gundamexplored:

“Amuro’s Mom had always spoiled him
with kindness, but never agreed to go to Side 7—and Amuro’s father
never demanded it. In reality, his mother’s refusal to leave Earth
was a convenient pretext for his parents to separate. His father used
his fame as a colony architect to make a deal with local officials,
obtained special dispensation for her so she was spared the forced
emigration to the Sides.

His own philosophy was simply expressed
as, ‘I want Amuro to see the construction of the new Side. The
experience will make him strong, the kind of man we’ll need in the
new century.‘”

-from Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening; by Yoshiyuki Tomino