Summiya Yasmeen

Although mercury levels are at an all-time high, there’s no gainsaying the summer holidays euphoria that’s sweeping the nation, especially the country’s 240 million school-going children. A demanding academic year packed with classroom learning, homework, tutorials and examinations is over, and the two-month summer break is a welcome opportunity to slow down, relax, recharge and rejuvenate before once more unto the breach. While in the 1980s-1990s, it was normative to pack children off to visit grandparents, cousins and sundry relations during this season or let them laze around at home reading and/or playing with other children in the neighbourhood, in the new millennium, the new normal is to sign up children for summer camps to learn extracurricular activities or sports. This is a valuable transition as it provides children opportunity to pursue extracurricular interests or develop a talent uninterrupted by boring classroom instruction.

Yet, beyond relaxation and skill-building, the growing consensus among new-age child counsellors and parenting experts is that the summer break also provides parents with a valuable opportunity to prepare children mentally and emotionally for change and transition. Summer holidays often bridge important life stages —  transitioning from home to preschool, preschool to formal school, adjusting to unfamiliar teachers and classmates, and coping with greater academic expectations.

Moreover, the summer break is often the period when many families choose to relocate to a new home or habitat so that children’s academic continuity is not disrupted when the new school year begins. Such transitions trigger anxiety, insecurity and uncertainty within most children and adolescents. New expert wisdom is that the relatively relaxed and pressure-free summer months is the ideal time for parents to help children build emotional resilience, adaptability and confidence before they venture forth into new environments.

In our special summer cover story, we present expert advice on ways and means parents can prepare youngest children for preschool, help preschoolers transition to ‘big school’, and support children and adolescents to adjust to major life changes such as moving to a new home or geographic location. With childhood stress and anxiety on the rise globally, our panel of experts believes that when parents emotionally prepare and support children through major life transitions, it significantly reduces stress and anxieties, builds self-confidence and nurtures a positive growth mindset.

There’s much more in this content-rich issue of PW. Check out the Middle Years section, in which experts advise parents on ways and means to develop children’s listening skills and the Special Essay in which La Trobe University research fellows share six ways to talk to teenage children about sex without cringe.

Wishing all a happy and enriching summer holiday!