Let Kids Enjoy Festivals

Britti Aryal 

Life is a learning process. We learn from everything we come across from birth to death. Learning evolves from each and everything we do and see. Learning grows through our personal experiences which bear no rule at all. 

Let me connect our learning process to the festivals. Living in a country rich in cultural diversity, we celebrate at least one festival a month. Sometimes even more. Every festival has its own values and specialties. Every festival teaches new things. Besides the cultural and religious aspects, the festival offers much more to us. Most importantly, it brings people together creating a sense of belonging. Festival symbolises peace and harmony spreading happiness all over the family.

Most obviously, festivals provide great learning opportunities for children. Through festivals, children learn social skills as family members, relatives and friends get together on such occasions. There is so much knowledge to acquire in these moments. Witnessing people greeting each other, welcoming, blessing, embracing, and communicating not just teaches children to respect the elders and love the young ones but also edifies their interaction skills. Growing kids need to be taught the true meaning of rituals, cultures, and devotions of festivals in order to keep up festivals for a long time. Also allowing kids to wear traditional attire during the festival enlightens its true significance. Letting them indulged in works like decorations not just helps to keep them busy but also encourages them to enjoy the festive time more. Training them to prepare traditional cuisine helps to build more interest during the festive time and understand the value of a variety of traditional dishes. 

Sadly, children are assigned bundles of assignments to be completed within a festive period which is unquestionably letting their interest in the festival down. Some are busy working on their project works. Some are in rush to collect and search for the correct answers. It won’t be wrong to say schools are stressing kids with homework which is why they are diverted toward the next direction. Students are finding festivals distractive. The real fun and importance of festivals really have faded with the culture of allotting children with coursework and their deadlines.

Children spend most of their time and learn more than half of the things in school.  So, schools should teach students about everything that is mandatory for them to learn. Celebrating festivals, visiting religious places, meeting relatives, roaming around new places, playing games, and learning daily life hacks like cooking, and cleaning is as equally important to the children as going to school, learning about the past histories, and completing the course books.

There is no point in asking children to write an essay about the cultural values of festivals when they even don’t know how festivals are celebrated. Schools should know that theoretical knowledge is not enough for children to learn. Children don’t easily get time to enjoy and take rest as they are always burdened with certain tasks. The festive season provides the best chance for kids to take a rest and celebrate it in a joyful way. And the schools should let them enjoy themselves to the fullest, giving them a proper chance to see, value, admire and learn the true aspects of festivals so that they could carry forward to the upcoming time.