Two weeks from now, students will come back from school for their first term holiday. This is a period that every student looks forward to since they have been away from home for three months.

School is so much fun. If you have been in a boarding school, you will agree with me. But like they say, east or west home is best and the parents too can’t wait to see their children after this long.

However, their return is not all that merry as these are teens that are full of life and they are trying to discover a lot about themselves and the environment around them. So they are likely to be mischievous. Dear parents tolerate the young ones. 

For starters, they come back with very many conditions some of which are justifiable and others parents will not take. They dictate which meals to be prepared and without any consultations, they rule posho and beans out of the kitchen.    
Mummy, "I don’t want beans and posho. We have had enough of them at school.” Others will say we don’t want porridge with little sugar. I don’t want this becomes the order of the day.   

For the next three or four weeks when they will be home, watching television news will be a big privilege granted by the new ‘owners’ of the TV set. Every time you step into the sitting room, strange programmes will be seen on the screen.

Programmes such as trace, and very many others that will expose women dancing half naked. Don’t raise you voice in disgust lest you are labelled old-fashioned.

If you’re the dad who is into radio talk shows, forget it this holiday. Radios will be very competitive that is if the ownership rights do not change for a while. Music will be playing non-stop at full volume for a period of three weeks.

When you find that your airtime has been ‘borrowed’ without your knowledge, don’t go mad. Politely request them not to use it all next time.

Similarly, when male voices come through your phone handset commanding to know the whereabouts of your daughter, please don’t smash it or her on the walls.

Even the phones themselves will go missing especially over the weekends when they go hanging out with colleagues. Status must be emphasised and possession of a phone in holidays will cement it. 

Don’t lose your head when you see your daughter’s dress a few inches shorter than you gave it to her. "Mummy every girl who matches with the times dresses like this!” she will tell you in disbelief.

Boys’ trousers will be sagging far below their waist line and mark you they are only jeans, long T-shirts and the ankle-high timberland boots. That’s the so-called ’50-cent style’

Keeping your car keys far from them will not only be wise but will save you from that medical bill, sleeping in that hospital ward and your car getting a permanent residence in a garage. Only tolerance will save you from the headache. Good luck.

Ends