Category: Teenage

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The Essential Role of Vacations for Students:  Balancing Relaxation and Productivity

Our children face today’s fast-paced and demanding academic environment.  After each term of arduous work in school, vacations play a role in ensuring their over-all well-being and development.  Vacations are not just breaks from routine, but an opportunity for both rest and productive non-academic activities.  These times are well-deserved by students, so it’s important that they are spent wisely.

So, why are vacations important for students?

First, vacations are a time for physical rest.  As the same time, they are also a time for mental rest and stress relief.  This helps prevent burnout and allows students to recharge.  This recharging and relaxation are crucial for their mental well-being.  We’ll also see that vacation breaks allow students to have a refreshed mind, which may lead to better academic performance when school re-opens. 

Next, vacations are a great time for social and family bonding.  Catching up with friends and family which are done on vacations strengthens their relationships and creates lasting memories. This social support offers them emotional stability. 

woman and three children playing water
Photo by Yulianto Poitier on Pexels.com

Finally, vacations are a time for students to explore interests outside school.  They may have a day or two of just lounging around and doing nothing, but it’s good if they do something more productive.  This may contribute to personal growth and development. 

So, what productive things can they do during their holidays?  We are not talking about tuition and catching up on readings, but other fun, productive, less stressful activities. 

Vacations are an ideal time for enriching hobbies that students are passionate about.  These may be playing musical instruments, trying baking or cooking, doing digital arts, and other similar activities.  These can be both enjoyable and beneficial for personal development. 

girl in yellow shirt holding brown cake
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Next, participating in community service or volunteer work can be a great way for students to spend their vacation.  This can be a good bonding moment with family members, too, which allows plenty of teaching moments and opportunities to share one’s insights about life. 

Finally, and probably a favourite of many, travelling to new places can be done during vacations.  Travelling can be an educational experience which exposes students to different cultures.  By travelling, they can both have fun and engage their minds. 

We hope Milchelians are having a fun and productive mid-year break so that they all come back refreshed to start another term! 

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Responsible Digital Citizenship in Children 

Nowadays, internet is a ubiquitous tool in our lives.  It is widely used in areas like communication and social networking.  It is also used in education, e-commerce and shopping, entertainment, and work and productivity, to name a few.  For both us, adults, and our kids, the internet is a useful tool. 

As such, the world of the internet is also an area where kids need guidance as they use and explore.  The term “responsible digital citizenship” is now being commonly used.  It refers to responsible and ethical online behaviour that we all must practice.  Doing this helps us to have a healthy and safe experience in the digital world. 

There are many reasons why we parents should teach our children responsible digital citizenship.  In this article, we will talk about the most cause of concern for growing kids. 

First, addiction to gadgets and the internet is a major concern of many parents.  Excessive screen time affects children’s sleep, academics, and over-all habits, so this is a foremost concern that parents must address.  If left unchecked, this could lead to addiction that is much difficult to correct.

person with smartphone standing in projection of zeros and ones
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Second is the spread of misinformation.  Without our guidance, children can access volumes of information online that may be untrue or just plain harmful.  It is our responsibility as adults to block suspicious sites and sources of information.  We must also teach our kids to be discerning in what they see online.  Keep an open communication so your child knows to ask you for things that they find out online.

photo of woman tutoring young boy
Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com

Finally, children must know that their actions online leave permanent digital footprint.  Educate them about the consequences of their online actions that may harm themselves or others.  A seemingly harmless post today may have consequences in the future.  Because of this, we must always remind our children to “think before you click”.

These are just some of the dangers awaiting our children online.  These are also why we should take a proactive role in educating our kids about responsible digital citizenship.  Sometimes, we parents become too relaxed in our children’s access to the internet.  This is a very serious matter that demands our watchful guidance.  Take no chances and make sure that you educate your child on how to become responsible digital citizens.