Parents ‘dread summer holidays’

J Degabriele

Aug 26th 2012, 10:54

According to me, this shows that these people should never have been parents. One should be glad that one's offspring are at home under one's direct influence. Soon they will grow and fly the nest. Enjoy them while you can!

L Zahra

Jul 23rd 2012, 13:52

Very well said Mr Axisa.

R Axisa

Jul 22nd 2012, 23:28

Dawk il-genituri li jrabbu t-tfal bla dixxiplina, jiehdu qatgha meta jaslu l-vaganzi tal-iskola. Ahna konna 7 ahwa d-dar u qatt ma naf li l-genituri tieghi kienu jiehdu qatgha meta nkunu kollha d-dar. Anzi, kienu jiehdu r-ruh ghax kulhadd kien jaghti daqqa t'id fix-xoghol tad-dar. Illum li jien kbir u ghandi 2 itfal, niehu pjacir meta jkunu d-dar bil-vaganzi ghax jaghtu daqqa t'id ukoll. B'hekk jitghallmu jmiddu jdejhom fix-xoghol tad-dar u f'dak li jkun hemm bzonn isir.

Pule' Carmel

Jul 22nd 2012, 15:40

What a change in parent’s attitude!! in their children being at home during the summer holiday. I have a tendency to say, that if this is the case, modern education has failed completely in retaining the instinct of a parent and they are “ no parents at all”. My philosophy of modern education is that it is changing parents into bees and ant workers, and work and work and work while the children are to be looked after by someone else. WHAT A DISASTER in parenthood!

Before I explain the relation of parents and children at Cottonera when I was young, I must mention that the New Philosophy of building new homes by architects has ensured that Parents moved away from being true parents who loved their children to be with them during the holidays, to those “new species of breeding couples” who do not cope with their one or two children being with them during the summer holidays!

Sixty to seventy years ago, during holidays, with about four to six children in every family, were at home with the parents. My own mother had six children, and I never remember her being flummoxed and agitated at not being able to cope. She went around the home as natural as any mother can. On occasions she occupied the grown children with some task, including whatever there was a need to do. I washed the stairs for her, I went shopping, I fed the few chickens and I played in the streets with the other children. It was not unlike the life of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. When my mother asked me what I was doing revising mathematics, she sat beside me to see what it was all about and once I remember my mother, in two miutes understanding the meaning of x^2 and 2*x ( x squared and two multiplied by x)

I often went to my Uncle who was a boat builder and helped him by fetching tools he needed and I learnt every one by its name. I was so proud when my uncle gave me a saw and trusted me to saw along the pencilled line of a big plank which was to finish on the side of a Luzzu or a Daghjsa. I was so scared not to deviated from the pencilled line, but I managed. I took the opportunity to make such a variation of toys like Xixu complete with the Pala, and a variation of Cricket Bats, we made scooters with ball bearings and carts which we races downhill at Quarter front street at Vittoriosa.

The sea was not far off and our mother trusted us to go wherever we liked. We went to Fortini to play football and to climb the trees, climbing from one trunk and transferring to other trees and climbing down from other trunks. We went to Toqba il-Qadima and as my father did not want us to handle barbed hooks to fish with, I asked my mother if she would let me use “Labar tar-ras”. My mother never said no to anything that we wanted to do, so I bent the pointed end and tied the self made hook to a line and with bread for bait, I did manage to catch some fish whenever I wanted. Whenever I took the tiny fish to my mother she patted me on the head and said, “Thank you Carmel, now we have the meal for the day!”( Issa ghandna x-nieklu!”

Once I asked my mother that I needed to find what INK was made from as Mr Bonnici wanted a lot of ink and so I told her that I was going to look for fruit which stained a lot. This, venture took me to roam Cottonera and under De La Salle Farms, I saw the mating of chickens, horses, sheep and rabbits and also the births. As far as the ink, I managed to find some “bajtar tax-xewk” which was small but it had a liquid which stained as much as any ink and I experimented with it.

My brothers made, “film strips for talkies” and build model aeroplanes which we flew at Fortini and many times we went for adventures along the moat running between Bormla and Kalkara. On occasions we circles along the Cottonera lines but we did this when we grew up to about Ten years old. Football in the streets used to occupy the children of every family and most mothers came to watch us with a bottle of “FLAVIN” just in case someone fell on the hard ground and scratched himself. The girls joined in with “throwing pennies and most of the Maltese traditional games as “ Hames caghaqiet” , Nogholi and so many traditional endevours including making Pasturi.

Through all this mothers came around to watch us, bringing with then , “ XI TURRUN HOBS BIZ ZEJT TO DISTRIBUTE AMONGST ALL CHILDREN WHO WERE PLAYING TOGETHER.

I still remember the laughter of many mothers, gossiping and babbling away and if any of the children fell, he went straight to his mother who said, “ Ejja halli nara x-ghandek.” And when she investigated the scratch she said, “ U le hi, ma ghandek xejn, ejja halli nbusielek wahda and with a pat on the head the boy went to play again, giving himself a little shake to take the dust away.

And Parents in New York, London and Paris thought that they were better off living in skyscrapers hating it when their children were home during the summer holidays!
Well did we improve family relations, and were parents worse off then???? I sometimes wonder. Half of us children still made it to University and became parents who enjoy being with our children and grandchildren during the summer holidays.

Malta, try not to lose playing with your children when they are at home in their summer holidays. It is a value that many developed nations is losing.