Coping With Boredom

Boredom exists in every faucet of life. As adults we don’t typically see it as much as our lives are packed with the constant go go go of our work, family and hobbies. Adults typically do not face this as our children both teen and pre teens do. The mere mention of the word and parents will sometimes panic and go into overdrive to come up with anything to avoid it.

Throw out all sorts of materialistic ideas to break the evil spell. When do we see this most with our children? Seasonally boredom exists at its highest level in the summer time. Although most of us believe our kids sleep in till noon during the summer (I know ours do) this still leaves four to six hours of what to do time on their hands.

Guess what parents and guardians? Boredom is not a bad thing. In today’s society, “the video kids on text messages” we should plan on more downtime for the kids. Downtime leads to creative thinking in most and perhaps a good book is in order. Anyone catch the latest and last Harry Potter?

Let’s not run out to the movie vault and buy 4 DVD shows for the kids just to check off the amount of time they will awake during the day and the time you arrive at home to fix them dinner (or as we sometimes think the first meal of the day during the summer). Let them cope with this on their own. They have for 100’s of years. Lock up the video games for 2-3 days a week. Force them to go outside and create fun and adventure. Depending on their age this may be very appropriate. Although as parents it’s what we fear the most. The front door invites all kinds of parent anxiety when no one is home to decide for them.

The one good thing for parents is the cell phone technology. There are phones out there that do not have flexibility and can be preprogrammed to only dial 4 numbers plus 911. This would be a great way to keep a tether on those nerves if your child is allowed to venture outside.

We are not advocates of the phones with the web and text messaging. In fact, no child in our family receives a phone

until they have a minimum 3.0 grade point average and are over the age of 17 and have their driver’s license. We believe the phone is an emergency tool and not to be in the hands of the children at too young of an age as they won’t know what to do with it other than Text to their two word associates on the other end. Anyone remember the time in the sixties or seventies when your parents were screaming at you to get off the rotary dial phone? I would love for those days.

Projects are also an excellent way to take boredom out of the picture. Give them things to do around the house. Gardening is a great one as it gets them out of the house and thus out of their normal way of waking up each day and hanging out in front of the television. We as a nation are losing the battle in math and science to developing nations. How about a summer work book on math and science.

You can get them involved with tutoring clubs perhaps and even brush up on the subjects at night with them. There are endless ideas to get the boredom out of your children’s daily lives. Thanks for listening.

Healthy Vacation Tips

Why not think of a week long stay where the outdoors is a must. In other words:

Pack the family with the proper sun screen lotions and plenty of vitamins. Get them up early and often and No TV! Pull the plug completely. Start each morning off with a walk to a jog. Then a quick jump in the pool if it is available. Follow this up with a nice leasurely hike or bike ride and you have the makings of a great healthy week ahead of you.

Bring a few good novels too since you should plan for some down time somewhere in between events and remember, no TV for seven days.