My friend’s young son walked into the house looking glum.
How were your holidays?
Ok.
Had fun?
No, it was boring! (And they had just got back from an overseas vacation).
Since when have holidays, the highlight of childhood, become boring?
It’s not unusual to hear such things from kids or the young adults these days.
Maybe it’s their limited vocabulary which puts everything that they don’t like or enjoy into one big category ‘Boring’.
Either ways why do kids today feel bored even after experiencing such engaging activities?
What Is The Reason For ‘Boring’?
The next time you hear them say that they’re bored, ask them to be more explicit. Let them explain to you what do they mean.
- Maybe what they lack is stimulation or variety in the activities they are offered. Repeatedly doing the same thing has outlived the novelty of that particular activity. What they need is something new or different that can get them excited.
- Or maybe it’s the structured schedule that dominates their life. Overscheduling works just fine for the parents as they can monitor the children better but it doesn’t suit the restlessness that is inherent in the kids.
- Over dependence on technology. Phones, tablets, video games, TV, all keep them hooked endlessly, their minds numbed by what’s happening on screen. Once off it, they’re unable to think by themselves. Their minds ill-equipped for any kind of creative thinking.
- Restricted within the house with limited or no opportunity for free play or self-guided exploration is making things dull for them. Children need to experience freedom, to be able to flourish and explore, to feel alive with discovery.
A report in 2023 by Common Sense Media revealed that children spend an average of 4-6 hours a day on screens. This overstimulates their brains leaving them feeling restless and unable to focus. This is one of the root cause for them being bored.
Can Boredom Be A Growth Opportunity?
So how can you revitalise the bored young minds? To do that you‘ve to understand that boredom is the unacknowledged cry for action and stimulation.
It’s okay to let the child feel bored sometimes. It forces them to think by themselves instead of depending on you or the gadgets to tell them what to do next.
It kindles their creativity and gets them to think out-of-the-box.
With no crutches to support them in their quest to engage themselves, they learn to entertain themselves by becoming self-reliant. Constraints can spark innovation.
They come up with new games with new rules to fill up the ‘boring’ time. Their overstimulated mind then resembles a cluttered attic struggling to find space for new ideas.
A few years back, when the cyclone had taken out the power supply for nearly 10 days, children no longer had their gadgets or TV to engage them after school.
That’s when all the kids in the lane, across all ages, would come together and create wild games and have hours of delightful entertainment. From make believe treasure hunts to hide and seek or boisterous game of tag.
It was so exciting for them that even after things got back to normal, they continued with this routine for some time.
Getting bored means they’ve lost interest in the regular activities that they previously engaged in. It no longer excites them. So what do they do?
Come up with new ideas, discover other interests and passions.
Research from the University of Central Lancashire highlights that boredom fosters daydreaming, which in turn enhances creativity and problem solving.
Boredom is helpful for them as their minds are now on fire again, thinking about this new activity.
During the cyclone mentioned earlier, kids discovered the joys of playing board games. They organised regular competitions to amp-up the interest and participation.
It’s also helps build their patience. How? If they can’t figure out what to do, they need to be patient until the next activity that gets them excited.
They learn to deal with such low phases and wait them out patiently. Throwing tantrums or such things only add to their misery but do nothing to alleviate their boredom.
Getting bored is good for children. Let them figure out what to do next.
Here are some activities you can suggest the next time they are sulking around, feeling bored.
- Exploring art with different materials, colours and forms.
- Play pretend-games. Set up a shop or a doctor’s clinic or even a space station. Anything to fuel their imagination.
- DIY science experiments, like making a volcano or growing crystals.
- Scavenger hunts. Make it theme based to add more interest. Like maybe historical one based in a museum
- Puzzles, crosswords, sudoku, word games, board games. Some mentally stimulating and intellectually challenging activities.
- Learning a new skill like cooking, sewing, photography or coding.
- Writing, blogging or journaling.
Final Thoughts
If you’re dreading the summer vacations and are already looking at activities and workshops to enrol them into to keep them busy, DON’T!
Allow the children some time for free play without the gadgets. Let them go out, roam and rediscover and explore the real world with friends.
These are the opportunities for them to grow, become independent and think by themselves.
Boredom will lead them to self-discovery and personal growth.
Believe me, every moment they are getting bored has the potential to unlock their dormant creativity and patience.