I want my kids to be bored
I love summer. I love the ability to do whatever we want to with our day. I love all the summer fun of playing in the sprinkler, going on hikes, chasing fireflies, backyard BBQs and time in the pool. There have been lots of great idea lists circulating of things to do with your kids over the summer. I love them. Many of them are things we had already talked about doing and some new ideas too. But I am also going to intentionally create some.... take a deep breath my fellow NOVA moms.... boredom. Yep, I want my kids to be bored. Boredom is the beginning of great ideas and creative thought. It is amazing the things my kids think up on their own when I get out of their way. In the quiet of nothing to do, all of a sudden a brilliant thought pops into their heads and their imaginations begin to take flight.
Never tried boredom at your house? Here is the recipe for creating creative thinking space:
1. Have no plans
2. Screen time is not an option
3. Let them be restless and struggle for a bit, don't jump right in at the first sign of boredom
4. Stand back and watch as your kids create fun for themselves
Now I will say that you should not totally disappear for the scene. Some creative ideas need some guidance so that nothing gets ruined and no one ends up in the emergency room. But for the most part in our house I can step aside and let their creative juices flow. This afternoon's boredom created a puppet show given by a friend across the street and then migrated into strapping a body board onto a skateboard for a whole new level of fun.
And sometimes nothing comes and they have to learn how to just be still. In our modern society it is difficult to find people who are comfortable being quiet and still. Everyone is in constant motion fearing that if they stopped for one second they will miss something. But there is peace in the stillness. In the quiet we can hear our hearts and we find God. "Be still and know that I am God." ps 46:10 While productivity is a great attribute so is contentment.
Before we know it the fall will be here again with its schedules and its business. But for these few short months called summer vacation we can slow our lives down and we can let our kids be bored. Who know what they will discover.
Never tried boredom at your house? Here is the recipe for creating creative thinking space:
1. Have no plans
2. Screen time is not an option
3. Let them be restless and struggle for a bit, don't jump right in at the first sign of boredom
4. Stand back and watch as your kids create fun for themselves
Now I will say that you should not totally disappear for the scene. Some creative ideas need some guidance so that nothing gets ruined and no one ends up in the emergency room. But for the most part in our house I can step aside and let their creative juices flow. This afternoon's boredom created a puppet show given by a friend across the street and then migrated into strapping a body board onto a skateboard for a whole new level of fun.
And sometimes nothing comes and they have to learn how to just be still. In our modern society it is difficult to find people who are comfortable being quiet and still. Everyone is in constant motion fearing that if they stopped for one second they will miss something. But there is peace in the stillness. In the quiet we can hear our hearts and we find God. "Be still and know that I am God." ps 46:10 While productivity is a great attribute so is contentment.
Before we know it the fall will be here again with its schedules and its business. But for these few short months called summer vacation we can slow our lives down and we can let our kids be bored. Who know what they will discover.
amen. and amen. and amen! i promise that if we lived closer, i'd have fun sitting back with you and watching our six kids get bored and creative together! you think against the flow of most moms, which, in all honestly, tells you you're on to something good! thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSarah, i so wish you lived close, that would be fabulous.
Deleteamen! i tell people it's like ripping off a bandaid - the getting them to the point where they are in that place where they can be CREATIVE and not need me to guide them. but once we're past the pain of getting there, it's SO beautiful!!
ReplyDelete