New Home, New School

It's the peak of summer and we all have the heat-stroke stories to prove it.

Since we are moving to a new home to be closer to my place of work, my son Ched is also moving to a new school. We are both excited since he was officially admitted to his new school. He's sometimes concerened about bullies and about making new friends, but Ched is a bibo kid and i know he'll fit-in in no time.

Like many parents all over, it's tough thinking of ways how to keep my child from becoming bored since school is still out. We are done with our mini vacations visiting cousins and taking out-of-town trips. He's just about to finish Swim Clinic this April, and there lies my problem. A curious kid like mine, with his overactive imagination didn't need much time figuring out all the orgami tricks in his origami books. All the old calendars, old T-shirts, old cabinet doors have been painted on. I'm worried he might do some painting to our ceilings and walls due to boredom.

Since I spent much on our new digs, I have limited cash to spend on any more vacations or trips to the beach. Ched is getting bored. I can almost hear his internal boredometer ticking overtime he looks wistfully at me as I get ready to go to work. He has watched all the shows on cable and is down to reading his old Children's Encyclopedia. He remains entertained for now, but I'm not sure for how long.

There is still an art, taekwondo and drama class that he could take but we have already resolved not to take anymore martial arts classes for him. I also dont encourage theater workshops lest he pesters me again to bring him to auditions and VTR's (he picks up a lot of these showbiz ideas from friends at these workshops). I try to veer him away from that for now. Showbiz, if that will still interest him later, will just have to wait.

I have to check the art workshop if they offer classes for intermmediate levels. Ched will only get bored with the basics since his arts teachers in his previous school already placed him in advanced levels in drawing and painting. We also skipped any sports activity this summer since he is scheduled to have 4 tooth extractions starting the 1st week of May.

I know, I know, children nowadays are more sophisticated than those during my time. Summer breaks weren't so hard for my parents to figure out for us. Our limitless imagination kept us from being bored during those hot summer days. We didn't always have out of town trips or any fancy classes or hobbies to be busy with, all we needed were a few neighborhood friends and we were good to go. The games, the bahay-bahayan, and all sorts of gimmicks were aplenty to keep us busy.

Ched is not lacking for any friends in our old neighborhood. I still bring him there to be with his lola and lola a few days every week, but eversince I could remember, his neighborhood friends also had summer classes to go to. We all shared a common goal of making sure our children do not become computer zombies during summer, which explains our mad rush to enroll our kids in summer classes.

With our recent transfer, our desktop computer still sits in a box, waiting for my cousin Ding to assemble the whole thing. Like i said, Ched of late is seen reading his encyclopedia and books to pass the time. He misses his Facebook account, SF games and YouTube guitar lessons, but he is discovering that very interesting information about the world is just a flip away in the pages of his children's encyclopedia.

Hmmmnnn, I think I'm going to postpone Ding's visit next week. The desktop could enjoy a few more weeks resting inside its box.