It’s that time of year where students begin to count down the days until the holidays. They will look at the school calendar to find out when winter break starts and, maybe to their disappointment, they will find that school isn’t out until December 22, only a couple days before Christmas. This fact may be a cause for stress, but it’s not as bad as some may believe.
Most people may be concerned about not having enough time for their yearly tradition of Christmas shopping, baking, and decorating. Shopping has at least been made easy and efficient for this generation, so that everyone can get it done a lot faster. How? Online shopping. All someone must do is go to a website, click on the option to pay, and they can get it delivered to their home. It doesn’t take up the whole day and it’s not necessary to drive anywhere. That’s the silver lining of the 21 century, and people really need to get with it.
Another solution for the potential shopping problem: get it done early. If a student has many extracurriculars, or if they work, then they can start in early November or late October and do it a little bit at a time. By the time the break begins, there won’t be any more shopping to do.
When the break begins earlier, there is normally about a week or so before Christmas. For the families who have already completed all their preparation, that week is very boring for many students. Time tends to pass a lot quicker when there is something to do but when there is nothing, then it seems to pass agonizingly slow. Parents also don’t really know how to entertain their child and this year they don’t have to worry about that. Since there is only a small gap in between the break and Christmas, that is only two or three days of wait.
Excited energy builds up inside of the students as anticipation for the holidays sets in. At the end of a normal year, that energy has no way of deflating before they go back to school once again. This year, though, there’s an entire week of break after New Year’s Day. A week where students, parents, and teachers alike have a week to relax without having to worry about school or work. By the time school starts up again, students are ready to focus on whatever it has in store for them. That last week is also an opportunity for families to participate in winter activities together like skating, skiing, snowboarding, and more instead of worrying about the upcoming holidays.
Christmas isn’t the only holiday that people celebrate. For the ones who don’t celebrate it at all, the fact that the break is starting late doesn’t affect them.
A late winter break shouldn’t cause students and their families unnecessary stress.
Feature photo, curtesy of: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/6-homemade-christmas-gifts-anyone-would-love
