Prof. Dr. Tarhan said, "It is necessary to look at vacation not as free time, but as free time. Vacation is free time, and free time is planned. If we teach the child to plan the day even on vacation, this will be the most important gain of the child."
Üsküdar University Founding Rector and Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out the importance of teaching children to plan their vacation days and said that being in more social environments and spending time with people from different segments of society within the framework of this planning will give the child different skills.
Prof. Dr. Tarhan, in a statement made to AA correspondent, stated that the holiday should be viewed as free time, not leisure time, and said, "Vacation is free time, and free time is planned. For example, a plan is made in the morning, 'What are you going to do today? ' The child says, 'I will go there, I will do this', plans the day, learns and thus learns to plan his/her future. If we teach the child to plan the day even on vacation, this will be the most important achievement of the child."
"Television is not a game but a means of entertainment"
Tarhan explained that play is the most serious work for children under the age of 10 and continued his speech as follows: "It is necessary to do something that will allow children to play in a group. Here television is not a means of play, it is only a means of entertainment. But the child needs friends. Beyond the friends at school, the family needs to be a friend to the child. Already with adolescence, the child finds his/her own friends. In such cases, the child goes and talks to his/her friends. He comes back in the evening and informs his parents. The fact that the child tells his/her parents about these things, even for 10 minutes, shows his/her sense of trust in his/her parents. It also develops a sense of responsibility and accountability. For this reason, keeping the child in social activities and ensuring that the child reports contributes to the development of that child's behavior."
Emphasizing that it is of great importance for the child to be involved in activities that the child can participate in during the semester break, Tarhan said, "But the child should not go to a theater, watch it and come back. This is not an activity. It is necessary to find things that the child will personally touch and participate in. If nothing else, they can read books, tell their parents or read books together. Families should try to prioritize group activities in this way."
"Learning in the 21st century is learning by experience"
Pointing out that assigning homework during the semester break is also a controversial issue, Tarhan said, "Especially in the skills that we envision as 21st century skills, more important than loading the child with knowledge is to give the child an identity. Why? Because a child who does not embark on a journey of self-discovery cannot succeed in the journey of discovering life. In order to embark on a journey of self-discovery, they need to have their own identity. For this, he needs to feel valuable and important."
Tarhan stated that the second important information is to teach children to be sensitive about the rights and needs of others, and continued as follows: "In order to teach these two constructs, learning in the 21st century is learning by experience. In the skill of learning by experience, we need to focus on how we can best enable the person to develop behaviors instead of taking the person and loading them with information in books. For this reason, they can do basic, compulsory homework, but homework should be kept to a minimum and more emphasis should be placed on the child gaining life skills. This is the main thesis of the use of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences in 21st century education. This thesis is that education should not be limited to the child being locked in a room alone with a computer and books. It should be more about developing social skills, group activity and team building skills, and for this, the young person should not be left alone, and one of the most important lucky things about us in Anatolia is that we can find close relatives and friends.
It is easier for the child to gain social skills with uncles, aunts, aunts, uncles, their children and neighborhood relations. But for children living in an apartment building, the child becomes isolated and is left to the television. The television is like a cheap babysitter, the child sits in front of it at home and spends the day that way. He also does a few lessons. That's how the vacation passes. However, the ideal vacation is for a young person to socialize with friends and learn how to manage relationships with them. They need to learn how to build relationships with people."
"Spending time with Syrians makes them appreciate the values they have"
Prof. Dr. Tarhan pointed out that disadvantaged people are people who are deprived of various social situations and that awareness should be raised about these deprived people, and said "For example, activities such as our children spending time with Syrians or elderly people and disabled people in the region one day a week, staying together for an hour or two, will help them appreciate the values they have, which they will remember for a lifetime. It gives them the ability to be happy with small things. Changing the world, changing oneself instead of blaming others, and moving forward in life should be instilled in children. These skills will be very useful to children in later life. Therefore, behavior development will be more effective than homework."
Tarhan suggested that parents and children should organize book reading activities together in order for children to learn to act with team spirit and said, "Teaching teamwork is very important for children to learn life. For this, it is necessary to see the vacation as an area where human relations, social skills, sharing and various skills are taught, not a place where the child is loaded with theoretical knowledge. For example, it is also very important to develop activities such as helping animals, caring for the elderly and disadvantaged people in life."
