How to keep your child busy over the holidays

                                             Photo: Courtesy

Parents love it when schools are in session. That gives them peace of mind knowing that the children are safe in school and actively engaged.

When children are in school, parents can carry on their day-to-day activities confidently without having to worry that their children may not be safe.

But the holiday season presents a challenging scenario for parents because the children are basically idle. And when kids are idle, they engage in all manner of activities that give parents stress. Most children, in both public and private schools, will be at home for nearly a month and a half, which is quite a long time.

If you do not step in strongly as a parent, your child will engage in all manner of mischief from the plain naughty to the deadly and dangerous.

The other day, my househelp called me to report that Tasha my seven-year-old daughter was causing all manner of trouble at home. She had brought a bunch of girls from heaven-knows-where to our plot and they were causing all manner of trouble like making the clothes on the lines dirty to misusing the water which is a rare commodity to emptying my fridge.

Now when I asked Tasha why she was misbehaving yet she is naturally a well-mannered girl, she retorted, “But mum I was bored watching cartoons and I went outside and met these girls outside the gate and we started playing.”

From her lame excuse, I deduced that boredom is the mother of mischief in children and so I have been doing my homework on how to actively engage her during these holiday season.

So here are some ways you can engage your child during the holidays to avoid mischief:

Find a Church programme: A good friend hooked me up with a really nice church programme run by a certain church. The three-week programme which costs Sh2,000 starts at 9am till 4pm.

The daily agenda is an enriching programme that entails Bible study, singing, karate classes and games, there is also a midday snack, and lunch and evening tea before they call it a day. My daughter a second-timer in this programme enjoys every bit.

Enroll in a library: If your child will be a candidate the next year, a good place to enroll her would be a library. I am lucky that my house is next to a national library.

Find an exciting programme: I have seen this interesting holiday programme being advertised on national TV that has a very exciting programme. The project that seeks to nurture talent in the media and film industry, involves exposing children to opportunities to hone their skills in journalism, acting and other attractive fields.

To crown it all, there are bonfires at the end of the project. That is one enriching programme.

Employ a tutor: A tutor is also a good way to engage children especially for those who are candidates. If you have the money, you can bring in a tutor for a few hours everyday to help sharpen your child’s brains.