Parents’ headache as schools close for long holidays

The long holidays are here and although learners are excited about the two months-long break, parents are a worried lot as they ponder how to positively engage their children.

With threats from the online world, rampant insecurity, bad company and drug abuse there is so much vice going around and parents and guardians are concerned.

But some like Jonathan Mutiso, have it all planned. The father of three - two girls and a boy aged 22, 17 and 13 years old respectively, from Utawala, Nairobi, says he will use this long holiday to engage his children in cultivating the family shamba.

“I also plan to enroll them for a holiday camp. I will also monitor them closely throughout their activities in and around the estate,” says Mutiso.

Mutiso urges parents to closely monitor what their children are doing this long holiday season and who they engage with.

“We have no other option but to keep them close because the risks they face in today’s world are huge,” says Mutiso.

Karatu Kiemo, a sociologist and lecturer at the University of Nairobi says the holidays present a bigger challenge to parents working and living in urban areas.

“The rural areas have fewer challenges because most of the time parents are with their children, compared to urban areas where children are left with maids or sometimes alone as their parents go to work,” says Kiemo.

Kiemo says the fact that some urban children live in apartments blocks, where they can visit each other for various activities also presents another moral and security challenge to parents because this is when peer pressure or injuries may occur.

So, what does the sociologist advise parents to do?

“If you have a good friend, relative or neighbour, you can organise with him or her to take the children for activities such as swimming, in a bid to spend time wisely,” says Kiemo. He also cautions against watching TV for long hours, saying this can turn one into a couch potato and deny them much needed physical exercise.

The holidays might be trying times for parents, but for another set of Kenyans, this is the time for booming business.

Entrepreneurs, including churches, companies and schools have fashioned themselves as solution providers, capitalising on the season and the fears parents have of having their children at home.

David Onyancha, a church elder at Free Pentecostal Church, Eastleigh says his church has a five-day boarding camp that will start from will cost Sh1,000 and is open to teenagers.

He advises parents to spend time with their children and engage them children in various activities to keep them away from peer pressure.

Nicholas Ndolo, a headteacher at House of Grace School in Nairobi West tells parents that this is not the time to buy revision books for their young ones but to invest in co-curricular and talent building activities.

“Invest in interesting activities so that you can figure out your child’s talents early enough,” says Ndolo.

The headteacher adds that it is also time for parents to sit down with their children and talk about sex and its consequences.

“Do not leave them to learn some harsh truths from the outside world because sexual violation can be perpetuated by relatives right under your roof; if you sit down with your child, you will know what is going on in your absence,” says Ndolo.

Kiemo believes we can learn something from Europe and America where companies adjust their calendars during the long holidays to allow their employees enough time to spend with their young ones.