03 Sep It’s Good to be Bored
Sometimes as parents we worry far too much about our kids having too much downtime. We over-schedule them every day all day, all week in the hopes of keeping them occupied.
But sometimes it’s good to be bored. It’s good to have to retreat inside your own head and think. We feed our kids a constant barrage of information and activity and never give their brains a rest.
There is something to be said for laying in the grass and watching the clouds form animal shapes. Or sitting quietly in the yard and watching the ants move minuscule particles of food. We never give our kids a healthy break. I hate to sound like an old fogy, but back in the day we came home from school and had free time on our hands. We knew we could finish the next chapter of a book or we could draw with chalk in the driveway or we could work on a new hairstyle for our doll head. Do kids even play with doll heads anymore?
Nowadays kids have one scheduled activity after another with a quick dinner sandwiched in last. They ride in the car or the bus from place to place until it’s dark and they have to hurry up and get ready for bed.
Let’s give our kids the gift of free time. Sooner or later in life, they will have to sit down and find how to counteract being bored with themselves. Better now than later.