06/28/2023
What a great read!
“Gift your children the gift of boredom!”
With summer here, it’s a good time to remember we don’t need to entertain our kids.
We are a society afraid of boredom. We are addicted to entertainment and the stimulation of certain neuro centers in the brain. We are losing the ability to just be.
Studies have shown that boredom stimulates problem solving areas of our brains that cannot be accessed in any other way. Boredom begets creativity and new thought pathways.
When we deny our children their natural right to boredom, we are restricting their development.
Do you remember the hours you spent in boredom as a child? We would daydream in the waiting room, stare at the dust motes dancing in the sunlight, invent new games, draw, read, create, research. We were building important neuro pathways. Did we whine to our parents that we were bored? Of course! But we quickly learned that this would only lead to chores or being forced outside regardless of temperature or weather.
When we had a question, there was no Google. We had to ask another person, look it up in a book, or, gasp, ruminate on it until we found the answer within our own brains. We developed common sense and logic, because we were experiencing the world firsthand and engaging our problem solving.
My kids know that their fun isn’t my responsibility. If they come to me bored, I will invite them to join me with whatever task I’m doing. I don’t react in frustration or guilt trip them, I encourage them that they are really good at being creative. But I don’t fix their problem or offer up solutions. This doesn’t allow them to use that critical part of their brain. (If your child is neurodivergent, they may need this modified to help them with executive function. You know your child’s needs)
So, don’t be afraid of boredom! Every generation before this one has had to learn to live with it. And they have benefited because of it.
Give your children the gift of boredom.
🖼: In Hard Luck by John G. Brown 1904
Thanks Homeschooling With the Classics!
