Boredom is the topic today in a series of blogs about raising children. The answers aren’t in a book. It’s all hands on, mistakes and all. Parenting today has many challenges, but the basics really haven’t changed.

                                          Boredom….No” What to Do” Lists Here

The word “boredom”, might conjure up a whiny child, clinging to your leg, who doesn’t know what to do to keep busy.  Chances are you’ve experienced that, we all have. How you handle it is the key. Boredom is something we adults go through from time to time. Even with the hectic lives we lead, we get bored.

When a child gets bored, think about the attention span of children anyway. Any child under the age of 10, can’t stay interested in one thing, for that long  period of time. Even with today’s electronic gadgets, kids need to keep moving along to other things. This is where you need to make them think.

I for one, never had a list of things for kids to do when they got bored. Yes, I knew of someone who did just that. She kept it up on her refrigerator, and told her daughter to read it when she got bored. The list was titled, “Things to do when I get bored”.  What?  You must be kidding. Let her be bored and figure it out. Structuring how to handle a bored child was just mind-boggling to me as a parent.

My own two would have their moments of boredom. There were no lists hanging in the kitchen for them to analyze on how to handle their dilemma. Eventually, they discovered something new that would keep them busy for a duration of time. Boredom should not be looked at negatively by any means. It is another way to engage your child into thinking for themselves. Imagination and creativity come into play during these times, when kids need something to do.

Now, if you’re concerned about kid’s finding trouble when they are in a bored state, encourage them by word of mouth, not by paper, to go read, play outside if it’s nice or even clean their rooms. Many times just beginning a new project, will entice them into a new direction. And of course, always know where they are.

Lists are great for shopping and that’s all. Scheduling  child’s play, in my opinion, is overrated. Being bored builds character, because it makes children branch out on their own at times, to do things they normally wouldn’t try. Once again, when your child comes to you and says they are bored and have nothing to do, say okay, be bored. After a while, they will seek out something to change that for themselves.