Trust me when I say, I have been there, done that, mostly in the frittered away and squandered category. Suddenly the summer is upon you, the last day of school is over, the future stretches ahead of you, wonderful, “pressureless’, unmapped and unplanned. Nothing is demanded of you and you demand nothing of anyone else. Bliss!

Or is it? After the first three days of determinedly doing nothing, reality catches up. YOU may be on holiday, but are your parents as free as you? Chances are, if they are working, a vacation means two weeks of packing up the family and spending oodles of money just to get everyone out of the city, no matter how much it costs. Great for you, hard for them.

Then, what about your domestic help? Does your vacation mean more work for her because you have decided that you have earned all that free time, can sleep as late as you want and can generally be a nuisance. All because you have been (hopefully) doing what is your duty, including studying, passing exams and getting decent grades.

Believe me when I say that after three days of lolling around, you will begin to miss a structure to your day, even if the structure is formed around giving yourself a break and enjoying yourself. For then, you will realize that even enjoyment has many meanings, not all of them self-indulgent.

In the pages to come, we have a host of suggestions on what you could do during your vacation so that you look back upon them and say,” Hey, I was pretty good all round”. Sherene Aftab’s piece on 12 things to do to ensure you treat your free time wisely is a must read. And by the way, reading is one of them, besides practicing public speaking in front of a mirror, playing board games (definitely trendy), learning leisure time cooking, doing a bit of holiday homework and generally value-adding to your surroundings.

Pearl Mathias has an article on how important it is to reach out to each other, because loneliness is a real social disease and how much does it cost to be nice to someone! And Nidhika Bhal continues a long-running discussion on what it takes to be a leader.

I know the feeling – your summer holiday stretches ahead, every free minute a gold coin deposited in the Bank of Forever Freedom. You are determined to spend frugally, horde as much as you can for the future. But Time and Tide wait for no-one and the days don’t stand still while you make up your mind about what to do. So plan ahead.

Else you will be looking at a past holiday during which you don’t remember a single worthwhile thing you did!

The post Free days are money in the bank. Spend them wisely. appeared first on The Teenager Today.

The children and the youth who are full of energy, enthusiasm and intelligence do not know what to do with their surplus time and energy after completing their routine home work and class room lessons. A vast majority of the teenagers and the youth waste much of their time and energy with internet, Facebook, TV and other futile things which are not productive. They indulge in non-essential things which only distract them. Neither teachers nor parents know to provide any other alternatives which will help the children and the youth to utilize their energy and talents for productive purpose.

Parents and teachers should make maximum effort to make the children and the youth feel responsible for the society from the very early years of their life. For this they should be helped to use their surplus time and energy for reading newspapers and books. They should develop various hobbies according to their aptitude. Merely concentrating on their routine subjects for examination will frustrate them. On the contrary they should be encouraged to acquire general knowledge about other subjects related to the country and the world in general.

Apart from dreaming about the routine career for a living they should be helped to formulate a vision for life which includes the welfare of the whole humanity. They should feel responsible not only for their country but for the whole of humanity. They can become global leaders provided they take charge now. They should refuse to be conditioned to wait for the future to take responsibility. Then we will have a better India and a better world!

From the very early years every child should be taught that nothing is impossible. The more the problems, the greater should be our determination; the more the darkness, the greater the need for us to be the light; the more the insensitivity, the greater should be our sensitivity.

Youth cannot wait for tomorrow! They should take charge of their time, talents, freedom and focus on their vision. They should shed their small dreams. APJ Abdul Kalam has rightly said, “Dreaming small is a crime”.

The post Youth shall take charge now! appeared first on The Teenager Today.