Catch up on some reading

As a teenager, to me, holiday meant spending every possible second away from home. Movies weren’t enough to keep me glued to the house. In fact, I was never able to watch them fully seeing as plot would come in just moments after I put one in! It was this complete lack of something positive to do that got me into trouble more times than normal.On the rare occasions my mum actually saw me, she’d sit me down and ask me what it is she could do to keep me home…at least for more than 5 minutes. Feeling bad that she didn’t get to see me much, I decided I’d stay home more often and have us a little mother-daughter time. Everything was going well till she suggested I engage in other activities other than watching movies all day. She said something about reading improving my vocabulary and a bunch of other things I couldn’t be bothered about. She insisted that I read for fun and in my head I was like ‘who does that?’I mean it was bad enough reading for an exam but reading for the fun of it felt like self inflicted pain. Tired of my mum’s consistent nagging, I told her to buy me some Sweet Valley High books – that was the best I could do! Call it lame – but it was a start. Eventually, I found myself reading everything from biographies to fiction to guideline books.I know some teens have the same voice in them that I had saying holidays are for nothing other than the coolest plot – and reading isn’t a part of that cool plot! If that voice comes whispering in your ear, tell it to go find better things to do. I’m sure as a teen, nothing quite fascinates you like technology but you have got to put the iPod/phone down and get into more challenging activities. Your favourite magazines like Seventeen, US Weekly and Glamour are a good start but you can’t spend every second of your free time reading celebrity gossip – it’s just not right!There are so many teenage friendly books that will keep you interested and also at the top of your vocabulary game. Look for Harry Potter, The Twilight Series and The Hunger Games for now. They are all worth the read and will surely keep you out of trouble because an idle mind IS the devils’ workshop!