Dec 27, 2006

Cures for Childhood Boredom

All of the presents are unwrapped. The children may have even broken a few of the toys you so lovingly picked out and the boxes are proving to be more of an attraction than the toys…what next?

I’ve always felt a little left down when all of the planning, hosting of parties, wrapping of gifts and everything else is over. Many family members do. This boredom leads to the one thing I always dreaded most – fights between the children.

Fighting during school vacations and on long summer days are mostly the results of one thing: boredom. Do you remember Grandma saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop?" It is as true today as it was when Grandma was a child. Busy children are not bored and therefore are less likely to fight or to get into trouble.

Try a family outing before returning the children to school next week! Go to the museum – or to a winter jaunt to the zoo – take a long walk to look at the Christmas lights or to a coffee shop for a warm cup of cocoa!

When you return home, capitalize on the good feelings you’ve created by doing artwork together. There were many long winter days I sat at the kitchen table with homemade clay, or coloring books and crayons, or board games, or the ingredients for dinner spread out before the children and I as we worked together to create something wonderful and unique.

I guarantee, using this technique for relieving boredom will pay off by bringing you hours of contented playing in the background in place of the screaming and crying that you were hearing previously.

If you are too busy to leave the house, incorporate the children into what ever you are doing. If you are cooking, let them help. If you are cleaning house, give each one a chore appropriate to their age. Young ones just beginning to walk can follow you with a (clean) dust cloth, children three and over can help older sibs pick up their rooms and make their beds.

Be creative! Sing songs as you clean and then as a special treat for the children – and yourself – sit down for an hour to watch their favorite video with them once the work is done.

School age is a wonderful time to open their world to many different experiences from cultural to responsibilities! Children who are not treated as an interruption in your day, but taught how to properly handle a particular chore (such as dusting or taking out the garbage), are being taught life skills and growing their sense of responsibility. They’ll also understand a little bit better when you try to explain to them in the future that you have jobs to be completed before you can take an anticipated trip to the library!