...what ultimately made the difference for me in deciding not to have my kids skip - I don't want them leaving home before they have to.
This was one of the factors that made our decision(s) to skip all the tougher. It is difficult to respond to friends and family when they ask about this because, of course, we don't want her out of the house two years sooner, or for that matter, ever. But it comes back to making the best decision for our DD15 and her situation, even if it robs us of more in-house time with our DD.
However, looking at the long game, it may pay off down the road. As DD has told us when rejecting gap year or foreign exchange options - she does not want to give back any of the skipped years. She is instead looking at them as a way to get through medical school and still be in her twenties when she starts a family. So - maybe we're trading two years of her adolescence for two extra years of grandparenting. And with compound interest... that's like 8 years, right?
Best of luck,
--S.F.
