“Mom, Dad, I’m bored” And there we are lighting the warning light: We have to think of something now!
And nothing is further from what is really useful for our children. From here we are going to defend boredom because it is very necessary from time to time and because good things come out of boredom, great ideas. Getting bored is a sign that our heads are free from stimuli and ready to receive news , thinking differently from how we are used to and giving a different turn to those around us.
We can be even more convinced of all this if we list the main reasons why children today are bored. Reading them it is easy to deduce that it is not only good to be bored for a little while but it is very healthy. Let’s see:
Overstimulation
Most children have more toys than they should, a lot of things they don’t need. They live in voracious consumerism , I see this, I want this . And we are to blame for wanting to give them everything they demand. And when we see a child playing with the box of the penultimate toy that we have bought for him, he is saying it himself: I don’t need that doll that talks and moves its head, I like the box better that becomes what I want. Let’s limit the toys purchased to a minimum and increase the symbolic games in which the little one develops his imagination.
A very tight schedule
They do not stop: school, activities, birthdays, movies, visits … everything is programmed, organized until the last minute so that the child does not have to think. It goes from one side to the other as if by inertia. So on vacation they get bored like oysters. They are not used to improvising, to thinking about what they want, to looking at the ceiling for a while singing or going into their room to explore what is in the drawers.
Let’s relax the march a little bit, let it ever decide fate and above all let’s try one day to get out of the routine , skip an after-school class and go with him to have an ice cream, go for a walk or sit and watch bugs while we talk about how you feel, who are your friends and why they are or what color of sky do you like the most …
Too many screens
How much time do our children spend a day in front of a screen, be it a phone, a tablet, a computer or the game console? There is no place to think. As soon as they stop for a second if they are not looking at a screen, we provide it to them so that they do not complain, so that they do not nag, please . And we don’t realize that we are contributing to the disaster. Then we will not have the right to complain that he spends all day on the phone and does not pay any attention. Let’s stop because we are sure we are on time. Let’s avoid “entertaining” by default with technology .
Songs, books, anecdotes, word games (chained words, I see-I see), memory, riddles, tongue twisters, stories, music, games such as guessing a word with pictures or what we are talking about by playing “If it were”. There are thousands of ways to laugh and share to pass the time and the most they need is pencil and paper. Please, more creativity and less keys . Our children’s imaginations will appreciate it.
