"Dear teachers, don't force children to write about how they spent the summer"

On September 11, school officially starts in our country, for the academic year 2023-2024.

The students are in the days of preparation for this new beginning.

The markets are full of new bags. Chancellor too.

Children will find themselves a year older. These days are accompanied by mixed emotions on their part. They are happy that they will meet their friends, but not so much about the fact that they will start the routine with fixed schedules.

One of the questions that students are usually asked on the first day of school is: how and where did you spend your summer vacation? Perhaps without thinking for a long time that there are several categories of children: Those who have had the opportunity to take vacations and others who have not had this luck, due to many circumstances and above all for economic reasons.

For this reason, there are children who are afraid on the first day of school because they don't have a good answer to the question of how they spent it and what they did during the summer, because maybe what they did was just survival. As schools are not only in the center of Tirana and children do not only go to private schools where families can afford to pay.

According to psychologists, this situation should be avoided.

Perhaps many parents and teachers may not agree with this idea, but how about we respect those who can't afford it for once!?

To talk about the beginning of the new school year, the emotions, the challenges, but also focusing on the question about vacations, we spoke with the psychologist and lecturer of the Faculty of Social Sciences, ArjanaMuçaj.

-Arjana, how are the returns to school for students, after long vacations?

Returning to school for students after summer vacation is a positive emotion as it is about returning to the social groups they belong to during the school year. The enthusiasm that they are already a year older brings them back full of energy and new ideas for the new school year.

In fact, children also experience stress, as their daily routine begins to change from long sleeping hours to fixed waking hours and planning home study lessons, but also the courses that most children attend during the year. school.

So the return of children to the daily routine comes with the enthusiasm of the first day of school and continues with the anxiety of stabilizing time schedules until they stabilize.

– Have today's children changed from the children of 20 years ago for example? In what sense?

If we were to compare the children of today with the children of 20 years ago, this is impossible because the generations at that time spent part of their free time in social entertainment where social relations made the individual healthier for overcoming the difficulties they encountered as children. . But summer vacations used to be held in groups of children where there were pioneer camps and the organization of time was very efficient, so that the child did not lose the rhythm of the school year. The activities were also more diverse where the children created with their imagination games that affected the physical and mental development of the child.

Even today we have summer camps for children, but more importance is given to fun as it is thought that children enjoy themselves more. An extremely influential element in social and mental formation and development today is the presence of technology. Standing in front of the screens of tablets and smartphones makes us understand how today's children establish social relationships, which is also reflected in the communication that today's children have. In the past, parents were tired of keeping them close to home even when their children fell ill, today it is quite the opposite. We have children who enjoy the fun of the sea more near the television screens and tablets.

-Has technology changed their lives, the fact that they play less and less on the field and more and more in front of the screen?

Being in front of screens has totally changed the quality of life for today's children as they lack the desire to develop their imagination.

They are children who do not tire emotionally and do not express themselves emotionally on what they experience and feel. Walking barefoot on soft, green grass is not the same as on a tablet screen, but even trying to climb a tree is different from what you do in computer games. However, we know that children today are the generation of technology and we cannot separate them from it, but the way of use and the time of stay depends on us parents who are adults and responsible for the development of our child.

- There is a tradition, already in our schools, in the first days, the students asked the teachers about the summer vacations, even often, some of them make this a topic, the students have to write and show how they spent them. Is there a problem here?

This tradition of asking your child how they spent their summer vacation needs to change. We know that the socio-economic situation of families today does not allow all children to enjoy the sea, the mountain or simply go on vacation with their families.

Teachers should be aware that in their class there are children who will come in the same clothes on the first day of school and this best shows us the difficulties of families nowadays. An insulted child despised by his peers will be a child who will withdraw into himself in his solitude, blaming the world he was born into and will lose his desire to be part of the class.

It would be good if the first question from the teachers is about the children's plans for the new academic year, how they thought about it and what they expect from the new school year. Have you thought about developing group projects where everyone feels activated and enthusiastic about their ideas.

-There are those families who have had the opportunity to take vacations, there are others who haven't, should we be careful not to embarrass the children with the question "tell us where you spent your vacations"?

A child's mind works differently than an adult's as children have a hard time understanding why they can't go on vacation and this makes the child feel inferior about the opportunities their family has. Children develop a sense of guilt because they think they are responsible for the situation in which the child is.

-What happens to a child who hears that his friend went on a luxury vacation, while he didn't?

The comparison of children starts from the parents, since they are the ones who teach them who to hang out with, and this causes the child to reject for company the child who does not have the same living conditions as him. The feeling of contempt incites anger and hatred in these children, which can lead to aggression, which is reflected in the child's behavior.

- What can teachers replace the question about vacations with?

Today's children lack the social habits that are the norm of social education, you lack socialism, you lack conversation with parents and teachers (communication) and this can be seen in the attitudes they hold in the family and in school.

Free play, as today's children are turning from their parents into robots of courses for everyone, painting, music and whatever else. Parents should not forget that children need entertainment not only for well-structured schedules where the child does not manage to find space to breathe freely.

*'Confession Room' exclusive column of Vox News.

***

©Copyright Vox News
This article is exclusive to Vox News, it is copyrighted according to Law No. 35/2016, "On copyright and related rights". The article can be republished by other media only by citing Vox News and placing the source link at the end, otherwise any violator will be held responsible according to Article 178 of Law No. 35/2016.