Some people would probably think that Suri Cruise is the luckiest girl in the world. In her short life (she turns 3 on April 18), Daddy Tom Cruise and Mommy Katie Holmes have reportedly spent a million dollars for her education. This includes private tutors to teach her Spanish and French, instructors for ballet, tap, and modern dance, gymnastics, art and music. She probably has the coolest playmates in the world – Romeo (6) and Cruz (4) Beckham, sons of David and Victoria Beckham. All for the sake of giving Suri a “well-rounded” education.

Some tabloids are a bit critical of Tom’s devotion for Suri. “You’d think she’s an only child”, apparently referring to Tom’s two adoptive kids with Nicole Kidman. I am not sure whether this accusation of favoritism is justified but indeed Isabella Jane (16) and Connor Antony (14) have remained away from the limelight, compared, for example, to the mixed brood of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt or Madonna.

During the last three years, my husband and I have been agonizing as to what to do with our twins’ education. Private international school or public school? The private schools have the advantage of English being the medium of instruction. The main disadvantage, as you can well guess, are the horrendous school fees. The public schools in the area of Switzerland where we live are free and are taught in German, with English taught as a foreign language at the 2^nd or 3^rd grade. Apparently, we are not the only parents faced with this decision. In every kiddie birthday party or playdate, the subject of conversation among moms are always about the where’s, what’s and how much’s of schools and who is going to which school. One time, my husband got sick of it and asked whether we didn’t have anything else to talk about.

The questions that we ask ourselves are:

• Can we afford private schools?
• Even if we can, should be spend the money on school fees now or save it for college?
• Would private/public schools be a good environment for our kids?

Many parents try to give to their kids what they probably didn’t have during their childhood so I guess it’s the same for Tom and Katie. I am pretty sure though that they don’t have to worry about school fees now or college money later and I envy them for that.

On the other hand, I don’t believe that my kids will have a disadvantaged childhood compared to Suri Cruise. We may not be able to afford private lessons and tutors but we love our kids just as Tom and Katie love their Suri. And that’s the most important thing, isn’t it – love.

I am happy to say, though, that we don’t need tutors to teach our boys foreign languages. They’ve been brought up bilingually (English and German) and are expected to learn French and maybe some Italian in the Swiss public schools. And this is something that Suri doesn’t have!