Finally summer is here in Yerevan! Which means NO school for a long time! Which also means more patience needed for parents to cope with the heat and non-stop arguing siblings at home.
This year is a little special, since we have three official teenagers in the house and one 7 year-old teen-wannabe who thinks that he can talk like the others and who just recently asked me if he can go take a walk in the city alone to see his friends :) too cute!
For this summer vacations, we encouraged our older ones to either work or do some volunteer work to gain more self-confidence and become more responsible, preparing them for their futur adult life.
The older one graduated this year as well, we are so proud of her and her creative personality. Of course school was challenging in Armenia for someone looking and acting so different than the established local norms, but we constantly supported her and encouraged her to pursue and not loose hope. With her piercings and different hair colours, she often was targeted on the streets or in the classroom with comments, threats or insulting jokes. Sometimes it would get to her, but we would spend hours each night discussing things, analyzing situations and trying to find solutions to be able to continue her studies as much as possible without having to compromise on her identities, values and approaches. Yes! It was quite a challenge, but when you constantly talk to your teens, eventually it helps, even though you end up drained most of the time, it is worth it! So older one finally graduated from high school and now trying to find a university program abroad on visual/experimental art. She loves Art, she is very talented but the art academy in Yerevan would limit more her creative spirit and dreams. So we are trying to find good programs either in Germany (by since she learned the language in school) or other cities in Europe. Education is ok in Armenia when you are in school, although it needs a good reform, which the new government is working on, but when you get to University the choices are very much limited. The good part is, that there are so many talented artists in the country that it was easy for us to find her in the meantime good private art lessons and work a little as well to gain experience.
The other two are busy volunteering in different places. The second one has applied to volunteer for a film fest and a children’s day camp and my 13year-old moved for a week or so to a horseback riding camp to do some community work and help out with cleaning and preparing the camp for visitors.
Summer is an important time for teens to try out different things, see what they like and gain work experience, learn to help out and volunteer for a cause. It prepares them to become more responsible, less focused on themselves and open to new challenges. Armenia has different opportunities for young people to volunteer in the summer, from day camps, to organisations/causes, offices, farms...Let’s see how it will go!
This year is a little special, since we have three official teenagers in the house and one 7 year-old teen-wannabe who thinks that he can talk like the others and who just recently asked me if he can go take a walk in the city alone to see his friends :) too cute!
For this summer vacations, we encouraged our older ones to either work or do some volunteer work to gain more self-confidence and become more responsible, preparing them for their futur adult life.
The older one graduated this year as well, we are so proud of her and her creative personality. Of course school was challenging in Armenia for someone looking and acting so different than the established local norms, but we constantly supported her and encouraged her to pursue and not loose hope. With her piercings and different hair colours, she often was targeted on the streets or in the classroom with comments, threats or insulting jokes. Sometimes it would get to her, but we would spend hours each night discussing things, analyzing situations and trying to find solutions to be able to continue her studies as much as possible without having to compromise on her identities, values and approaches. Yes! It was quite a challenge, but when you constantly talk to your teens, eventually it helps, even though you end up drained most of the time, it is worth it! So older one finally graduated from high school and now trying to find a university program abroad on visual/experimental art. She loves Art, she is very talented but the art academy in Yerevan would limit more her creative spirit and dreams. So we are trying to find good programs either in Germany (by since she learned the language in school) or other cities in Europe. Education is ok in Armenia when you are in school, although it needs a good reform, which the new government is working on, but when you get to University the choices are very much limited. The good part is, that there are so many talented artists in the country that it was easy for us to find her in the meantime good private art lessons and work a little as well to gain experience.
The other two are busy volunteering in different places. The second one has applied to volunteer for a film fest and a children’s day camp and my 13year-old moved for a week or so to a horseback riding camp to do some community work and help out with cleaning and preparing the camp for visitors.
Summer is an important time for teens to try out different things, see what they like and gain work experience, learn to help out and volunteer for a cause. It prepares them to become more responsible, less focused on themselves and open to new challenges. Armenia has different opportunities for young people to volunteer in the summer, from day camps, to organisations/causes, offices, farms...Let’s see how it will go!
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