Things that ease the summer break boredom
“Mummy bore ho raha hai..” “Papa, am so bored” is like the casual anthem in the homes of most school-going kids in India? Only because their summer breaks are on. Most parent friends of mine are completely clueless about how to ensure that their kids are not bored all the time during their month-long or even longer summer vacation.
Why does this happen?
During the school days, kids have a structured day to live by. They are engaged for most parts of the day. When the summer break begins, their schedule goes for a toss and kids don’t know what to do with all that free time, unless they have already learnt how to be happy on their own. Yes, it’s possible to teach kids to be engaged on their own, without parents or adults investing time in engaging them in different activities throughout the day. To learn how to inculcate this trait in your kids, explore these videos.
How do we parents address this?
Parents are incredible geniuses. I have been interacting with so many working parents and even stay-at-home moms and dads, who are so busy with a dozen things to do in a day, that they have come up with great ideas to keep their kids engaged during the summer breaks. Here are a few of them:
- Getting kids to work on fun projects: Yeah, the age-old summer homework kind of project. Here’s how some parents are revamping this idea. If you are planning a travel holiday with your kids, you can ask them to work on a picture book after the travel holiday. So while you all are travelling, your kids will be engaged taking pictures and making notes on what will they put in tjier picture book. You have to give them a direction on what are the things that they might need to work on. ONce back from the holiday, your kids can spend days and even weeks working on creating a story-themed picture book. It will keep them busy, happy and help them learn new skills. All you have to do is put in some time daily to enquire how the work is going and help them out just a wee-bit with some encouragement!
- Enroll them in a class or two: If you are a stay-at-home parent or have adult help at hand, getting kids enrolled in summer camps, swimming classes, art classes, football coaching etc is a fabulous way to keep them engaged.
- Giving them daily projects: Yeah, everyday, you could give little responsibilities to your kids, like running small errands and reward them with a story or a song in the night. This might not keep them engaged all day through but could definitely be exciting and teach your kids a thing or two.
- Getting them to read: If you can manage to entice your kids into the world of books, you will be one happy parent. You can begin by reading to them and also enacting stories so that they understand how good a hobby it could be.
- Introducing them to new hobbies like collecting stamps, coins, or even a new sport: This could be a great thing for your kids.
I am sure that you parents have your own share of ideas to ensure that you never have to hear “Bore ho raha hai!” at home during the summer break. Do share your ideas and practices with us. Do tell us what worked for or is working for you this summer!
