Midterm has arrived like a soft breeze across the estates. School gates have been closed. Uniforms hang obediently in wardrobes. Exercise books lie closed, recovering from equations and essays.
Across neighbourhoods, teenage girls walk freely in their home clothes; relaxed, radiant, laughing without the weight of assembly bells.
Yes, they are smiling. Yes, they are blooming into womanhood. Yes, without uniforms, they may appear older — but they are children.
Midterm does not manufacture adulthood. Casual clothes do not accelerate birthdays. Curves do not sign consent forms. A confident stride does not rewrite a birth certificate.
Men must understand this with sobering clarity: appearance is not permission, and holiday freedom is not maturity.
Midterm Does Not Cancel the Law
Character is not tested when temptation is absent; it is tested when temptation smiles at you.
What begins as a glance can grow into a conversation. What begins as a conversation can slip into private messaging. What begins as “harmless” can quietly mature into something illegal.
Temptation rarely announces itself as danger. It arrives dressed in charm, disguised as friendliness, wrapped in flattery.
You may tell yourself it is innocent. You may persuade yourself that she is mature. You may even imagine you are in control.
But the law does not negotiate with imagination. It deals in facts. Age is a fact. Minor is a fact. Evidence is a fact.
Desire is not a defence — you are the adult.
That is not a compliment; it is a responsibility.
You are the boundary. You are the brake. You are the one required to say no, even when no one is watching.
The Consequences Are Permanent
The burden rests on you, because what begins in laughter can end in handcuffs.
Prison is not folklore whispered to frighten children. It is concrete and steel. It is early roll calls and locked gates. It is the long echo of regret bouncing off cold walls.
There are men who once walked confidently through their neighbourhoods, respected and admired, who now measure their days by institutional schedules.
Many of them began with the same careless sentence: “It is not serious.” It became serious.
A criminal record does not quietly fade away. It follows you into job interviews. It stains your professional reputation. It complicates travel.
Long after the sentence ends, the label lingers like a shadow that refuses to detach — all because you failed to stop at a handshake during midterm freedom.
READ ALSO: Makueni launches urgent crackdown to protect students during midterm travel
Masculinity is not conquest; it is control. It is the strength to restrain yourself when an impulse pushes forward.
When you encounter schoolgirls during midterm, conduct yourself deliberately.
If a greeting is necessary, keep it brief and respectful. Do not linger. Do not request contact details. Do not initiate private conversations. Do not offer gifts, favours, money or transport. Do not create secrecy.
Secrecy is often the first confession of guilt.
Redirect your energy toward what builds rather than what breaks. Teenagers on holiday are not among dignified pursuits.
For married men, the warning is sharper still. Midterm is not a recreational season. It is not a window for reckless curiosity. It is a test of integrity.
Integrity does not take holidays.
The midterm break will end. Schools will reopen. Uniforms will return.
But a single reckless decision can permanently alter yours.
Yes, they are at home. Yes, they are smiling. Yes, they may appear older without a uniform.
But they are minors.
Stop at a handshake.
Better yet — choose distance.
Govern yourself, because consequences do not take midterm breaks, and Kamiti is not full.
By Angel Ralph
Angel Raphael is a teacher and education commentator on Kenya’s Competency-Based Education reforms.
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