Inside Melania Trump’s Decision to Stay in New York Instead of the White House: ‘She Loves Her Independent Life’

Melania Trump is hesitant to trade the Big Apple for the nation’s capital.

After news broke Sunday that Melania and her 10-year-old son Barron would not be moving to Washington, D.C. immediately after Donald Trump‘s inauguration in January, three sources have said that the wife of the president-elect does not want to live in the White House.

“Melania wants to stay in New York while her son goes to school,” a Palm Beach source tells PEOPLE. “I don’t know if she will ever live away from New York full time, especially with her son in school there. She loves her home in Manhattan and her independent life.”

Another source tells PEOPLE that the First Lady-to-be will go to Washington when she can.

“Melania has spent a lot less time in Palm Beach since Barron has been in school,” a social source tells PEOPLE. “She has rarely been in Palm Beach except for family holidays and charity fundraisers where she and her husband have shared the chairmanship. I see a similar pattern for her duties in Washington.”

A third social source says that “Melania is a great mother and that is her most important role.”

“Barron is the most important thing in Melania’s life,” the source tells PEOPLE. “She has told me this.”

On Sunday, Trump himself confirmed the news that the mother-son duo would stay in N.Y.C. at least until Barron finishes the school year. While escorting Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to a meeting at his golf course in New Jersey, the 70-year-old business mogul told reporters that Melania and Barron would move into the White House “right after he finishes school” next year.

The New York Post reports that Trump’s 46-year-old third wife and their son will continue to reside at their Trump Tower penthouse in N.Y.C. and the future first lady will travel as necessary to fulfill her duties.

Barron currently attends a private school that costs upwards of $40,000 per year on N.Y.C.’s Upper West Side, according to the Post.

Trump has continued to reside in Trump Tower with his family after his surprising win earlier this month. His presence at the building has meant that the Secret Service has had to set up round-the-clock security and block off certain sections of the busy section of Fifth Avenue. If Melania and Barron remain at Trump Tower, the security presence would most likely have to remain.