Back to class!

10 am - 2 pm: Classical dance and acting classes 2-3 pm: Lunch 4-6 pm: Swimming on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 11 am - 1 pm: Mehndi classes 2.30 - 4 pm: Pottery class 6- 8 pm: Western dance workshop on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays. 10-year-old Mita's diary is choc-a-bloc this summer. And that's a good thing, her mother Shradha feels. "It is important that her time is used productively.Otherwise kids just spend all their time watching TV and playing," Shradha states. Well, aren't vacations all about unwinding and relaxing? City parents don't seem to think so. Many just want to keep their children occupied during the holidays. Counselling centres get almost 50 to 60 calls a day asking about which classes they should be sending their kids to, and people running vacation classes also seem inundated with enquiries. Says Swati Salunkhe, director of a city counselling centre, "In today's competitive world, parents are anxious that their children keep learning something and don't waste their time." The absence of a proper care-giver (a family member or nanny) at home during the holidays and cut-throat competition could well be other reasons that keep vacation classes full. Explains Deepa Shah, "Schools don't give enough opportunity for dance, craft or other creative skills. Vacation classes are a good way to see if your child has latent skills." However, while the idea of weaning children away from television is good, pushing them into learning things they aren't interested in isn't, warns Salunkhe. "It could result in a stressful situation for the child. Parents should ideally enroll their kids for hobbies they are interested in. Parents could teach them things at home," says Salunkhe.