Spartan Soldiers

I found many things interesting in our first reading assignment but to read that the Spartan boys leave home at the age of seven shocked me. Spending your childhood basically learning to be a Soldier. They "played" competitive games until they were eighteen and then spent four years getting military training. They must have had an exteremly strong military. I can't imagine having a child leave home at the age of seven. It had to have been hard on the child as well as the parents. To me eighteen seemed to young to join the military and nine weeks of training not long enough. Of course if you ask my Son he will tell you different. The child that I see is now considered a Soldier. They do go through a grueling training period but is it enough? What if he started younger like the Spartan boys? Would that make a difference? We will never know. I can only hope that he is prepared. I am sure that the Spartan parents were proud of their childern and so am I.