WOMAN 2 WOMAN: Monitor children during the Holidays

It’s that time of the year again, when children are ‘officially’ allowed to spend most of their time at home. This means that their caretakers- the teachers who are charged with taking care of your children at school can also comfortably relax and perhaps also take care of their own children. While having children at home is not a bad thing, a long period of holidays can be a recipe for disaster if children’s daily actions are not monitored. Holiday time is time to party, watch movies or visit friends. There is no problem letting the children do what they want to do during their holidays though absence of supervision by adults may get the children into trouble. Holiday time provides an opportunity for children and parents to strengthen their bonds since both spend most of the year in different places. As a parent it is of great use to create and find time to talk to your children and share experiences. This can assist with efforts needed to further cement to the parent child relationship. It is good practice to freely talk to your children and encourage them to also share with you their experiences. One of the topics most parents avoid to talk about with their children is about sexuality, yet when children grow up without ample knowledge about this, they become prone to making mistakes like engaging is pre –marital sex and having early unwanted pregnancies that put them at risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases. If you find it hard as a parent to talk to children about their sexuality at least do your children a favor and hire a counselor to talk to your children about it during the holidays and this will save you a lot. There is a tendency among children especially children who are teenagers (between the ages of 14,15,16,17,18,19 years ) to want to be in control but as a parent if you let them do whatever they want ,chances are that these children will make wrong decisions. When children make wrong decisions the whole family is at a loss. No matter how stubborn the children become, stick to your decision and make sure you monitor them closely. As a parent you should not assume your children are mature if they still live with you in the same house no matter their ages. Adults live independently on their own. As long as children live in your home, they are vulnerable and become prone to all sorts of unhealthy things like smoking and abusing alcohol. As a parent you can only discover this, if you find time to spend with your children. Pay attention to details. Monitor your children’s friends and also try to find out families where they come from. This will help you to identify bad company for your children who could have a bad influence on your them. Contact: ubernie@gmail.com