Everybody loves the summer holiday. It gives children and parents a break from stressful school routines and valuable time to rest and recharge for the next academic year. As recently as the 1980s, it was normative to pack off children to visit grandparents, cousins and sundry relations during the summer vacation or laze around at home reading and/or playing with children in the neighbourhood.
In post-liberalisation India, following rapid multiplication of double income households in middle class India and emergence of a new tribe of enterprising edupreneurs offering a wide range of life skills learning options in summer camps and workshops, it’s become the new normal to sign up children in these activities. Over the past decade in particular, there’s been an explosion in the number and choice of summer camp options ranging from robotics and computer coding classes, sports, music, dance, art and crafts to life skills training and outdoor adventure activities.
However, in the past two years, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, all summer camps were shut down. Now with the pandemic forgotten like a bad dream, parents and children are looking forward to making the most of the forthcoming summer vacation. Newspapers and social media are abuzz with ads inviting children to sign up with myriad summer activity camps and workshops and there is discernible excitement in the air.
In our special summer issue, we highlight some enjoyable life skills learning summer camp options including robotics classes, nature excursions, adventure sports and college-readiness summer programmes available to children to take a break from school routines and enjoyably learn new skills and sports. However, we also warn parents against pushing children from one summer activity class to the other and advise them to strike a balance between leisure time and activities. Remember, the idea of a summer vacation is a mix of family bonding, play, leisure and boredom as well!
There’s much else in this content-rich issue of PW. Check out our exclusive interview with London-based celebrity medical practitioner Dr. Gowri Motha, who founded the Gentle Birth Method, and Middle Years story highlighting the new phenomenon of eco-anxiety – fear and anxiety about damage to the environment, flora and fauna and adverse effects of climate change – and its impact on children. Also highly recommended is our Special Essay on the dangers of over-parenting.
Wishing all a happy and enriching summer holiday.
