By Sarah Hamaker
“I am never bored anywhere: being bored is an insult to
oneself.”
--Jules Renard, French author
Today’s children are often bored. Bored with toys, bored
with time, bored unless someone plans their every waking moment. But boredom is
a relatively new phenomenon, one that crept into our vocabulary in the 1800s,
according to Patricia Meyer Spacks, author of Boredom: The Literary History of a State of Mind.
With all of our labor-saving devices, the value of the
individual and the ever-quoted “pursuit of happiness” has made boredom
possible. “‘If life was never boring in pre-modern times,’ [Spacks] writes,
‘neither was it interesting, thrilling or exciting, in the modern sense of
these words.’”[i]
Today, many kids complain of boredom nearly constantly,
which has flummoxed parents into believing that to be bored is one of the worst
possible things for a child to experience. “At its best, boredom forces
creativity,” writes Richard Louv in Last
Child in the Woods.
Louv recommends—and I concur—a few things parents can do to
encourage constructive boredom. Try these out and watch your child’s creativity
blossom.
First, be there for
your children. Make sure you set limits on electronic consumption. Take
your kids into nature or the library or fishing—pursuits that are designed to
jumpstart their imaginations.
Second, turn off the
TV/movies. “Any parent who has punished a child by taking away TV
priviledges and then watched that child play—slowly at first, then
imaginatively, freely—will recognize the connection between time, boredom and
creativity,” writes Louv. Give your kids plenty of opportunities for such
development.
Third, balance adult
direction with child boredom. When your kids utter, “I’m bored,” don’t rush
to fill the void, but don’t let your kids wallow with too much boredom, either.
Structure some activities but leave time for free thought and, yes, boredom.
Fourth, help your
children figure out what to do in their bored moments. Give them
suggestions that don’t involve electronics. My ebook Boredom
Busters has dozens of such ideas.
Fifth, give an
antidote to boredom—the chore jar. Nip boredom whining in the bud by
creating a jar that lists irregular chores that aren’t on their task list. When
a child complains of having nothing to do, point him to the chore jar and watch
the whining magically disappear.
With summer right around the corner, the cries of “There’s
nothing to do,” will ring out in every household. By focusing on the positive
side of boredom—and with your handy chore jar ready for action—you can have a
relaxing and enjoyable summer with your children.
