Parents, Christmas Holiday Is Not Only For Merry Making, But Time To Bond And Mentor Your Children

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It's Christmas and as usual, the whole family is back home for festive celebrations.Teenagers have also returned from the various boarding schools.

This is not the time for them to sleep their heads off, party and lazy around. More often than not your children in Senior High School (SHS), live two different lives: School life and home life.

When at school they show their real character and at home, they are close to angels. The onerous lies on parents to use this holiday season to get to know their children better check their academic progress get closer to them and find new traits or character.

Here are 5 ways to spend your holidays productively while securing the future of your children

Time table watch –
Before your teenagers get back home from the boarding school for Christmas holidays, you should have a timetable ready. The Timetable should have on it rising time, study time, time to assist with household chores, time for extra extracurricular activities among others. This will enable you keep them in check so they don’t become lazy and unproductive by sleeping and loitering about.

Get to know your teenager better
This is the best time to have honest conversations with your teenagers and get to know what is happening in their lives, their friends and relationship with teachers. Some have two-faced characters. The good and innocent looking one is exhibited at home and the hardcore tough side in school. These conversations enable parents to ascertain new habits they might have developed while in school.

Teachers involved
It’s advisable to always develop close ties with a particular teacher who will monitor your ward and also provide up to date information on their academic performance. These teachers are able to alert you when your child is going wayward or when on track.

Talent
Since your teenagers spend most of their time in school, you should use the little time they spend at home to unearth talents inherent in them and help nurture it. With this, you are able to explore other aspects of their lives.

Social media
The advent of social media havd seen teenagers use it for various activities and it’s adviseable to monitor what your ward use it for and how much time they spend on it. Limit the time they spend on social media and ensure that it becomes a boon to them.

Read
Try to inculcate the habit of reading in your students by reading yourself. You cannot insist that they read while they have never seen you read. Practice what you preach.