It's nearly Christmas and most teachers and students are on break. What do you as a teacher or student do during your break, and why do you think it is necessary for teachers to go on breaks?
I’ll dive right into it and share my viewpoint on what do I as a teacher or a student do/ did on my break and why it is important for all teachers to have a break.
As My Child's Teacher, I can Never be Fully Off Duty
I haven’t taught kids as a school/ college teacher, but now that I have a son and consider myself as his first teacher and one that will have the biggest influence on him, I strongly believe that all teachers need a break. However, being a mother, I know one thing for sure, I’ll never get to have a break till my son turns into an adult and goes on to have his own experiences.
We do on day trips, not too often, but every 5 to 6 months or when my sister visits us from U.S. like she is doing nowadays, but even then, I am never off duty. You see, being a mother and that too of a toddler, I have to be on my toes all the time. If not on my toes then sitting or lying down but with my baby by side or on my lap. I honestly and absolutely love this and love having a great bond with him, but yeah one thing I am clear about that now I cannot be completely off duty at all.
From taking care of him to making sure I don’t lose him to acting like his personal comedian to dressing him up to killing his boredom to telling him stories to feeding him food and to endless hugs and kisses, I have to be there for him and with him as long as he is with me and I know it will be like this for quite some time, and I am truly happy about it. There was a time when I had just stepped into motherhood that I found this very exhausting and often complained for having a kid. But soon enough I realized how blessed I was and instead of whining about it, I chose to enjoy and cherish it. I had realized that keeping my baby and choosing to become a mother was a choice I made and now that I did make that choice, I was accountable for it and it was only right to do it happily than to support a complaining attitude.
Also, I realized that when I’d grow older, I’d want my son around me but he at that time would be all grown up and would have a life of his own, hopefully a great one. At that point, I would miss even his cries and would yearn for those times to come back so it is only right for me to make the most of these years and enjoy them as much as I can. Do I feel crazy at times and feel like my head is exploding? Hell yeah, but I try to stay as calm as I calm and keep my explosions to the minimum lol.
In the photo below, he is on the top of the slide and I am around him making sure he doesn't fall off and yeah capturing that moment too.
So one thing is settled that as the teacher of my son, I won’t get to be on a break for a long time and even if I do, I know a part of me will be worrying for him. Now let’s get to the part on what I did during my holidays as a student.
What I did During my Holidays as a Student
Throughout my student life, I loved having holidays and I don’t know of any school going kid who does not love the idea of holidays even if he/ she gets bored like crazy during their vacations. Here in Pakistan, we have long summer vacations which are usually about 60 to 90 days long since summers are blazing hot here and span over about 6 to 8 months. The winter season here is short-lived about 3 months long only so the winter vacations are about 10 to 14 days long too. Whether the vacations are long or not, they are always enjoyable.
When I was little, I used to eagerly look forward to the summer vacations because they were usually about 2 to 3 months long. Every summer vacation, we used to spend about 3 to 4 weeks with my father in Besham. Besham is a small hill station near Swat in the northern side of Pakistan. He had a tourist shop there that sold all sorts of souvenirs and arts and crafts items that showcased the many talents, aspects and culture of Pakistan. So about a week after our summer vacations used to start, my father used to take all of us for a nice vacation to Besham. There, we would play a lot, mingle with different tourists that visited us, played near the riverside and went on long, long drives. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures on my phone of those times so cannot upload them today.
After our holiday in Besham, my mother, me and my 3 siblings would visit Lahore. Both, my paternal and maternal relatives lived there so every summer holidays, we would spend about 6 weeks in Lahore visiting all our loved ones here. At that time, we lived in Rawalpindi and we didn’t have any relatives in Rawalpindi/ Islamabad so we looked forward to our summer vacations so we could visit relatvies in Lahore and have a good time with them.
Vacations in Lahore mostly followed this routine:
• Staying awake till late often till 3 to 4 am and going to bed after praying fajar namaz.
• Waking up late around 1 or 2 pm at times and eating naan with chanay (chickpea curry)
• Playing all day long with cousins or going out to some park or shopping
• Eating good food all day long and then staying awake till late watching shows and movies or playing Ludo or charades with cousins and doing fun things
How I miss those days. Honestly, want to travel back in time right now and relive those moments. Winter vacations followed this pattern too but they were mostly spent in Pindi or visiting the northern areas of Pakistan with my family, and were really enjoyable too.
Now that my son goes to school, he is going to have his first winter vacation in about 2 days and I am super excited for those days. For him, his vacations have already started since we are going out on picnics and sightseeing adventures and malls every day almost. My sister and brother in law are here from the U.S. to spend their vacation with us so we are trying to make the most of these days. However, I am still excited for his winter break because that would mean sleeping in almost every day yayy; yeah not on days when he wakes up early and is hungry.
Why Teachers Must Have Breaks
With the part covered on what I used to do as a student during my holidays, I’ll now give my two cents on why I think teachers should have holidays. All sorts of teachers deserve a good break from their hectic schedule, but I feel strongly for the good teachers and speak vehemently for their rights here. A good teacher for me is one who does not limit his/ her students to only follow what the books teach him/ her, but gives the students their wings and encourages them to discover their unique talents and polish them. While, my definition of a good teacher is longer than that, I think it is best to cover it in another post. For now, I’ll just stick to why teachers deserve holidays.
Good teachers are supernatural beings, at least for me. They work hard year around for their students; make plans for them; help them in their academics and co-curricular activities; are on their toes right from the time the school starts till it ends and are mostly working on some sort of school project even when they return home. My mother taught in private schools here for about 6 years so yeah, I am well aware of that drill. Also, my husband taught in a school for about 8 months and I saw him return home feeling super-stressed every day during that time so I really feel for all the teachers.
Teachers work relentlessly for their students and for all the hard work they put in and for all the time and effort they invest in their students, they do deserve a nice vacation. Sadly, the vacation time for teachers is shorter than that of students and even in that time, they are often burdened with the task of creating the next term or year’s plan for the school or are given some sort of school related duty. I find that quite awful and I strongly believe that they should be allowed to enjoy their vacations without being pressured by the duty of creating a planner or doing anything related to their job. They deserve that time to enjoy their loved ones and engage in things they enjoy doing.
Below is a funny meme I found on teachers, but it is quite true.
If you are a teacher and are going to have your holidays, I strongly advise you to do the following:
• Treat yourself to a day just for yourself and relax a lot in your bed drinking hot chocolate or any beverage you love and doing all the things you love doing. Take 2 to 3 days for that or the whole vacation if you feel like it- it’s your time to unwind!
• Once you feel better, meet loved ones and hang as much as you can with them.
• Prepare a small list of what you would like to do during the vacation (long lists often go to waste so think of a few things you’d love to do this holiday season) and try to engage in at least 2 to 3 of them.
• If you are a parent then I know you cannot be off duty even if you are home, but you at least won’t have to worry about going to school/ college. Try to spend as much time with family and kids as you can and once your kids are off to bed, enjoy time alone or with your partner.
If any teacher is reading my post, I salute you for all your efforts. Thank you all for going through this long post and I would love to hear your views on the question.
Love and light,
Sharoon.
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