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As I see it it really depends on the family many times.As I grewup in the late 50's and 60's my parents and my friends parents where more like what I see as a dying trend now. They basically took alot of effort to orgnize activities from a young age. We always had family things to do when young;like fishig and hunting with my father. Going on family trips and ouitings like extended family camping trips or day cookouts at a favorite swimming hole.My parnets and neighbors with kids would oragnise taknig us to roller skating rinks;youth bowling leagues etc. Our parents enrolled us in ballroom dancing at about 10 because they thought it was important. I did not like it at first but as I aged and got interest in girls the assocaitions made came in handy. I still see parents that do the same thing but not as much. Now days baseball maybe soccer leagues etc. As I look back I am very grateful for parnets that worked very hard but still took the time to start on this road every early as I did later.Bored kids are IMO a warning sign that they will eventually find something exciting but not neccessarly good for them.
Constructively bored kids eventually turn to a book, or build a fort, or pull out the paints (or the computer art program) and create, or come home sweaty from a game of neighborhood basketball. But kids need the guidance of parents or other adults if their boredom is to be constructive, and lead to creativity.
First step: More than a new toy to ease their boredom, a bored child usually needs to spend more time with a parent. Indeed, complaints of boredom may be cries for a parent's attention. Parents or other adults need to be there for their kids, to limit the time they play video games or watch TV, to take them to the library, or on long walks, or fishing—to help them detach from electronics long enough for their imaginations to kick in.
Second step: turn off the TV as much as possible. Any parent who has punished a child by taking away TV privileges and then watched that child play—slowly at first, then imaginatively, freely—will recognize the connection between time, boredom and creativity.
"There's something about television—maybe that it provides so much in the way of audio and visual stimulations—that children don't have to generate very much on their own," says Aletha S. Huston, a long-time child and media researcher now at the University of Texas, Austin.
In a famous study from the 1980s, the University of British Columbia examined an otherwise typical Canadian town (named, in the study, "Notel") that did not receive television service because of isolating geography. The researchers compared kids in that town with children in two other towns that did view television. The children in Notel did significantly better in creativity tests. The director of the study concluded that television "displaces other activities ...We had an impression," she says, "that one of the reasons the kids in the town without TV scored higher was because they'd been bored more often and had had to figure out more things to do."
Third step (for summer programs as well as parents): find a balance between adult direction and child boredom. Too much boredom can lead to trouble; too much supervision can kill constructive boredom—and the creativity that comes with it.
"I structure some unstructured time for their kids, times when they can just draw or paint or read and dream, with no deadlines or commutes to lessons," says Kafka. "I realize that sounds paradoxical—structuring unstructured time, but you've got to do it."
Suzanne Thompson, who lives in a Los Angeles suburb, is also trying to strike a balance. "I've signed Julia (her 11-year-old) up for a summer band two hours a day," she says. "I'm trying to give her some structured time with other kids—as an only child, she needs that—but also enough time to relax and dream."
Constructively bored kids eventually turn to a book, or build a fort, or pull out the paints (or the computer art program) and create, or come home sweaty from a game of neighborhood basketball. But kids need the guidance of parents or other adults if their boredom is to be constructive, and lead to creativity.
First step: More than a new toy to ease their boredom, a bored child usually needs to spend more time with a parent. Indeed, complaints of boredom may be cries for a parent's attention.
I disagree. Boredom comes from adults telling a child what to do all the time and never allowing the child to be his own person. Boredom isn't cured by the adult doing the work. Where is there creativity for the child when the adult is who is being creative by coming up with what the child should be doing? Makes no sense.
Adults have to learn to back off some and give kids space and time to grow into themselves.
Liken it to a grapevine. In vineyards, workers constantly prune the vines, forming them just the way they want so they produce the biggest, best grapes. The vines sit out in the hot sun all summer doing just what the workers want them to do, producing the kind of grapes the workers make them produce.
In the country, grapevines grow up arbors, and with just the right amount of training, they will grow strong and eventually make the most wonderful shade by covering the arbor on their own. Their grapes are their own, grown by them on their terms.
I'd rather my child be the country grape on the arbor than the vineyard grape that is forced into producing the way the workers desire.
Being bored is great. When I was young teher's no Internet or TV 24/7 available. I use to read, call a friend, draw, create something..
Don;t try to give them activities 100% of the time.
Summer camp or group activities with other kids same age are great. My 12 o son was bored without compiter. I told him to play outside. I forced him 2 times, now he cannot stay home, he wants to play soccer all the time with hs friends. Computer now is an activity for rainy days, and even so, alternate with reading, draqing and even cooking (he is a boy), or watching Tv with the family, or we go to movies, or he creates a game with his friends (RPG, with paper and dice)
Kids with 12/13 cannot demand anything from parents. Is the parent obligation to give limits. I know it's easy to give advice, but you need to try.
Just off the top of my head, I might, as a parent, respond with something like "What kinds of things would NOT be boring? Let's float some ideas." But, they'd probably just say something like "a pizze would be exciting".
I think that's a big problem with kids today...everything is boring if it doesn't involve a computer or cell phone. I'm only 23 but when I was 12/13 we were riding our bikes, playing volleyball, swimming. I mean, if it were raining my friends and I would stay in and make lunch, cookies, smoothies etc.
I think kids are ALLOWED to be bored because of the priorities our society says are important. I mean...take the latest Pizza Hut commercial (just from the top of my head)...the kids are saying how it's good to lose because they can go eat at Pizza Hut. I realize this isn't about boredom, but it does relate to our society's view on issues and how kids follow the examples on TV, movies etc. The same applies to boredom. Kids on TV are constantly on their phones and computers...no one is outside playing basketball, riding bikes or swimming.
It sounds more like laziness than boredom to me. It's easier to sit at home and play video games etc instead of going to do something. It's a lack of effort on their part. Don't condone it. Like others have said...if they are bored GIVE them something to do. They are plenty old enough to wash/dry dishes or load them in the dishwasher. They can use a dust rag or take out the trash. Are their rooms clean? Do they have a bunch of items they no longer use or clothes they don't wear? Suggest that they go through their closet/room and get rid of things and have a garage sale. Have them help with dinner...let them suggest a meal and them help them prepare it.
These are just some thoughts. I never really had an issue with boredom, and I live in a very small town where activities are limited. We used to be outside for hours playing volleyball or basketball.
Don't give them the option of being "bored" I guess is what I'm getting at.
I think that's a big problem with kids today...everything is boring if it doesn't involve a computer or cell phone. I'm only 23 but when I was 12/13 we were riding our bikes, playing volleyball, swimming. I mean, if it were raining my friends and I would stay in and make lunch, cookies, smoothies etc.
I think kids are ALLOWED to be bored because of the priorities our society says are important. I mean...take the latest Pizza Hut commercial (just from the top of my head)...the kids are saying how it's good to lose because they can go eat at Pizza Hut. I realize this isn't about boredom, but it does relate to our society's view on issues and how kids follow the examples on TV, movies etc. The same applies to boredom. Kids on TV are constantly on their phones and computers...no one is outside playing basketball, riding bikes or swimming.
It sounds more like laziness than boredom to me. It's easier to sit at home and play video games etc instead of going to do something. It's a lack of effort on their part. Don't condone it. Like others have said...if they are bored GIVE them something to do. They are plenty old enough to wash/dry dishes or load them in the dishwasher. They can use a dust rag or take out the trash. Are their rooms clean? Do they have a bunch of items they no longer use or clothes they don't wear? Suggest that they go through their closet/room and get rid of things and have a garage sale. Have them help with dinner...let them suggest a meal and them help them prepare it.
These are just some thoughts. I never really had an issue with boredom, and I live in a very small town where activities are limited. We used to be outside for hours playing volleyball or basketball.
Don't give them the option of being "bored" I guess is what I'm getting at.
yeah, I totally agree.
Also, when i was younger, we could go bike riding, rollerskating, hide & seek...we could goblocks and blocks and blocks away, walk into town (a little shopping area)...our mothers let us go by ourselves...
but unfortunetely now kids are barely allowed off the block to where they live......
hey, we rode bikes and skated without wearing a suit of armor.... so you cut your knee, big deal, band aid, and go for more...
I think us 60's kiddies had way more fun and we did not even have a computer, and i am glad we didnt.
yeah, I totally agree.
Also, when i was younger, we could go bike riding, rollerskating, hide & seek...we could goblocks and blocks and blocks away, walk into town (a little shopping area)...our mothers let us go by ourselves...
but unfortunetely now kids are barely allowed off the block to where they live......
hey, we rode bikes and skated without wearing a suit of armor.... so you cut your knee, big deal, band aid, and go for more...
I think us 60's kiddies had way more fun and we did not even have a computer, and i am glad we didnt.
Same here.
We lived in the country.
We spent hours and hours in the woods exploring.
We rode our bikes into the tiny little town a couple miles away and wandered in to the dime store and drug store for treats with the quarter our mother gave us.
We'd ride up and down our gravel road or played in the water of the creek in the pasture and caught crayfish, pollywogs and frogs.
We climbed trees and played catch.
We played in the barn jumping off the grainery into a pile of hay and even once tried jumping out a window with an umbrella to see if it would be like a parachute. (Nope, it wasn't)
We turned cartwheels in the grass, then layed in it to watch the shapes of the clouds.
Not bad for a childhood. And we all lived and grew up and went to college.
And the sadest part of this is, people will say, "But times are different now.". NO, THEY'RE NOT. But keep telling yourself that and maybe one day it will be true.
The only difference is growing up like that just isn't convenient anymore. It's easier to make excuses and whine for parents than to make your kids get out of the house and be kids.
We rode our bikes into the tiny little town a couple miles away and wandered in to the dime store and drug store for treats with the quarter our mother gave us.
We'd ride up and down our gravel road or played in the water of the creek in the pasture and caught crayfish, pollywogs and frogs.
We climbed trees and played catch.
We played in the barn jumping off the grainery into a pile of hay and even once tried jumping out a window with an umbrella to see if it would be like a parachute. (Nope, it wasn't)
We turned cartwheels in the grass, then layed in it to watch the shapes of the clouds.
Not bad for a childhood. And we all lived and grew up and went to college.
And the sadest part of this is, people will say, "But times are different now.". NO, THEY'RE NOT. But keep telling yourself that and maybe one day it will be true.
The only difference is growing up like that just isn't convenient anymore. It's easier to make excuses and whine for parents than to make your kids get out of the house and be kids.
ahh!!!! wasn't that just fun!!!!
we were in Staten Island and the neighborhood was just being built up, so there were plenty of woods, dirt roads, old abanonded bungalows to be razed, new house being put up, wood all over, a little boys dream playing with a yellow tonka truck in a huge mound of dirt. Little ponds forming after rain storms ,catching tadpole watching them turn to frogs......
oh yes, that was so much fun, I could just go on!!!!
ahh!!!! wasn't that just fun!!!!
we were in Staten Island and the neighborhood was just being built up, so there were plenty of woods, dirt roads, old abanonded bungalows to be razed, new house being put up, wood all over, a little boys dream playing with a yellow tonka truck in a huge mound of dirt. Little ponds forming after rain storms ,catching tadpole watching them turn to frogs......
oh yes, that was so much fun, I could just go on!!!!
I KNOW!!! We made our own fun.
My neighbor, when 8 years old 'ran away from home'. She took her pony up into the woods and stayed there for 3 days. Her sister sneaked food to her. Her mother knew where she was, so left her to come home on her own. She did. Unharmed.
For us, we knew where the dogs were that would chase us and we knew our own boundaries. We decided where to turn around and go back home by knowing that we would have to pedal back home as far as we had pedalled away from it.
There was a big old two story house we were convinced was haunted, and despite the goosebumps, we silently explored it from top to bottom.(Well, we didn't dare go into the attic because it was too far from the door.)
Ah, childhood.
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