Struggling with boredom in your household? Are your kids moping around, feeling listless, airing the age-old struggle: I’m sooooooo bored!?
You’re not alone. We’ve been fielding a ton of conversations around the topic of boredom in our members-only forums these days. And while we all know that boredom is a good thing because it leads to greater creativity and independent problem-solving, we also know that kids under the age of 7 often need a fair amount of scaffolding in this area. After all, it takes time to build these skills before proficiency and follow-through can take center stage.
So, how can you help your child overcome feelings of boredom while offering him/her the opportunity to solve the problem independently? Read on for our #1 boredom-busting tip…
But first, let’s talk about what doesn’t work.
We’ve all been there. A child comes to us and says, “I’m SO BORED!” So we begin to brainstorm a solution for the perceived problem, offering a handful of suggestions of things to do. How about Legos? Want to go outside and play with the water table? What about that new doll your Aunt Margaret just sent? Don’t you want to play with that anymore?
While our intentions are good, the strategy of listing fun things for our kids to do often only leads to exasperation (both for your kids, AND for you!). Here’s why:
Kids are visual and immersive by nature. What sounds good to them is rarely the same as what looks good to them. (Sidenote: This is 100% why your child might beg for a grilled cheese sandwich at lunch and then absolutely melt down when you ruin it by cutting it wrong, or putting it on the blue plate instead of the yellow plate.)
And because boredom is a sensory feeling (not an intellectual one), it’s very difficult to solve without engaging the use of senses. Think of it this way — if you were famished, which option would you prefer: a friend saying, “Why don’t you make pot roast?” or a friend placing a fresh-from-the-dutch-oven pot roast right in front of you to eat?
Boredom is the same way as hunger: we can suggest a hundred different meals, but until we actually eat, we’re still hungry.
So how do we solve the problem?
Display, don’t say.
Instead of offering suggestions or ideas, simply respond to your child’s admission of boredom by silently beginning to set up an activity that they love. Place a towel on the kitchen counter and dig out the watercolor paints. Put out flour, eggs, and bananas and start paging through a cookbook. Hit play on an audiobook and get out the wooden blocks. Display, don’t say.
At this point, you’ve sparked curiosity in your child. They’re newly immersed in what you’ve started, and their senses are fully engaged. You’ve gotten them over the hump, so they don’t have to conjure up the energy or brain power to create something brand new. You’ve given them the momentum to piggy-back off your idea and build from there.
Now, does this mean we need to orchestrate a new project every time our kids are bored? Absolutely not! We all spend enough time with our kids to know how to spot that unique nuance in their personalities: are they truly bored, or could it be something else? An energy slump? Are they hungry? Disappointed? Frustrated? Tired?
More so, there will be plenty of times our kids will say they’re bored, but we can sense they don’t need any immediate assistance. In those times, give them a bit of time and space to see if they can come up with a creative solution independently, e.g. “I’m sure you’ll think of something soon! Let me know if I can help after I finish what I’m working on…”
The bottom line is this: by approaching a sensory problem with a sensory solution, we can better help our kids when they’ve hit the inevitable boredom wall. Go ahead; give it a try and report back!
p.s. Need a few boredom-busting ideas to display? Rest assured: you’re in the right place! We’ve got 365+ educational, prep-free suggestions for you right here…