When The Children Are Afraid Of Boredom

Boredom is the key to the creative mind., as Saul Steinberg believes. Thankfully, boredom is something that most children don’t really know anymore: They rely on the world around them to provide all the necessary entertainment! Parents and the technology in the household oblige happily, as most and more people believe it’s a parental sin to let your children grow bored. In truth, boredom is a natural phase of the mind, and while it can seem a little dull, it is an essential part of the development of healthy children. Here are some easy steps for every parent to teach their children to get bored from time to time.

Keeping Busy Differently

Naturally, no parent wants to be surrounded by screaming children who are misbehaving because they are simply bored to death. Introducing boredom is not about neglecting your children. It is about taking them through a different route of activities. For example, if it is raining outside, don’t just turn the TV on and hope for the best. You can engage with your children to create a variety of activities that will keep you and them having fun. You can suggest an improvised, handmade cookbook for your children to note down their favorite recipes and teach them to cook a meal together. Or you could start a big cleaning challenge with a prize at the end for the fastest and tidiest cleaning hands. When it comes down to actively keeping the kids busy, you should always focus on activities that are keeping your family unit together. It’s about showing that together great things can be done. Always use the time as a family to introduce your children to new experiences and cultures, such as visiting a new place, talking about the ways foreign cultures cook or speak, or even discovering a new cake recipe – It’s difficult not to get excited about that last one! What you do when you create these fun activities is essential for the development of your children: You are engaging their mind at a different level and showing them a variety of choices that they didn’t know before. In short, what you decide to do to keep your children busy is what can feed their imagination in future.

Modern Children, Modern Activities?

However, one has to be honest: You can’t spend the entire day playing with your children, even if you would love to. Sometimes, you simply need to focus your attention on other matters. Modern children can now fully enjoy the benefits of digital technology in the entertainment industry. In short, all they need to do is to turn on the TV or the computer to find hundreds of things to watch. Most TV sets nowadays have an in-built parental system that enables you to filter harmful, violent, or shocking content out for your children. You will find a similar content filter option for Internet-connected devices such as a computer, a laptop or a tablet. While more and more content is out and available publicly, it’s important to make sure that your children don’t get access to unsafe content, whether it is a website or a film. You want them to grow up as children of the digital revolution and not suffer any of the damages brought by inappropriate use. Most content filter software solutions also come with an in-built time management function, which guarantees that your children will not be spending more time online than they should. While the digital world is still full of possibilities, it’s good to remember that your children have yet to experience the real world first.

Reintroduce Boredom

Last, but not least in the quest of boredom, is to reintroduce boredom. This might sound a little counterproductive, but don’t panic: Boredom is an essential part of your child’s development. When the mind gets bored, it starts to become creative and to develop ideas. If you don’t allow for your children not to entertained all the time, you might be limiting their creativity. Naturally, not every child is born an artist. But creativity is what will help your children to solve problems in their lives, to be able to make friends more easily and to build a healthy understanding of human behavior. Some children like to spend time drawing on their own; others enjoy reading books; some might just play alone in their bedroom with an imaginary truck. Let them be bored and find their own occupation. This is the key to healthy adults in later life.