Thursday 2 January 2014

"I'm bored!" - Why Children Should Be Allowed to Say This

"I'm bored!" Oh how any parent hates to hear this cry, when it's pouring with rain and you've got a million and one things to do.  But I actually truly believe that being bored is good for children.  When else do they get the time to ponder, to think, to just be?  Ever demanding homework schedules, after school club commitments, music practice and more mean that they rarely get the time to be bored.  Only in the school holidays do I hear this short sentence uttered.  Yet I relish it, I offer suggestions but allow them to find something to do.  Roller skating, going for a run, digging out the old box of Lego, watching a film they had forgotten they had, drawing, writing a story, making a board game, playing hairdressers, making up a dance show, bake a cake. The list could go on but it is all good for them, to not have a constant stream of organised activities.  

Yesterday Parentdish tweeted a link to an article that suggested we are failing our children by being too pushy.  Of course I replied that we are, that children should be allowed to be bored, to just be.  I have always been of the school of thought that I do not have to ensure my children have a club everyday after school or a constant flurry of events and clubs at the weekend.  They certainly have not suffered from this, they just do the clubs they really want to do, play the sports and instruments that they want to do.  Their extra curricular education has not suffered and I acutally think they enjoy moments to be bored, as it usually doesn't take them to long to find something to do after that "I'm bored" cry.

As for me, I don't have time to be bored!

Until next time, take care.
Zoe
x

2 comments:

  1. Hi Zoe
    I just found you on the Circle of Pines link-up. Glad to meet you! I like it when my kids (all four) are bored. It is good for them! The boredom stimulates their creative thinking I am convinced.
    I'll drop in again soon. Cx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Christina, thanks for popping by!
    Exactly, boredom stokes the creative imagination.
    Zoe
    x

    ReplyDelete