SPRING AND SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

Driving out of the Kaitāia Court House yesterday, I almost wiped out a young man going by at full tilt on his skateboard.  Gave me a hell of a fright.  Two of his mates were still standing at the top of Redan holding their boards and looking a bit nervous.  Straight away I thought, ‘Mā te tuakana ka tōtika te teina, mā te teina ka tōtika te tuakana; from the older sibling the younger one learns the right way to do things, and from the younger sibling the older one learns to be tolerant.’ 

So as I passed him I slowed, wound my window down and said sweetly, ‘E tama, you’re lucky that today I feel tolerant.  But if you’re really lucky you’ll live long enough to learn not to give old ladies like me a heart attack.’  He just grinned, waved, and headed back up the hill for another go.  I’m not sure he understood. 

Actually skateboarding taitamatane are the least of our problems at this time of year when spring coincides with school holidays and the sap is rising at the same time that adult supervision has been scaled down.  For that reason I have the greatest respect and gratitude for all those ones who run holiday programmes, sport camps, wānanga and other activities that keep our tamariki gainfully occupied during the daylight holiday hours.

But I also have real aroha for those who, for whatever reason, can’t put their kids into these activities and are struggling to keep them off the street, out of trouble and engaged in something worthwhile.  Without meaning to go all Muriel on you I feel to share some of the things that worked for us with our teens at this time of year.

Spring is for planting.  Whether it’s fun or not is up to you and your taitamariki.  As someone once said, “Of course you have a choice. You can do it happily, or you can do it miserably.”  It helps if they get to decide everything about their part of the garden from shape to content.  Bite your tongue now and munch out on the fruits of their labour later.

Spring is for cleaning.  My daughter would have the rare urge to clean her room so we’d beg, borrow or hire a skip or trailer and share it with the cuzzies next door so their taitamariki could use it too.  Then we’d give them free range.  Some stuff got recycled, some got biffed.  At the end they’d look at their new room with satisfaction at its temporary tidiness.  Of course it didn’t last, but that wasn’t the point.

Finally, school holidays are for whānau.  With one more week of holidays to go I hope we all get to enjoy each other.  And if we don’t, I at least hope we get to enjoy spring.  Hei kona.