Give the gift of boredom 🎁
The job of adulting is so all-consuming. There's no time to think, let alone be bored.
Can you imagine actually being bored again like we were as kids? Having nothing to do, nowhere to go. (Cue The Ramones: “I want to be sedated)
I would welcome the nothingness..... or would I? For kids, boredom is still a familiar sensation that they try to avoid at all costs.
Yet boredom is so valuable in the slow unfurling of self.
It’s a container for human development. A space that you, the parent, do not need to fill.
But we can’t rely on our child to recognize that value. For them, boredom initially feels torturous, although we it’s actually empowering! It’s a child’s job to struggle with boredom, and the adult’s job to support the grief that comes with it.
Just beyond the tantrums of boredom are great mountains of creativity.
Therefore, we have to grow our capacity and skill set to handle the onslaught of “I’m bored!” that will be coming hard and fast at us all summer.
Your assignment: regardless of how many times they complain of being bored, keep repeating the same response. Restate the limits if needed, but your job is to be the most boring thing in the room.
It might sound like this:
Kid: "I’m so bored!"
You: "Oh dear, that sounds boring."
Kid: "Yeah it is, Mom! I’m soooo bored!"
You: "That does sound boring."
Kid: "Can I PLEASE play on the iPad?"
You: "We save our screen time until after 3pm on summer days."
Kid: "Then what am I supposed to do?!"
You: "I guess be bored…"
This isn’t easy, but neither is doing a song and dance list of all the things your child could possibly do to entertain themselves. That’s not your job.
I’m proud of you!
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