Now that he has been at boarding school for more that one hundred days, we can see that it has gotten easier. Not just for him, but for us too. We want the best for our son, and he knows that. Even though being away from us is very difficult for him, he wants to stay in boarding school to make us proud. Not only is he progressing in academics, he is also progressing in socializing with his peers. He has also gained self-esteem and has become quite the jokester. He has told us many times that he loves BRFLS, teachers, and friends.
This year my son has had perfect attendance, and he has never complained once. This makes me realize that my son is being well cared for by all of the teachers and staff at BRFLS. I want to thank everyone at BRFLS for providing my son with a great education and a comfortable environment. My son would not be where he is today without BRFLS.
My dear son, your dad is so proud of you!