For most schools the school year ended last week, this is the longest holiday of the year with children at home for over two months and since it is a promotional term, for those whose children study under the Ugandan curriculum, the children did not come home with homework.

It is up to the parents to engage the children in productive activities rather than have them roam around aimlessly. For some parents, the easiest thing to do is to send the children off to the villages to visit their grandparents. Most of us grew up knowing that Christmas holidays were spent in the village with our cousins and grandparents.

It was a good experience away from the modern amenities and gave us ample time to bond and also to get exposed to village life.

It was from this that we were able to differentiate a goat from a dog, learn that milk was got from a cow as opposed to the supermarket, watch a chicken being slaughtered, collect eggs in the morning, go to the farm and gather fruits and vegetables. This orientation was very vital in life.

Children are also exposed to a wider cuisine, for example, cassava and porridge for breakfast instead of the usual cereal and sausages. For the parents, it is an added advantage to send the children off to the village especially during this period where all house helps and maids also go home for the holidays. it is also one of the ways to save and also give parents the much needed time to bond.

However not everyone is blessed with a country home or some grandparents may be deceased and in this case, parents have to come up with creative means of engaging their children depending on the age of the child. Elder children should be given chores around the house. It may help to put up a rota assigning duties to each individual. If one is self-employed, they should involve their children in their business, this will equip them with skills that will be important later in life and also help them appreciate and respect work, instill values of saving, managerial skills etc.

There are several programs designed for children like ballet dancing, music lessons, basketball which one can enroll the holidaymakers in.

The long holidays should be spent productively and every parent should decide to bond with their child and mentor them because if you do not, someone else will and you may not like the results.