The holidays are here again and parents especially working ones are no doubt billed for another season of extra work. Beside the stress of your work schedule as parents, you still have the headache of catering for them before leaving the home and while they are there especially with the problem of pedophiles around.
Little wonders that one look outside your office, the car or just around you; it just seems that everyone on the road is accompanied by one child or more. “What can I do? My shop is far and I cannot leave my children at home when I will close very late. Who knows who is your enemy and has been waiting to hurt you one way or the other? The other day, a neighbor of mine who has an egg depot was thrown into a big problem when some people kidnapped her only son who just came home for the holidays. They took a ransom of over N3million from the family. Thank God the boy was not hurt. If it were to be a case of rapists, that was how the child would have suffered, so, I go anywhere with my children,” submits a mother who wants to be simply called Mama Chizorba.
Another mother, Mrs Comfort Jaiyeola who works in the administrative unit of a company also has this to say, “I go to the office with my kids. They are two; the first one is five while the second one is three. There is no one to keep them with and they are picky eaters. We have a place in my office where children can stay and play. So, I just take them to my office and we close from work together.”
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The challenge of joggling the home with work is always enormous whenever schools are on the Second Term holiday. There are usually no arrangements for holiday coaching which lives parents with the sole responsibility of watching out for their kids.
To however, cope with the two weeks holiday, here are tips to help you out.
- Get a trusted help
Much as people are becoming less trustworthy by each day, there must be somebody that you can trust among your own relatives. This may likely be your younger sister or brother who you are sure is morally upright. Put the person in charge of the children for the period of time that you will not be around. In the alternative, you can send them to their grandparent if any of them lives around. Where none of them lives around, you can bring any of them who is still hale and hearty to come and stay with you for the holiday. That will lessen the burden of having to watch over them all by yourself. It will again enable you to concentrate at work.
- Do bulk purchase
Children eat more during the holiday as they play more and burn off whatever they have eaten in minutes. Therefore, it is advisable that you engage in bulk purchase to keep them well fed and to minimize your spending. While buying all that they will be needing, ensure to make balance diet a rule. Buy vegetables, fruits and snacks to have a healthy meal package.
- Set time for them to exercise and watch TV programmes
Although children spend most of their time playing during holidays, it is important that you put in place the type of play that will best make them exercise right. Get them to play ball, ride bikes, swim, play volley balls, race within your home and under supervision.
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- Involve them in house chores
Holiday periods are the best time to teach your kids to habit of doing one house chore or the other. Get them to wash plates, their socks, and pants and sweep the environment. Do not make any chore the business of a particular sex, involve the two sexes. Teach the girl child the act of gardening and all. Let the boys also wash plates, sweep and clean the house.
- Spare time for communication
This is the best time for parents to get closer to their children. Since they are at home all through the day, you will be doing yourself a lot of good if you will seize the opportunity to get to talk to them, know them more, and familiarize with their routine of activities when you are away. Warming up to your children endears them to you and vice versa. It enables you to know more about their carers, what they ate during the day, the new people they met, the programmes they watch and so on which will invariably help you to know where to come in and what to do to check unfavourable situations.
Most teenagers tend to shy away and keep to themselves, sharing and caring will help you rediscover your child’s new habits especially those who are borders. The aftermath of this as earlier on discovered is that it will help you know when to come in and how to come in. Even where you need to get help, this will assist a great deal.
School holidays, whichever way it is viewed is supposed to be a very interesting time that parents and children should always look forward to. It is one best time to train your children, make friends with them and bring them up to responsible adults.
