Mom, I'm bored!

One of the many things that has stood out to me as I read about brain development and the media in my class  www.thepci.com  is the idea of boredom.

What does it mean to be bored?     Do you remember being bored as a child?   What did your parents tell you in regards to boredom?   Did they tell you to just get over it?  Find something to do?    Did something amazing arise from your boredom?  

I observe that there is no place for boredom in today's modern age.  Everything, even sports, seems so much more focused than it was when I was a kid.    I notice myself letting Mira(my three year old) watch television while I'm cooking dinner because I don't want her to be bored for those twenty minutes when I am busy.  

Through class discussion on this topic, I have come to realize that boredom is a creative force.   Through boredom emerges excitement, new ideas and the chance to let your brain percolate ideas.  

I am taking little steps to allow boredom to live in our household.

I took Mira to my Zumba class the other day and set her up in a corner with some books and puzzles.  She was occupied for the first half of the class, but then I saw it--boredom set in and she got fidgety.  I felt kind-of guilty and it occurred to me that I should have brought my smart phone.  She would have been happily engaged for the full hour.      Allowing my child to be bored, seemed wrong.    Then I remembered my parent coaching classes and  that boredom is  a good thing.  I watched her out of the corner my eye.  She started counting the hearts on her tights, picked at the threads on her sweater,  and tapped her feet to the music.  On the way home, she said that she loved the class and wants to come every time.

Chalk one up for boredom!

When I think back to my own boredom, it brings up happy memories.  I remember hours in the summer doing nothing, but cooking up crazy schemes, making lemonade stands, and getting in trouble for waving at passing cars.   I do think my professor is on to something, the lost art of boredom.   Take some time to let your child be bored and see what happens.  I'd love to know the results.