This article was published in the Citizen Newspaper, Tanzania on Tuesday December 27, 2022.
Transitioning through calendar years is easier in words than in real life. It goes beyond the joy of entering the New Year. This is because there are responsibilities that come with it. While December hosts a whole lot of festivities, holidays and travels which demand a lot of financial resources as well as time, January comes with a lot of pressure on parents with young families and children who go to school.
January is also not an easy month for tenants who pay house rent in quarter or half-year blocks too. While ease or difficulty is not measured by such simple terms, those who live in the cities feel the pinch even more. There are added costs in the cities which a person living outside the city will not incur.
On the other hand, the rise in prices which we always experience during festive seasons may not recede immediately after the end of the year festivities. This makes life in the early months of the New Year almost as expensive as the festive season that precedes it. At this time of the year prices of food and household items which are in high demand shoot up high too.
and smooth start of the year is secured for the children every year. PHOTO | ONLINE
We can anticipate that many children will delay reporting at schools because parents are not able to pay school fees on time, or they are not able to afford school necessities, like shoes, uniforms, books, transport fare, etc. In our end of the world, it is not an unfamiliar challenge as people go through this every beginning of the year. I would think that it would be better if the academic year did not begin with the calendar year as this will transfer the economic responsibility to some other times of the year apart from January.
For the reason that schools cannot run without the cooperation of parents and guardians, and many children are made to endure the embarrassment of being sent home when such necessities for their sustenance and learning at school are not fulfilled. Though there are genuine cases where parents or guardians really make an effort to have a good financial start for the year, there are also many cases of parents and guardians who fail in those duties because of making a choice not to save and overspending on these year-end festivities.
Nonetheless, this goes back to the available knowledge and common practice of management of finances, beginning at the grassroots level, which in this case is the family base. It is crucial to pose questions regarding priorities. What are the family priorities? It is important that parents make good financial decisions early enough so that the well-being and smooth start of the year is secured for the children every year. As a child, I began a year with so much energy, and I believe many children do the same; it is unfair if their drive for progress is discouraged along the way.
While festivities, parties, eating and drinking, are all good things, with no anticipation of the responsibilities ahead they endanger the smooth flow of life for the entire household. The drinking part of it is worth a keen check as well. It is oftentimes so easy to buy people drinks and make them happy for a moment than to save a sum of money for children’s school fees or family support as the year begins. From this, we learn that some tight situations are outcomes of the choices people make and can be avoided.
From another angle, the festive season which is traditionally the holiday time, affords families a little bit more time to be together. What does this really entail? It entails adults, and especially parents and guardians adjusting lifestyles to make the most of the festive season as a family. It means sacrificing some options in order to be available to the family for good.
I recall seeing a video whereby the father was speaking to his wife, sobbing about how it has been tough with him that he has no money to buy them food. He asked the wife to prepare ‘ugali with cabbage’ for the family. But, as he was making the call, he was enjoying a plateful of kitimoto with cold beer. Such an unexpected contradiction is not far from the realities we see in real life from time to time. It is more miserable if such negligence happens in a young family.
Among other things, it is deemed to be a good thing for parents to know what their children like and think about so as to create good memories and childhood experiences for them. It is not possible to know much about children if parents and guardians do not spare some time to be with them. There are things we take for granted as adults which cost nothing, and are just handy, which children enjoy a lot and definitely remember as they grow up.
