KIDS AREN’T BORED
Who says the little ones get bored? Bored? Kids bored?
Maybe they’re looking to be entertained. Maybe, just maybe, they’ve picked up this phrase from listening into someone’s conversation and thought it sounded like something they should pursue.
When a 7-year-old claims boredom and the parents feel obligated to fill the void, might I suggest that something is terribly wrong with this relationship.
Boredom, according to Google is “feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in current activity.”
Children of any age being bored, according to my mother, meant it was time for adults to intervene and erase the stigma.
Erasing the stigma for my mother was not quite what the parents I recently encountered had in mind. These folk who felt their 7-year-old had already outgrown the several electronic gadgets they had already provided were on the prowl for where to next spend their dollars.
Neither my mother nor the rest of the wise women from back in the day didn’t raise bored kids.
Kids who might have thought this way were cured quite quickly by being given a new list of chores.
Back then, kids, even at the age of 7, didn’t get weary because they were unoccupied. If they lacked interest in their current activity, they didn’t let the adults know, as they simply learned to find something else to do for themselves..
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Here’s how to fill that void of boredom. Say, “Well, if you’re looking for something to do, you can do the dishes or sweep the floor or pick up your room or clean up the dog poop in the yard.”
I’ll say AMEN to your comment if we ever told our Mom we were bored the chores would have piled up so the kid credo was to always look entertained. We always had things to do. When I read this to my adult children they just rolled their eyes, Man You would have had us doing yard work. Which by their standards was the same as Child labor.
Dear Shirlee,
If kids had to read, study or learn about other kids whom are homeless, living in abusive situations, live in a shelter or in a car with their parents, or gaining insight about those children who do not get enough to eat (in our country and other countries); or if kids would spend time learning about the “roots” of their family and relatives—–then I think that there would be less time for “boredom” and more time for “gratitude.” And of-course, if all else fails, there are ALWAYS some chores that can be attended to before dinner time. Another interesting blog, Shirlee.
—–Bill Allen, Jr.