Summer fun with kids

Celebs will go for vacations abroad with their kids but cheaper options are also available.

KARACHI:

Summers are here and so is the dreadful task of handling children during vacations.  Trying to engage little ones who often have ample spare time and energy during summer, can often be a challenge for parents (as if battling the scorching heat was not enough for a struggle).

How do celebs enjoy the sultry weather with their kids? Do they vacation abroad or choose to stay at home?

The Express Tribune spoke to a couple of celebrities, to find out how they spend free time with their younglings during summer break.

Amir Adnan and Huma Adnan, a designer couple, actually have a lavish summer vacation every year with their three kids, Parishae, Shafae and Nichae. “Usually, every summer we make it a point to go abroad on a vacation. Last year we toured the USA and this time, my husband and I plan to take our kids to Europe,” reveals Huma.

Publicist Tehmina Khaled and her husband TV artiste Khaled Anum also explain that they usually make a getaway abroad every summer with their teenage boys Ammar and Komail.

“This summer, we are taking our kids to Thailand, for the young boys there is so much to do like bungee jumping and other sports. So we plan to thoroughly enjoy,” Tehmina says excitedly.

For event manager Frieha Altaf, summers are for spending time with her teenage kids, Turan and Parisheh, in Canada.

“For the past so many years, we fly to Canada for the summers. I spend time with them watching movies, going to theatre to watch musicals. We go out to shop, to the amusement parks that they love to go to and to the zoo. But this summer, will be slightly different, I will be touring Europe with my son as he has grown up and wants to see other places,” says the energetic event organiser.

But with expenses constantly on the rise, not everyone has plans to go abroad for a vacation. Yet there are still many ways in which parents operating on a budget can keep their children engaged in healthy and educational activities.

Anila Weldon of WeldonMoms, a support group for mothers, pinpoints myriad outdoor and indoor activities that parents can easily enjoy with their kids. “Both are important. Healthy outdoor activities include swimming, horse-back riding, taekwondo, karate, football, cricket coaching,” he said. “While indoor activities like arts, craft, children’s theater workshops, baking, cake decoration, clay activities and numerous other fun things children can learn in a group.”

As a single parent, Weldon feels that summer holidays are a time for her to relax with her five-year-old son because she is always pressed for time during her normal routine.

Some of the activities that the entrepreneur enjoys with her child include climbing trees, using sling-shots and shopping for new shoes and clothes.

Anila Weldon also has suggestions for parents who might be bogged down in work even during their kids’ summer vacations. “Opting for summer camps, sports camps and arranging for cousins and friends to come over can offer some relief to parents who do not approve of their kids being in front of the TV all the time!”

Tips from Weldon

As a parent, whatever you choose to do with your kids free time, do not:

a) Try to enroll them in remedial classes or tuitions (summer vacations are not meant to be toiling over academics).

b) Do not give in to the peer pressure that summer vacations always means travel time for the family. (You can have a good time without a plane-ride too).

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2011.