CHILDREN ON HOLIDAY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20639, 30 January 1937, Page 18

CHILDREN ON HOLIDAY

PROVIDING OCCUPATIONS THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE That thrilling excitement which tided the children over the first days of tire holidays is now over. Christmas toys have lost their first charm, and the holidays have already begun to lose their novelty. Once more the mother’s task becomes a fairly difficult one, especially in families where the children are all young and the oldest not capable of taking any responsibility. One finds some parents who think that because It is holidays children should be entirely free—and soon are wondering why they have become troublesome. They forget that all through the schooldays the children’s energies are directed into a suitable channel, and that without any restraint at all they overtire themseives and their playmates and become nervy and strained. Books and Table Games That does not mean that they need to be under supervision all the time, but that the mother must keep her eye on them and be ready with suggestions when they need a cnange of occupation. It is a good idea then to lay in a stock of materials w'hen you can, and to have at hand a few books and table games that the children do not ordinarily use. On hot days after the children have been playing out of doors they are very often in need of an hour’s quietness, for they are perhaps overheated, and will be troublesome if they have not something of interest to turn their attention to. A few sheets of fresh uncrushed brown paper and some pastel crayons or chalks might be useful then, or perhaps the mother has already some picture puzzles at which two or three can work together. A few boxes of beads to be th’eaded in patterns for necklaces will provide occupation for a short period, or perhaps the children will enjoy covering with scraps of coloured paper in patchwork designs treacle or sweet tins to do duty for string and cake tins. For young children coloured paper to be folded or cut to make posters will be found useful, while for the older ones a few new tubes of water colour will provide them with something to do for many hours. Picnic Lunch in Garden It is quite a good idea for pa’nting to have a few sheets of inexpensive drawing paper at hand. The children will find much better occupation in I working with it than with, perhaps, sheets of cheap writing paper, and will work more carefully and slow’y, and leave the mother freer to get on with whatever she wants to do. There is always pleasure in anything in which there is the least surprise for children. Having a picnic lunch under a tree in your own back garden will be an event and provide an incentive for further imaginative games and fun —but such events must be rare not to lose their charm. In the same way bathing under the hose is .almost as exciting as real bathing would be, but not quite, and is great fun on a warm day. A visit to aunt or grandmother is always a day to be prepared for, for both grandmothers and aunts are appreciative of a story the child might have written or a drawing he has done particularly for her benefit. But it must be good enough to give her, and the child must spend some thoughtful, careful work.in its preparation. Pleasure Out of Smail Tasks As for holiday jobs, the mother can make a game of so many of the things that are to be done in the house. Just as in holiday camps, there is a competition for keeping the rooms, so the mother can have a competition, with a small prize, perhaps, for the winner. Such jobs as washing and wiping the dishes can become routine tasks for the children who accept them just as they do the fact that they must have the meal, and going messages—rather a bore sometimes if the elder children have to do all of them—can be made quite an entertainment if it is handed over to one of the smaller ones, and the older given charge. It is mainly from the parents that the children get the feeling that helping in the house is a trouble; the mother’s attitude can make it a very happy play.