What to do when your kids are bored
June 18th, 2009 / 6 Comments
A reader asks, “What do I do with my kids when they complain that they’re bored?”
Does it irk you when kids say, “I’m bored!”?
While substituting a 4th grade class, a girl came up to me during recess and said, “I’m bored!” I looked at her and said, “And your point is…?” My sarcasm was lost on her.
This is my translation of what kids mean when they say, “I’m bored!”
1. I don’t want to be here!
2. There is nothing here that I want to do!
3. I should never have to be bored!
4. It’s your job to entertain me!
5. I have no imagination to think of anything else to do!
I don’t know if that’s what kids really mean to say, but I’m wondering, “Why are you telling me?? You expect me to do something about your boredom?”
With the summer vacation honeymoon coming to an end soon, how should we handle the “I’m bored!” pronouncement?
1. Boredom sparks exploration. It’s time for your child to find his niche so that he won’t be bored. Maybe he’s bored with playing basketball. Why not take on a new challenge of playing soccer or hockey? My son was “bored” with school, so he took to learning computer language on his own. There are so many areas of learning, from art to zoo animals, a child should never run out of subjects to try. If one isn’t interesting, explore another.
2. Boredom takes you out of the comfort zone. Out of desperation to do something, your child may try something he wouldn’t normally try. My older daughter just started tutoring, something she was hesitant to do. But because she had nothing else to do, she giving it a try.
3. Boredom is ok. Life is not a video game of one exciting level to another. Tell your child to accept the boredom. Sit with it, feel comfortable with it, reflect about it, but don’t complain about it. It’s a natural part of life to experience a bit of boredom. It gives you downtime and rest. Boredom will soon go away if you take a look at the 2 points above.
Comments
And my favorite response to the the self-declared bored children, “What are you going to do about it?” which puts the responsibility on them, or, more directive, “What can you do that is more interesting?” They usually shrug and go away, but occasionally one of them thinks about the answer to the question. See my ThePowerOfBoredom.com
My son has such a short attention span, I don’t think he gets bored. He just gets through everything there is to do too quickly.
If my child gets bored i say, Amanda go feed the pets, finish your homework, And clean your room. They shouldn,t be bored if they didn,t already do what their sopposed to do.
If my child gets bored I say to them go and clean your room and there answer is no. So how can they be that bored.
You could always give your children a task, For example, tell them to get the laptop out and ask them to make a presentation on something (Maybe you could give them something to research on) After they make the presentation, spent 5 mins watching it and then praising them, saying it’s great! That way, they could learn and not be bored at the same time(:
Btw, I have no kids, I’m only 14 and already a child expert LOL
i am a kid and this is right
Leave A Comment