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HOLIDAYS: MONEY LESSONS START AT HOME (2)

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When we talk about teaching children about money, we often focus on spending and saving. And of course, they matter. But financial wisdom is bigger than having a piggy bank or knowing how to make change. Children also need to learn about contentment, generosity, and work. A child who saves every naira but never learns to give may become financially disciplined but emotionally closed. A child who is constantly given money without understanding effort may grow up believing that money simply appears whenever it is needed. And a child who is taught only to “make money” may never learn to ask what money is for. This is where we need balanced judgement as parents. Not every chore should be turned into paid work. Children should contribute to family life because they belong to the family, not because every responsibility attracts a reward. At the same time, it is reasonable for children to learn that effort can create value and that useful skills can sometimes earn income.  The distinctio...
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HOLIDAYS: MONEY LESSONS START AT HOME

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Children begin learning about money long before anyone sits them down to teach them about it. They learn from what they hear, what they see, and, most importantly, from how adults behave around money. They hear, “We can't afford that,” but may watch us spend freely on things we do not need. They hear us encourage saving, while we ourselves live from one urgent purchase to another. They are told that money does not grow on trees (my favourite line), yet sometimes they see little connection between earning money and spending it. The truth is, children don't need to understand the family budget to begin understanding that money is limited. They do not need to carry financial burdens that belong to adults. But they should gradually learn that every financial decision involves a choice. If I spend this, I may not have enough for that. If I want something, I may have to wait. If I borrow carelessly, I may create a bigger problem. These are simple lessons, but they are not easy o...
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HOLIDAYS: CHILDREN AND A THOUSAND QUESTIONS

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Children ask questions. Lots of them. Some are easy: "Why is the sky blue?" "Where do babies come from?" "Why can't I have another biscuit?" Then there are the ones that make adults pause. "How do we know God is real?" "Why does God allow bad things to happen?" "Why do some Christians behave badly?" "Does God really hear me when I pray?" "What happens when someone dies?" 😳 These questions can come unannounced in the car, over dinner, out of nowhere. And because we don't always know what to say, our first instinct is often to shut it down. "Don't ask such things." "Just believe." "Because the Bible says so." But what if your child is not challenging your faith? What if they are trying to understand it? This holiday, let your children think, observe, and ask. Make room for it. A child who asks hard questions is not necessarily losing faith; sometimes they are t...
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HOLIDAYS: FAITH DOES NOT GO ON HOLIDAY (1)

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For some people, the holidays can be slow and unhurried. Nobody is rushing to catch the school bus. Nobody is shouting about a missing sock or asking whether the children have finished their homework. Bedtimes become negotiable. Breakfast can happen at 10 a.m. if nobody is particularly interested in the clock. Then, somewhere in the middle of the morning, it strikes you. "We haven't had family devotion in days." Not because anyone has decided that God is no longer important. The school routine disappeared, and somehow the spiritual routine disappeared with it. That is one of the interesting things about holidays. They expose our routines. When the structures that normally organise our lives disappear, we quickly discover what was intentional and what was simply being carried along by the calendar. During the school term, there is a rhythm to family life. Wake up. Get ready. Go to school. Go to work. Return home. Eat. Do homework. Prepare for the next day. Sleep. The holid...
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HOLIDAYS: DON'T WASTE THE BOREDOM

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"Mummy..." "I'm bored." The words are often followed by an expectant look, as though solving boredom has become another item on a parent's daily job description. (Well, it is). So we begin searching for solutions. We hand over a phone or tablet. Turn on the television.  Suggest another cartoon.  Arrange another outing.  Find another game.  Anything to make the complaint disappear. And, for a while, it works. Think back to your own childhood. Many of us grew up without endless entertainment. There were long afternoons when electricity disappeared without warning. Friends were not always available. Television stations started late afternoon and shut down at night. There was no internet waiting in our pockets. Yet somehow we survived.  More than that, we imagined. We built football goals from slippers. We turned empty tins into toy cars. We created stories from nothing more than sticks, stones, and our own imagination. We invented games with rules that changed ...
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HOLIDAYS: CHARACTER CURRICULUM

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Every school term ends with a report card.  Mathematics has a score. English has a score. Basic Science, Social Studies, Agricultural Science- they all have neat columns with percentages, grades, and class positions. We study them carefully. Some of us celebrate. Some of us worry. Some promise rewards for improvement next term. But imagine that schools handed out a different report card (There is a small section for this with ratings 1-5, but we hardly pay attention to it, like we do the subjects). Honesty: 68% Kindness: Needs Improvement Respect: Excellent Self-Control: Fair Gratitude: Below Average Responsibility: Outstanding Would we read it with the same interest? The truth is, life eventually asks questions that examinations never do. Can people trust your word?  Do you keep your promises?  How do you respond when you're corrected?  Can you admit you're wrong?  Do you treat people with dignity, even when they can't benefit you? These questions determi...
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HOLIDAYS: RAISING READERS NOT ENDLESS SCROLLERS

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There was a time when waiting was unavoidable. You waited in the doctor's office with nothing but old magazines. You waited for a bus, watching people come and go. You sat through a power outage making up stories with your siblings, because there was little else to do. In those quiet moments, curiosity had room to breathe. Today, waiting lasts about three seconds. A phone appears, a video starts, another follows and half an hour disappears before anyone notices. Children are growing up with more information than any generation before them, yet less patience for it. They can swipe through hundreds of short videos in an afternoon, but ask them to sit with a good book for twenty minutes, and it can feel like punishment. The problem is not that screens exist. The problem is they rarely know when to stop. Holidays make this worse. Without school routines, devices quietly become the default. One episode becomes five. One game swallows an afternoon. At first, everyone is happy,😊 the hous...
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