1000 Flowers for the Planet - #540 Boredom Bust Your Kids
I’ll never
forget one of my Year 7 teachers saying, “There’s no such thing as boredom,
only boring people,” and I think she’s right. All too often we hear the excuse
for bad behaviour by young people living in rural areas and small country towns
that they’re bored – there’s nothing to do in the country. However, I also hear the same excuse
being used to explain revolting behaviour by city kids. Life can’t be boring
everywhere! So I agree with my old teacher – they’re not really bored kids,
they’re boring people, and maybe that’s because they have boring parents and
the cycle of life continues. I’m here to tell you that there are SO many things
to do in this world that I know I can’t
live long enough to do everything I want to do.
A friend who
had 5 children told me of a wonderful idea she used to prevent her children
from hanging around listlessly complaining they were bored. She wrote a list of
things to do and put it on the fridge. The children were not permitted to say
they were bored – if they ever found themselves in a state of thinking they had
nothing to do they had to work their way through the list on the fridge. I don’t
remember the details but here’s an idea of what you could put on your own list
to boredom bust your kids: 1) do a jigsaw puzzle, 2) play a board game, 3) do
your homework, 4) write a letter, 5) tidy your room, 6) invent a game, 7) read
a book, 8) draw or paint, 9) vacuum the floor, 10) wash the dishes, 11) clean
the windows, 12) go to bed.
See how it
works? The bored child must work their way down the list and if they can’t
decide on something to do then obviously it’s time to go to bed. My friend
never had a bored child in her bunch of 5, they all grew up to be wonderful
people who contribute to society in many ways and the world is a better place
because of it. Give it a try and boredom bust your kids today.
[With thanks
to L. Berry for this Flower idea.]
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