Schools holidays are here again...

"I can't wait for the school to open. I'm bored. There's nothing to do at home," said my daughter. Say what???? So far, for the past few days since school hols started, my kids were either playing with the PSP, PS2, Wii, computer, and not forgetting being glued to the TV all day long. Also, most of the time, this daughter of mine who has been complaining, spent a chunk of her time either yakking with or texting her friends. As a matter of fact, the past two or three days she has been doing Korean drama marathon. And there are tonnes of story books in this house that she has not touched yet. Alas, she felt has nothing to do.


When we were young, we were not as priveleged as my kids. There was no TV in my house (once our TV was broken, my late father refused to fix it or get a new one). Computer, PS2, and what not were unheard of. There's no kampung to go back to. And my parents were quite strict, we were not allowed to venture outside the gate by ourselves. But we always looked forward to school hols. Like my sister said, we were creative. We would play with anything and even invented our own games.

Of course playing with my siblings, especially playing the board games (these we have quite a number) would usually ended up in squabbles (poor Mak, she must be very tired scolding and shouting at us when this happened). I remembered we also used to act out plays or sing and record ourselves using the old tape player (the one like in the Mission Impossible, the old version, that is). Later, we used our late father's cassette player (I doubt my kids have any idea what these thinggamajigs were).

But most of the time, we drowned ourselves in books. My eldest brother and I used to belong to two libraries, the Perpustakaan Sultan Ismail (in front of Lido) and Perpustakaan UMNO (near Jalan Segget). Every other week, my late father would take us to these libraries, alternatively. We would spent time reading at the library and then would take home a maximum of three books at a time. When Perpustakaan Sultan Ismail moved nearer my house, my younger brothers and sisters would walk to the library, a good 1 KM, I guess. And my youngest sister would use the torch light to read in the dark since we were usually asked to go to bed quite early (that was why she had to start using glasses when she was still quite small). During the weekends, my late father would buy three newspapers: NST; Berita Harian; and Utusan Melayu (jawi). We had to read them all since my late father wanted us to be able to communicate in BM, English and know how to read in Jawi. I guess, even though my father did not teach us formally, that was how he inculcated the love of reading in us.

Well, my dear daughter (hopefully you are reading this), boredom should not be one of the words in your dictionary. And nothing to do should not be one of the phrases that come out from your mouth. Be creative, be resourceful, find things to do. The least you can do is, "HELP ME OUT IN THE KITCHEN RIGHT NOW". So, what are you waiting for?

Till next school hols. Happy holidays.....