Even though it is many years since I walked the corridors of my old school, I still look forward to school holidays. But my, how they have changed. I remember being excited as a kid, because it meant I could play cricket or footy all day and not have my Test matches interrupted by maths or geography.
In my teens it meant I could sit around with my mates and talk about girls and listen to music all day. I can honestly never remember telling my parents I was bored, or needing to be taken out anywhere to occupy my time during the holidays.
As you will experience in the next two weeks, we have shopping centres that have school holiday programs which are run like a military exercise at Duntroon. Sports clubs run super clinics day after day during the holidays. All these things are great, particularly for parents trying to keep the kids happy for the fortnight they’re off school. Why has this happened?
Our children are certainly smarter and more worldly than we were at the same age and maybe that’s the cause. A whole new world has opened up. I never travelled overseas until I was an adult, yet my older son, Beau, had been to America half a dozen times before he was 10.
The PlayStation has replaced the back yard as the place to play important sports games and those games are now more likely to be soccer and basketball rather than cricket or Aussie Rules.
While on schools, congratulation to Baden Powell College principal Julie Mason on her new role as district governor of Rotary, a role that sees her step down from the school until early next year. And all the best to Martin Enright, principal of St. James the Apostle in Hoppers Crossing. After 20 years at the school Martin has retired to enjoy some golf and his grandchildren.
Thanks also for the positive feedback I received regarding last week’s column. It is good to know so many people, regardless of whether they agree with my opinions or not, do agree that I am entitled to have one. ■
