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| Why being bored is a good thing for kids |
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As parents, we all feel a certain sense of panic when we hear those two little words "I'm bored". And with the summer break coming up we are often quick to fill calendars with scheduled activities, play dates and camps, to avoid hearing them.
However, by removing unstructured playtime, have we also removed the many opportunities for growth and development, in our own homes?
With busy lives and an increasing reliance on technology for immediate entertainment, children's brains are being wired to always expect constant stimulation and distraction. Busy has become the new cool, and we are all too busy to notice.
A lack of scheduled activity gives children the opportunity to explore their own interests and create their own entertainment. This independent, unstructured time gives them the chance to investigate the world on their own terms, and test out their own thinking.
This time might initially feel 'boring'. However, boredom is crucial to creativity and to developing those valuable problem-solving skills. Being bored sparks the creativity to change things, stimulating the search for better ways and different approaches to situations.
Boredom allows the mind to wander, and teaches a child to create their own entertainment, resulting in imaginative play and creative expression. This independent time also gives children the space to sort through their emotions and act out their fears.
Boredom turns your mind inward – encouraging reflection and introspection. You never know, with all this time to think, you might just come up with some useful questions and interesting answers.
Not only is boredom a key part in self-development. Boredom is also essential to getting enough rest. Usually we can't sleep because our minds are too active – fretting about what we did that day and worrying about what we will do tomorrow. Our minds are trained to require constant stimulation. Planning time to switch off the mind allows it to rest and the body to rest too.
Psychologist Dr Vanessa Lapointe explained in her blog, "Children need to sit in their own boredom for the world to become quiet enough that they can hear themselves. It is only when we are surrounded by nothing that something comes alive on the inside."
Being bored allows children to develop a sense of self and by sitting in that nothingness, children awaken their own internal drive to be.
Responding to boredom
So, the next time you hear the words "I'm bored", remind yourself it's a good thing! It is not only freeing children up to experience new things, it is a great opportunity for their development.
The answer to boredom is not more scheduled activities – this removes the responsibility to solve the problem away from the child and they will never learn to accept responsibility for their own wellbeing, or develop self-motivation to discover what truly interests them. When they utter those uncomfortable words, do nothing and watch to see what your child chooses to fill that time with.
Rather than schedule activities, try to provide children with an environment that lets them fill their time themselves – where they experience autonomy, control, some form of challenge and can find the internal motivation to do things on their own.
If this is a new concept to families, try scheduling this unstructured time in! Build some time into a child's routine where there is nothing planned – TV off, iPads away. Pull out some open-ended toys, or coax them out into the garden and see what they can get up to; allow them to choose what they do and where that takes them.
If your children are struggling for ideas and this is a whole new world, set them some challenges to get them started: create an artwork from whatever they find outside, play around on an old guitar, or build a den in the park. Once they are started, the task will quickly become their own and morph into something that interests them. Boredom might be a little uncomfortable at the beginning, but it could be exactly what kids need this summer to blossom.
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