What do you do with kids when they are off school for the summer holidays?
I reckon that the options for parents in
• Plop them in front of the TV to watch endless DVDs and satellite TV.
• Drop them at shopping malls at 10am and pick them again at dinner time.
• Give them a few tins of paint, some brushes and a mandate to redecorate their room.
• Take them to the movies (probably at yet another shopping mall).
• Look after a bunch of your kids friends all at once (with the ulterior motive of planning to subsequently dump them on everyone that your ‘hospitality’ was extended to).
• Invite relatives over to enjoy the Bahrain summer and have them ‘baby sit’ your kids every week day after their arrival
• Take the kids to work with you for a little ‘work experience’.
• (If finance permits) leave them at either the Lost Paradise of Dilmun or Adhari Park.
• (If finance doesn’t permit) take them, their bikes and a good supply of water and drop them at the Corniche.
• Encourage them to start learning something new. A language or a new skill; like to swim or paint or cook.
OR
• Just send them to … SUMMER CAMP
We’re here for the whole summer (again) and like many parents are facing this dilemma (again).
But fortunately for us there are plenty of good ‘Summer Camps’ nearby to keep the kids happy, entertained and (most importantly) to wear them out so that they are ready to fall into bed by 7pm.
Our little Hannah has been having a ball at ‘Camp’. She went to “BizziBeez” for the whole of the first week of the hols. It’s a great place for kids; with lots of different spaces for them to play and do fun stuff in.
Activities include painting, swimming and even playing at being a shop keeper or a customer! You see, one of the rooms has been decked out as a mini-supermarket, complete with stalls of fake fruit and vegetables and shelves bulging with everything from milk and cornflakes packets to bickie tins and plastic oil bottles.
It’s even got a couple of toy cash registers and kid-sized shopping trolleys and baskets.
I wonder if our intrepid price investigator here at GulfWeekly Shilpa has checked out this particular shop yet? Ha!
One very distinctive activity area is the sand pit, which are always greeted with ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ on first showing.
How exciting can a sand pit be you ask?
Well, imagine you are four and the sand in one pit is bright pink, and in the other is the bluest of blues.
I can tell you that the kids think that it’s just ‘magic’ to play in such colourful sand, and Hannah and I pretty much agree. She enjoyed a whole week of fun at ‘Bizzie Bees’.
Since then she’s joined some of her friends at CHAOSS – the Children’s Health Academy for Specialised Sports. Kids from CHAOSS recently participated in an Inter-Gulf Gymnastics Competition and came away with a very credible 42 medals for Bahrain. Fantastic! But, how do I describe CHAOSS to you? Well, in the words of its founder Cara, “it’s brilliant” (said with a strong Yorkshire accent).
I tend to agree, and what I like best about the place is that there’s colour everywhere.
There are also bits of equipment and exciting apparatus of every kind all over the place.
On my last visit (to film for Music Mania and drop off little Hannah for some fun) I was feeling a bit braver and more adventurous than usual, so, I tried walking along the beam (and promptly toppled off).
I also had a good bounce on the trampoline. It was great fun and I was very enthusiastic … and nearly broke my neck.
Now, don’t worry, I’m fine apart from some mild whip lash and anyway, both those things were my own fault.
The kids, of course, were fine because looking after them is a set of highly-trained professional teachers, who had the good sense to keep them a safe distance from me whilst I tried my gymnastic manoeuvres.
There is also a lovely swimming pool and a great coffee shop too.
It is a very well run and organised place and their mission is to give children a healthy mind and body in a good and safe environment.
Hannah’s face glows when Wendy picks her up and asks what she has done for the day and she chatters on for ages about everything.
It’s my pleasure to take her in the mornings and sometimes I even take my neighbour’s daughters too, as we’re doing a bit of a ‘summer camp car pool’ thing.
It’s complicated though. I sometimes have to remember to leave the car seats at Summer Camp for my wife Wendy to collect, or to put them into her car before I go to work.
This is because I’m at work when it’s pick up time and she, or our neighbour, collects the kids and brings them home. So, although the carpool means that we all can get to work on time and such, it’s a bit of a hassle and presents some moral compromises too … because our cars just can’t fit three car-seats in the back.
So we may be doing our little bit for the environment and reduce a few carbon emissions, but the biggest kid has to sit in the middle at the back with just a lap strap.
Why any car made in the last 10 years should have a lap strap is a mystery to me, because it’s entirely possible to have three shoulder straps in the back. I know I’ve said it before, but we all need to remember that kid’s safety is paramount and a lap strap without even a booster is not really good enough. This leaves us kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Personally I feel that car manufacturers could do a little more to facilitate adequate car seats for kids. They would just have to design the seats and seat belts a little better. Parents shouldn’t have to get a gas guzzling monster to keep three little ones safe, but they don’t have many attractive options.
This is something for us all to ponder. The papers have been full of lively debate on both child safety and environmental considerations lately. Also, the little Picassos Art Competition is on next weekend and the theme this year is seatbelts.
It’ll be very interesting to see how kids see the issue of seatbelt safety. I know already that they will teach us a thing or two and give us plenty to think about.
So everyone "Belt Up"!
All my love
Krazy Kevin
