Guidelines for Making Use of the Summer Holidays

Question:
(Glorified and Exalted is He) regarding the reward for dutifulness to and excellence in worship toward one’s parents. He says: We are on the eve of the summer vacation, so what is your guidance for us in utilizing our time in a way that brings benefit and profit? And what is your guidance for parents regarding our children?

Answer:
There is no doubt that the summer vacation is an opportunity for one who wants good and an opportunity for one who wants evil.
So, occupy yourselves with good, seeking knowledge, reading beneficial books, and doing good in your religion and your worldly affairs. Beware of occupying yourselves with play, games, and wasting time, for the people of evil are preparing programs for this vacation to cause corruption, deception, and ignorance. So, be cautious of these people and their programs, and occupy your minds with what is beneficial for you in your religion and your worldly affairs. Review your lessons and strengthen yourselves for the future with beneficial knowledge. As for the one who is heedless and plays, he erases the knowledge he learned throughout the year; he erases it and becomes heedless of it, so it is lost to him. As for the one who continues seeking knowledge, knowledge increases and grows through seeking it and persisting in it.