Why should parents fear school holidays?

We really live in the age of contradictions. While modern parents do not want a two-month holiday, students love it.

Why else do they burn their dorms? When we were young, we hated holidays; it was time to work and for parents to get free labour. We milked cows, planted crops, harvested them and delivered them to the market, often under adverse weather conditions like rain. Grazing was a treasured occupation, less straining than farming. Cutting down trees for firewood was fun.

School was a great relief for us, reading and cleaning class, considered the hardest job was a picnic to us. We wished schools would not close. Our parents loved our presence at home. It was their time to rest as we took over the jobs. Whatever we ate, we earned it, and left a surplus which was sold to pay our school fees, buy clothes and cater for other needs.

What has changed?

Urbanisation means there is very little manual work for the children during the holidays. One of the things that perplexed me when I was in secondary school is why my classmates from the city (mtaa) were not topping in the exams. They had all the time to read as we fed cows, milked them, harvested crops and took care of young siblings. Subdivision of land has ensured that even in rural areas, there isn’t much to do.

This idleness means kids focus on two things, TV/games and eating. The games are not free, power has to be paid and play stations bought. The food eaten now unlike in our time is not home grown, it is bought. In our time, we created own games like hide and seek, spinning the top, and making toys, we improvised a lot.

Recreational facilities

Modern games and toys are bought in supermarkets. Can you now explain why our children dislike science? This idleness is made worse by having a helping hand, often called house girl, house help or other variants. Add the technology which washes clothes, cooks food, instead of looking for firewood.

The bigger issue for parents is how to keep kids busy when they are busy themselves at the work place. That is compounded by fear of what can happen at home, particularly if your children are teens. Add the fact that we have no play fields, or other recreational facilities and parents have reasons to worry and prefer children to be school.

In our days, older children took care of the younger ones, which lessened the worries of the parents. Nowadays we have too fewer children to take care of each other. Add the media reports of abductions, insecurity and parents have real fears of leaving their kids at home.

Any options for fearful parents? Children need breathing space now taken over by houses; the forests of apartments leave no open space for the children to play. Nairobi is a giant bedroom, it seems to me. Can we mandate estates to provide recreation facilities? We are really unfair to our children, why should they stay indoors during the day and night? They are not cockroaches.

Sadly even in school, children are not guaranteed time to play, because there are no playgrounds or the pressure to pass exams is too high. Can we set exams that focus on our innate abilities not cramming power? A good example is analysing photos which need no cramming.

What is the long-term psychological effect of keeping children indoors playing computer games or just sitting instead of rolling in the mud, exploring their environment and learning how to interact with each other in games? Where the public has failed, the private sector has taken over. They are organising school trips over the holidays while mushrooming malls in the city and its environs have enough playground and games for children—at a fee.

My visit to developed countries leaves me amazed on their efforts to ensure there is open space for kids. Even in the so called slums or ghettos you find open space/parks for children. We ask umpteenth time, why we easily import posts like governors, senators etc but not the fundamental standards of living espoused by thinking about the less vulnerable members of the society, who include children and dare I say, animals.

Economic plight

In these countries, they go a step further, one parent stops working to take care of young kids. Who can take care of your kids better than yourself? Some will argue they have money, but it is the greatest investment one can make on his or her children. Some could argue that hiring someone to take care of your children in developed countries is expensive, but it is less about money.

It is unbelievable that lots of parents see school as a dustbin and would prefer kids to stay there as long as possible. While we sympathise with their economic plight, they must work hard to earn a living, the next generation needs care.

Give your children your time; it’s better than any physical gifts. They will remember you long after your feeble body has crumbled into dust.