1. Boredom help your kids to look at these moments as opportunities (to create their own pastimes), rather than deficits.
2. Boredom gives children an inner quiet that helps with imagination and self-awareness.
3. Creative processes can stimulate interests that will stay with the child for life.
4. Children develop creative skills when they have to come up with solutions to boredom.
- Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services, Port Melbourne
Parents might think that boredom in a child is something serious to be left unattended. Seeing a child doing or learning nothing make them feel guilty, especially if the child complains of boredom. And so parents burned out from driving their children several days a week, sometimes every day to all those after-school activities.
Kids nowadays no longer playing outdoors with friends. They no longer sit and color, instead they go to art class, music lessons, scouts, language classes...just to name a few. There is no doubt kids are spending their time in constructive activities that provide them useful skills. But they are spending a huge amount of time in these activities and everything is so structured that everybody is stressed.
Sporting, musical and other organised activities can definitely benefit a child’s physical, cognitive, cultural and social development. But children also need time to themselves – to switch off from the bombardment of the outside world, to daydream, pursue their own thoughts and occupations, and discover personal interests and gifts.
Qualities such as curiosity, perseverance, playfulness, interest and confidence allow them to explore, create and develop powers of inventiveness, observation and concentration. These also help them to learn not to be deterred if something doesn’t work the first time, and try again.
I understand that parents feel the need to keep their children occupied because they're working or busy with their own hectic schedules. But studies show that children don't have need to be in any organized activity before age 6 or 7, any earlier than that is really not age appropriate, and by the time they reach high school, they possibly become bored and burned out.
What children need is to have adults around them to let them understand that creating their own pastimes requires space, time and the possibility of making a mess. Parents can set limits for them, and make sure they cleared up afterwards.
"Let them be kids, and you be the parent," Rosenfeld tells WebMD. "Set limits on the number of scheduled activities they attend, and instead you play with them. Have family dinners instead of coaching them to practices and lessons every day. Don't coach them on how to swish or score a basket, just throw it around. Don't always teach them on how to be better. Just let them be themselves."
