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UAE summer break: How parents plan to keep kids engaged over the holidays

Dubai - Parents are exploring innovative ways to keep their children occupied with constructive tasks.

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With the summer break approaching, parents are keen to keep their children productively engaged during the two months’ vacation.

With Covid-19 still rampant in many nations, especially in India and the sub-continent, several families have shelved their annual trips back home or other tourist destinations.

With most families likely to spend the summers in the UAE, parents are exploring innovative ways to keep their children occupied with constructive tasks.

Malaysian expat Adilatul says with the pandemic situation not looking good in her hometown, staying back in the UAE seems a better option.

“My children are thinking of taking online taekwondo classes three times a week to raise funds for charity,” said Adilatul. “They have both have acquired Dant 2 black belts and are trying to identify organisations where they will send these proceeds. They want to teach taekwondo to underprivileged children for free and others can pay whatever they want for the classes. Apart from this, my daughter will attend online violin classes that she has been pursuing for a while now.”

Filipino Isabella Lebig plans to publish her second book this summer. Last year during Covid-19, the 11-year old expat published her first book which is available on Amazon. Her family collaborated with the UAE Food Bank and the Filipino Consulate to distribute relief food packages to the needy from the sale proceeds of the book.

Her father Ben Lebig said: “My daughter will be conceptualising her second book during the summer holidays. She is a voracious reader. Usually, during her vacations, she spends a major part of her time reading. Our house is almost like a library. She can finish a reasonably thick book in one day. I am also a public speaker and often take her along to the events that I attend, so that will continue. On the side, she will also pursue her karate classes as well during her holidays.”

Last summer people were seen hunkering at home due to the Covid-19 situation, but this year, with the majority of the population vaccinated, parents are a lot more confident about sending their wards out for extracurricular classes and summer camps.

Dubai resident Maryam Shirinov is keen that all her children use their vacation prudently. The Azerbaijan expat says, “They will go for jiu-jitsu (Japanese martial arts) classes and train at the camp. My middle son will train with a personal trainer as he wants to gain muscle. He is into boxing. The younger one will also do jiu-jitsu with another group of his age. The 15-year-old girl will go to the Dubai Ladies Club and may enrol in a summer camp on fun robotics.”

Indian expat Iram Rizvi’s children are looking forward to going out and enjoying. “On top of their list is a visit to museums such as the Shindagha Museum, Etihad museum and the Louvre in Abu Dhabi and theme parks like the Dubai Parks and Resorts,” says Iram.

Over the past couple of months her children have also been collecting glass bottles which they will be repurposing as pen holders, vases and jars by creatively decorating them.

“They will be participating in the neighborhood recycling project by the Emirates Environmental Group. It is like a summer tradition for them - they will be doing their weekly trips around the neighborhood collecting paper and plastic in the hope of reaching their recycling targets. They plan to sell these at a community event at school and send the money to charity,”Iram explains.

She adds, “They will also be joining in-person music classes. They’ve set themselves the goal of being balcony gardeners and learn how to grow a variety of fruit and vegetables.”

nandini@khaleejtimes.com