No matter how many toys, games, and books your child has, eventually every parent hears that dreaded complaint: “I’m so bored.”
More than any other time in history, our children have an abundance of things to keep themselves occupied. But perhaps this is exactly the problem: children don’t know the delight of boredom.
Although most people hate boredom, it is the key to unlocking new ideas, games, and thinking. Here are some ways to embrace your child’s boredom this summer!
Benefits of Boredom
Children are often surrounded by endless toys and jam-packed schedules. They are rarely left alone long enough to experience the discomfort of boredom; if they are, it’s easy to “chill” and fill this time with video games. Why should we let–or even encourage–our children to be bored? Here are a few reasons:
- Fosters Creativity: Children overcoming boredom must dig into their creativity to find something inspiring and fun. Creativity in play will aid them in creativity with schoolwork, art, and social life.
- Problem-Solving Skills: Creativity requires problem-solving. How can they overcome obstacles to complete their idea? Successful adults are excellent problem-solvers, and these skills start in play
- Frustration Tolerance: Our modern, ultra-fast society gives children few opportunities to practice patience. Boredom helps them develop patience.
- Self-Confidence: Relying on oneself to overcome boredom increases a child’s self-confidence. They’re not reliant on a parent, peer, or technology–they can think and act for themselves.
Embrace the Mess
Once kids unlock their creativity, a mess is quick to follow! To play camping, they might gather up blankets, pillows, play food and dishes, flashlights, backpacks, and more, for their campsite. This can result in a big mess! But it’s your job as a parent to not stress about the mess… yet.
Of course, it’s appropriate to remind your children that whatever they get out or mix together, they need to sort and put away. But as long as they accept these terms, then let their creativity remain unhinged! If nothing else, it will teach your children the importance of only playing with what they want to clean up.
Choose Open-Ended Toys
Although it’s tempting to buy trending character toys, invest in open-ended toys that are timeless and allow for maximum creative play. Some open-ended toys include:
- Wooden blocks
- Train sets
- Magnetic tiles
- Animal or doll figurines
- Play silks
Multi-purpose toys like these and others can be used in countless ways and are easily intermixed to inspire creative play.
Additionally, children are generally more satisfied with fewer toys. This doesn’t mean you have to purge your child’s toy collection (although, it isn’t a bad idea!). Instead, use a basic toy rotation. Put all toys in one storage unit, and any toys that don’t fit in the unit are stored away for a later time. You may be surprised how happy your child is with less–and how much faster clean-up goes!
Plan Time for Boredom
Fight the urge to give your child a jam-packed schedule this summer! Children have so many responsibilities and activities these days that they hardly know what to do with any downtime. Often, children waste vital rest time on video games because they’re too tired to do anything else. It’s up to parents to schedule appropriately so their children have a balance of activity and boredom.
Put Boundaries on Technology
To gain the benefits of boredom, parents must set boundaries on technology time. While it’s fine to have a tablet, phone, or game time, it shouldn’t be for hours on end. Most pediatricians agree that kids should have no more than two total hours of tech time during the summer. These two hours should be further broken up into 15 or 20-minute increments with other activities between.
Setting firm boundaries on technology will enable your children to have a healthy relationship with technology and branch out to find other interests in creative play.