How to help your child overcome boredom

Boredom in itself is not a bad thing, actually, it is necessary for a good development of children. Boredom helps children to enhance their creativity and imagination, to think of things to entertain themselves … But parents, what they must be very clear is that they do not have to alleviate the boredom of their children, nor a lot less! They do not have the absolute responsibility that their children do not get bored and neither do they blame.

The next time your child says something to you like: ‘Mom, I’m bored!’, Don’t feel bad uni much less guilty … Teach him that boredom is good and help him find the best ways to be entertained /to! Learning to combat boredom and finding ways to occupy unstructured time is actually a vital life skill that children must master.

It is important for children to know that although boredom is uncomfortable, it is good for them. Feeling bored is a fact of life. After all, adults also feel bored from time to time (as long as they have free time). Learning to tolerate boredom in a socially acceptable way is important for good development.

WHAT IF THEY DON’T LEARN TO OVERCOME BOREDOM

When a child does not learn to overcome boredom on his own, he will have a harder time finding something interesting and when he is older he may want to seek adrenaline in dangerous situations such as substance use, risky sexual behavior, academic problems or even crime .

Children who do not have the opportunity to experience unstructured time will have fewer opportunities to be creative, to be able to solve their own problems, or to be motivated by the things around them. The unstructured time boredom provides is when children are truly able to explain their own passions without any suggestions or direction from an adult.

But sometimes children may not be inventive enough to figure out what to entertain themselves. No matter how tempted you are, the answer to their boredom should never be to spend more time in front of a screen. If your child gets bored you can have some tricks up their sleeve so they can learn to entertain themselves.

LEARN TO TOLERATE BOREDOM

It is necessary to teach children that feeling uncomfortable emotions is not bad, and that they are also necessary to know how we feel at all times. There are times when that feeling should be tolerated because it is not appropriate to do another activity, such as when you are shopping at the supermarket or you meet another adult on the street and stop to talk to him.

Explain to your child that there are healthy ways to deal with feelings of boredom. For example, counting softly, singing a song in your head … these are socially appropriate ways of being able to tolerate boredom when you cannot do another activity. At the same time, it is important to establish rules and limits regarding inappropriate behavior and also to establish the consequences of breaking the rules.

GIVE HIM TOOLS TO ENTERTAIN HIMSELF

Do not entertain your child every time he gets bored or else you will be assuming the responsibility of always calming his boredom. Instead, you can offer ideas to help him find ways to entertain himself, whether in a restaurant waiting for lunch or an afternoon at home because it rains too much to go to the park. You can teach him to deal with boredom effectively.

Younger children need more hands-on help when it comes to finding entertainment. But as your child grows older, he should become less dependent on you to help banish his boredom.

So turn your child’s “I’m bored” into a learning opportunity. Give him the tools and ideas to help him find ways to entertain himself in the future.

THE JAR OF BOREDOM

This is a two-part game: the first time your child says “I’m bored!” Ask him to create the tarrp. This involves doing a small craft project to decorate a jar and then coming up with ideas for putting it on. The next time your child is bored, they will have to take an ideal out of the jar and carry it out. Some ideas can be:

-Write a letter to a loved one

-Build a fort with blankets and pillows

-Have a dance party

-Brush the pet

-Write 5 things you love about each member of the family

-Make paper airplanes and fly them

-Make a castle out of cardboard boxes

-Write a story

-Play with the toys

-Make a collage with magazine photos

-Read. A story

-Organize the clothes in the closet

-Make crafts

DO A TREASURE HUNT

The key to making this work is having scavenger hunt lists ready in advance. During your downtime, create a few different search sheets for both indoors (for rainy days) and outdoors (for example, in the garden). When the boredom sets in, you’ll have an easy activity that will keep the kids entertained for at least half an hour!

Create a list of images (on the mobile for example) with objects that are hidden around your home so that your children can find them by following the map. It’s easy, it’s fun, and kids love being little explorers.

LET THEM HELP YOU

If you have tasks to do at home, include your children to do those activities. Children love to feel useful and have satisfaction from a job well done. Although sometimes doing homework with children can take twice as long, it is worth it because you will also be teaching them necessary life skills, such as folding clothes, cleaning windows, sweeping or scrubbing the floor.

If you are doing something that your child cannot safely help you with, prepare a safe alternative while you finish that activity, such as sweeping the floor while you finish.