WebParenTips - The Online Parenting Newsletter
                  vol.2 no.9, June 20, 2001 

                    BEATING BOREDOM!

"Mom, I’m bored".   A frequent complaint of kids today
despite all their electronic gadgets and  enough toys
to fill a small shop.

Maybe that’s the problem with kids today.  They have so
much to play with they have never been forced to
self-entertain.

And, of course, boredom is more apt to strike in the summer.
Even though kids complain about school, the structure and
enforced work immunizes them against the boredom virus.

Researching far and wide (I asked a dozen kids ranging from
8 to 12 how they kept from being bored in the summer) I came
up with the following ANTIDOTES TO BOREDOM list.

 o READ.  Several of my research subjects told me they read
series of books like all the Harry Potters.  Some had school
summer reading lists and they could get extra credit for
reading more books than were required.  Some were doing
research of their own, immersing themselves in a subject
that interested them like genetics or astronomy or geology.
Others just browsed in the library to find books that
seemed interesting.

 o COLLECT.  One kid collected and classified insects,
another worked on rocks.

 o PERFECT A SKILL.  One young man liked to draw and was
completing a computer course.  Another was teaching
himself to play the guitar. Several took tennis lessons.

 o WORK.  No, kids this young can’t get real jobs but
several worked for their parents doing extra chores like
cleaning the garage or yard work. One helped an elderly
lady by walking her dog and sweeping her patio. One girl
helped a mother of twins every afternoon, playing with
the babies so the mother could rest.  All the workers
were saving their money for something they really wanted.

What do all these antidotes have in common?  They require
ACTIVE PARTICIPATION.  Too much of what our kids do today
is passive, like watching TV, or semi-passive, like
playing video games.


Advice to parents:

 o LIMIT TV and video games.
 
 o Encourage COLLECTING, PERFECTING, AND WORKING.  
Talk about your collecting or hobbies when you were young.
Pay attention to the skills and talents your children are
developing and help them with lessons, upgraded instruments
or sports equipment.  And you may be in a better position
than your kids to know who needs help in the neighborhood.

 o Your kids complain of boredom? Show them this WebParenTip.
Maybe they’ll learn something from their non-bored peers.

Happy Parenting,
Marilyn Heins, M.D.

NOTE: There are New ParenTips on the website. See:

ParenTips


For comments, suggestions or requests for future topics
please write: 
info@parentkidsright.com


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Dr. Marilyn Heins is a Tucson pediatrician, parenting
columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, author of the book,
ParenTips, as well as a mother, stepmother and grandmother.

She is available for workshops and lectures to groups of
parents, teachers, and grandparents. See:

Dr. Heins' Lectures
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