HOW YOUR CHILDREN CAN MAKE THE BEST OF THEIR HOLIDAYS.

The holiday season is here again. For the pupils, it is time to play and relax after the stress of the school year. For them, it’s a period they can enjoy their sleep without mummies coming to wake them up early.  For some parents, too, it’s a temporary relief from the hassles of school runs.

However, the holiday season comes with its challenges, especially for working class parents who live  in urban centres. Many parents in this category will now be battling with the challenge of how to monitor their children while they are away at work. Some would be thinking of how to gainfully engage them.

For some smart Nigerians, including school owners, it’s time to make some money by organising  summer school and skills acquisition schemes. These, however, come at  a cost which the parents must bear.

Experts say in spite of this, parents must ensure that their children are engaged meaningfully. Otherwise, they could use the period for destructive venture because, as the saying goes, the devil finds work for the idle hand.

In order to keep them busy during this period, many parents have fashioned out positive ways to keep their children out of mischief and trouble while the holiday lasts.

Educationists and parents say pupils must first be taught how to maintain a balance between recreation and academic activities.

An educationist and principal, Global International College, Lekki, Lagos, Mrs. Bisi Olayiwola, says many pupils tend to see the period as a time to relax after a hectic academic exercise, but she warns that such pupils must realise that being on holiday is not tantamount to completing one’s academic programmes.

She advocates a balancing act between recreational pursuits and academic exercise. According to her,  pupils can also visit their cousins, aunties, grandparents and even recreational and historical spots. She says, “This long holiday is normally seen by many pupils as a time for relaxation. They believe they have had a stressful time in the school, reading and sitting for their promotional examinations. Also,  it is not out of place for them to relax and visit some places of interest like the zoo, amusement parks, the National Theatre and Badagry to see the first storey building in Nigeria or even visit grandparents, aunties, and cousins.

However, “They must not forget that there are summer programmes, which focus on either academic or skill acquisition programmes or both. Pupils should keep busy by attending the remedial ones to work on those subjects where they are having challenges, while those who want to acquire skills in bead making, barbing, hair dressing and fashion design, among others, can also do so.”

Many parents have already mapped out how to keep their children engaged along this line of thought.

A civil servant, Mrs.  Bola Ajao, says her three children are already set for summer camp from next week. But she explains that her second child, a girl, will be updating her skills in hairdressing, in addition to attending the summer camp.

She states, “My daughter, who’s the second child, apart from attending the summer camp, will also update her skills in hairdressing during this long holiday. She’s already in SS2, and I have enrolled her for the hair dressing session in a beauty salon.

“Definitely, I need to keep them engaged since I cannot be carrying them to the office every day.”

Also, Mrs. Christie Ajieh says she has a mixed bag of leisure and study for her two children, who are both in  primary school. She explains that she will be taking  them to Port Harcourt to spend some time with their father, who works in the Garden City.

Her children, she says, will also attend a summer camp, not in their school but elsewhere so that they can make new friends and have new experience.

She adds, “It is good to give them a new experience and exposure, and that is why I will enroll them for  summer camp in a different school. Besides, I have discovered that my daughter loves reading; I am going to encourage her by buying her more story books to engage her.

“Then, for her younger brother, I need to moderate his love for cartoons. He loves the cartoon series a lot. I need to regulate this during this period and make him concentrate more on his studies, though he is still in unior class.”

For Mrs. Ajibola Fadugba, her two boys will have time to relax and to also devote some time to their academic development.

She says she will ensure that she gets them their textbooks for them to get busy for the first few weeks.

“Besides that, they will need time to relax. That is why we will be travelling to see my elder sister, who lives in Port Harcourt,” she adds.

Mrs. Idowu Ayodele does value summer camp too. She has registered her three children – one in secondary school and two in primary school – in a summer camp which, she says, runs between August 5 and September 6.

But she states that in-between this academic regime, they will be visiting their cousins who live in different parts of Lagos.

For Chinelo Nwobodo, who will be resuming at the Holy Child College, Lagos, in September, her pre-occupation, she says, is to be well prepared to face the new challenges ahead of her, so as to distinguish herself among her colleagues.

Nwobodo, who has just left Scholarstic Hall School, Ikeja, Lagos, says, “I know secondary school is a new experience, that is why I need to prepare ahead by reading whatever I can lay my hands on. I need to avoid any form of distraction.”

There are some other ways to get the children engaged during this holiday, experts say.

They suggest that parents can take the children on some cooking lessons, by teaching them some simple recipes.  They say that children should be allowed “to try out their hands on foods they love. They may not particularly enjoy the results, but you’re teaching them about taste, as well as having fun.”

Olayiwola notes that parents can use the holiday period to introduce the children to nature by taking them to some natural habitat.

She states that they may be taken to a farm or a conservation garden for them to see plants in their natural form.

“Introduce them to gardening, let them plant seeds and watch them grow. That is the only way for them to know that the yam they eat does not grow on trees,” she stresses.

Holiday period is another opportunity to enrol your children in leisure and sports centres, they argue.

They add, “They have loads of opportunities to learn new sports, from martial arts to badminton, football to cycling, and swimming to tennis.”

However, most of these activities do not come cheap. Parents, majority of whom are already burdened by school fees, will still have to pay  for summer schools. Depending on  the location, scope of what they will be taught and status of the school that is organising the programme, parents might pay between N15,000 and N150,000.

In some private schools in some remote parts of Lagos,  it could be as low as N8,000, while those in highbrow areas such as Victoria Island charge as much as N300,000. However, some schools use the holiday to embark on international excursions, where participants could pay as high as N1m each.

Within this avalanche of options, it is only left for individual parents to choose whatever they feel is better for their children, as they are at home for the next couple of weeks. Happy Holiday!

Culled from The Punch.