Wednesday, July 17, 2019

The days you are bored

Sometimes I watch my son play in his room. (This generally works out well when he doesn't know that I am there.) I watch him build cities, assemble insane racetracks and create his own card games. I love seeing him come up with his own stuff to do.

My son has plenty of toys, books and activities to fill his time. And he still has times of boredom. Like most children he mopes and whines when he is bored. And I let him. I let him, because I know he'll eventually figure out something to do. And the next thing I know there will be a fort in the family room, or a store created in the loft, or an endearing plea for me to play a new game he just invented (and hasn't worked out all the rules for.)

That's the signal that boredom has kicked off his creativity.

I know that boredom is good for my son, but I sometimes forget that it is good for me. I keep lists of things to do in the short term and the long term to be sure that I am making the most of my free time. But I think I need to remember that filling my time isn't always the answer. It's OK for me to be bored...because maybe something wonderfully creative would come from it.

Do you let yourself and your family embrace boredom? Talk about it in the comments.

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