On my way out from the house this morning, I
saw some children who should be in school by the road side gambling. They were
playing table tennis on a bench of about 9 feet by 3 feet, using stone to
support a plywood that serves as net. They were betting on who will win or lose
and all of a sudden a fight broke out…
Holidays… a blessing or a curse? These are
children who should be in school but where allowed or I’d rather say forced by the system to be on “break” or
to rest and get back to school at some other time. The question now is – the
purpose of holidays, are they being achieved?
Pressure on the women folk to be free and join
(many has overtaken) the men in earning for the family has eroded the basic
principles upon which families were originally built. There is now no one to
look into or monitor what children do during their holidays.
Many parents and schools further deny these
children their supposed holidays by organising summer coaching programmes which
most parents gladly go and dump their children so they can rush off to their
businesses or work places.
For most parents, holidays are the most
horrible time. Their performance in their work place drops, they report late to
their work places or take unnecessary excuses sometimes to look after their
children. Those who are in business, their businesses suffer.
Now the question again is – holidays… is it a
blessing or a curse? Should we continue to have holidays so that these children
whom their parents cannot afford to “dump” their children in summer coaching
programme can go about gambling (or learn how to), smoking (or learn how to),
womanising, (or learn how to) or learn one terrible thing or the other all in
the guise of “holidaying”. Our girls
will go about to gossip or goof off their time making virtual boyfriends and
girlfriends on the social networks and learning some more horrible things,
things they may not have learnt if they were in school.
My thought…
Why don’t we scrap holidays and instead of 6
years of primary or secondary school, make it 4 years of non-stop learning and
the remaining 2 years be converted to practical real-life skill acquisition
time. These children can learn carpentry, bead making, sewing, hairdressing,
etc.
Your thoughts…
Please make you views known by leaving a
comment below.
This article frankly speaking is two sided,in my views holiday or no holidays parents should not fail in their duties.
ReplyDeleteThis kids need to rest it has to be balanced,work,play and Academics
Learning immediately after acquiring Education is lovely but Interpersonal relationships thrive most during holidays.
The basic truth is having a Godly foundation to bring up our kids such that in our Presence or Absence they turn out great and wonderful people Working Class or Stay at Home Mums we all need the Help of the Holy Spirit Amen
@hope the problem with families these days are more time related than anything else. Most parents in pursuit of money and wealth forget the basics. How many parents stay at home these days only taking care of their children. The routine is to drop them off at school and have a househelp or school bus bring them back in the afternoons while they are at work. It is very difficult for these parent to make time to stay home and monitor their children's activities.
ReplyDeleteOn the part of the school, if they can dismiss early enough, the school children can have enough rest and there is the weekend too. In terms of rest, they can have as much as they want only if they want.