School’s
out. No more early mornings. No more homework or after school activities, no
more rushing around. Everyone’s finally able to relax, until suddenly, we hear
the infamous, “I’m bored mom. There’s nothing to do.”
As
parents, we scramble to begin pulling out of our minds all the wonderful things
our children could begin doing to entertain themselves. Naturally, we feel this
undue pressure to fix things for our children. And today, there are hundreds of
options that exist to help us do just that, from Summer camps to digital media.
But is boredom really a problem to be fixed?
Why can’t
we just let our children be bored? Contrary to societal norms, children don’t
need constant stimulation to thrive and in fact, studies show they thrive when
just the opposite is true. Boredom allows for connections to be made and
insights to be had. When our minds are at rest, we listen more intently to what
we need, and what we enjoy, we can hear our own thoughts, and desires and are
free to operate without direction or distraction. Our minds really require this
time, to just wonder. It was Albert Einstein who once said, “Creativity is the
residue of time wasted.” And, isn’t this so true? When we allow ourselves to be
free, our mind and soul can truly go places.
So,
although it’s natural for children to look to their parents to fix what’s
wrong, remind yourself that boredom is not a problem to be fixed. Rather, it is
a gift to the mind and soul.
A gift,
that we too, must remind ourselves of when we fall prey to the urge to want to
help our own children out of boredom. It was just a couple weeks back, when we
let our children contend with boredom when we had to do a lot of work from
home. What did they do? They built a giant sling shot out of two play chairs, a
workout band and a cup. Then, my daughter decorated every toy animal she had
with paper clothing that she designed herself and our son made some pretty
interesting toy cars with his legos. They were so excited to show us what they
had made and they were self-entertained for hours.
So, the
next time your child utters, “I’m bored mom” remember to encourage your child
by saying, “That’s a good problem to have, I would love to see what you can do
with it.” Then, sit back and watch the growth and creativity unfold in the
beautiful beings God has created in our children. The bonus is, you might get a
little downtime to yourself!
Source: http://www.familylifeministry.atlanta.goarch.org/healthy-minds-healthy-souls-summer-fun-and-boredom/
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