Many parents on Tuesday said they were battling to keep up with their children during the extended school holidays.

Schools around the country shut their gates last week for the extra long winter break, courtesy of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Charlton James from Mitchell’s Plain has taken off two weeks from work and his wife will take for the rest of the vacation.

He said preventing his two sons from getting bored is hard work and the expenses are not making things any easier.

Parents have been advised to keep a close eye on the children to prevent them from getting mixed up with the wrong crowd during the break.

Meanwhile, Child Rights Group said more needs to be done to keep teenagers, in particular, occupied during the school holidays.

“Often we don’t organise activities for children at night time. That is often when children are bored and go hang out at places and have access to alcohol and drugs. That’s when there’s continuous cycle of substance abuse among teenagers,” said the group’s Patrick Solomons.