Ah, summer. It’s finally time for sunshine and relaxation.
If you’re a parent, though, you know what’s coming. After the initial ice cream celebration and that first joyful swim, and likely just around the time you’ve poured yourself a cold glass of lemonade and are about to crack open the book you’ve been trying to find time to read—you’ll hear from your children that same chorus they sing every summer without fail: “We’re bored!”
It’s at this very moment that summer can be made or broken. There is only one summer-saving parental response to such a complaint: “That’s great!”
It’s important to stay strong. All summer long, whenever your kids come to you with “I’m bored,” “We’re bored,” “We have nothing to do,” “We just can’t think of anything to do,” or “We are dying of boredom!”—resist. It might be tempting to begin suggesting things or, worst of all, give in to the begging and pleading for screen time—but don’t. Simply continue on about how much you love boredom, how valuable boredom is, how lucky they are to feel bored, and how it’s in boredom that the most innovative and creative things can happen.
Will they scoff and roll their eyes? Likely. Will they complain more? At first, sure. Soon, though, they’ll get the picture that you see boredom as the best thing since sliced bread and you don’t see their complaint as a problem at all. What’s more, you’re not even willing to jump in and entertain them (imagine!). They'll need to fix their boredom themselves.
Perhaps a new parent reading this might think that parents who hear such complaints with such frequency over the summer aren’t really spending time with their kids or planning fun things. They’ll soon see, however, that even the most fun-loving parent who schedules day trips, vacations, afternoons at the beach, art projects, camps, and who checks off an entire bucket list of summer fun will eventually hear that ubiquitous phrase, “I’m bored.”
Boredom truly is a wonderful thing for kids to experience, especially today. If (or when) you hear those words, be glad. That probably means your kids have been given the opportunity to decompress a bit after what was likely a more hectic school year. It also means you’re not pacifying them with television or digital devices.
Every once in a while you can leave some new art supplies out on the kitchen table or pick up a pile of new books from the library or put a package of uninflated water balloons in the backyard close to the hose, write a riddle to be pondered on the family white board, or simply leave a pack of playing cards out to be discovered. Don’t do any of this directly in answer to the boredom complaints, though. That’s their problem. If they happen upon some interesting new items or ideas throughout the summer, so be it.
So as you plan your summer, remember to sprinkle in a healthy dose of boredom and celebrate it whenever it shows up.
