Happy Summer Holidays?

Why the question ? Summer holidays while growing up meant two months of unadulterated fun. Whether you lived in a nuclear or joint family it meant meeting friends,cousins and play. Broadly kids between 5 to 15 in the road or apartment met in the morning at a common point and played . You need to go home for lunch and then again regroup to continue playing indoors. This could be at a common friends place as it was too hot to step outside.If this was tough you meet in the evening and play anything from 7 stones to doge ball. Parents if they were working will be home by 7 and you get to discuss the days fights and highlights and then read and sleep. Summer holidays also meant multiple trips to the libraries to borrow books and keep a count of how many you can finish in the holidays. If it was closer to weekend , you may be allowed to get the ice cream from the vendor on the roads, who will  ring the bell (that sound as a kid your ears are tuned to) between 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Weekends may mean an outing to the beach and a dinner as a treat. This outing may or may not happen if there is a game on Sunday or an interesting movie on TV. Pretty simple and it was this same routine across both the months. Travel wasn't always an option and be it temple trips or overseas ones it was met with the same level of excitement. From forming clubs like twinkling stars to playing endless games of Trade(Monopoly) these memories formed a ubiquitous part of growing up. Those who love mangoes, will probably write a blog around it was almost synonymous to summer but I am no expert so will steer clear of that topic. Networking,community,social skills, adapting to new environment were all taught subtly through these summer camps where no parents paid for all these life skills. Oh, its an added bonus if you made friends for life right? Be it working or non-working parents, the set up was almost the same as there was support system around in the form of friends or family.



As a parent , I swore not to go down the path of " During those days", but as i witness incidents, it takes a mammoth effort from me to control the urge to not compare. Reminiscing about the past becomes inevitable with age is my learning.




Summer holidays are already no longer the 2 month bliss with most schools closing and working till almost April mid. Parents will most necessarily plan a summer holiday in this time frame as travel is an important part of growing up. With just 3-4 weeks of actually being at home, most parents break their heads on how to engage the kids. Every 5 seconds will be met with " I am bored" . This may sometimes happen even after you plan a " Play date" with 5 other kids. Then you resort to summer camps and other structured play activities. The safety issues makes if difficult for us to just let the kids be and play around. Playing  on the road is almost a no with the incessant traffic. If you are lucky and in an apartment with kids around then maybe you have a different story to tell. Even in that, you will see the older kids with mobiles or gadgets to aid kids play. If you still run out of ideas trip to malls and movies are so ingrained in the daily routine, that they have lost the charm. " Oh the mall again"? maybe something you have quite often heard too. Every summer I try and ensure I don't sign up the kids for these summer camps and not succumb to this pressure of keeping them occupied. It is easier said than done and takes a massive effort to make the Summers a truly happy holidays for one and all.