Summer Vacation : A moment for responsibilities, roles, rules and realities

The vacation tends to be a special time for children and parents and it traditionally involves the family unit. It can be difficult for separated parents, single parents, and parents with little family support. Parents who are separated may experience anxiety and stress when their children are not with them for holidays. Such often find the time stressful as they experience guilt for not being able to provide for their children “adequately.” and even not having much time for themselves.

Parents who do not have family in close geographic areas may miss the sense of family and experience feelings of loneliness isolation. One guiding principle to managing the vacation with children is to place the child’s needs before the adult’s., children can adjust when parents take time to communicate with them and explain to them the situation, showing their love for them, and maintaining contact so the they don’t feel abandoned by the parent.  Of course in cases where the absent parent is clearly a danger to the psychological, emotional and physical safety of the child, contact must be carefully considered.

* Keep children with someone you can trust: If it is not possible for either of the parents to take a leave, take your children to spend the holiday with someone close that can take good care of them. Even though they are few, search hard to find. These people include your parents, family friends and so on. One thing you must do is to check on these children regularly and also ask them questions about how they are doing.

* Get the them busy: There are a lot of new things your children can learn during the period of the long vacation. Apart from their studies, they can go and learn how to make new things like bags, toys, playing musical instruments and so on. When the children are busy, the risk of being involved in the wrong things is very low. You should also enroll them in a summer school.

*Ask questions: Most parents do not ask questions, they just assume that all is well with their children. it is important to ask your children certain questions so as to know what may be going on with them that you may not know. Ask questions like who they relate with lately and what they discuss. When you do this, it is possible you get information about whoever may be a threat to them.

* Restrict their night movements: If your children are teenagers or not, you must make sure that they stop going out at night as this is very dangerous. Kidnappers, ritualists may be going around at this period and they may fall victim.  Make sure they don’t walk alone, It is often said that two are better than one, this also applies to your children. If you have more than one child that is matured enough to go out, never allow them to go out on their own at this period but they should move at least in twos for safety.

As  parents or guardian we must not forget that the safety of your  children is your  primary duty which you must take seriously and responsibly.