Children need to be bored!

“I’m bored” how many times have we heard our children say that? 

Boredom is often seen as a negative state and as parents we feel the need to fill that time with scheduled activities, but it’s OK for children to be bored from time to time. In fact, it is a good thing, when children are bored creativity and imagination will come. We need to allow our children to be bored!  

When children have nothing to do now, they immediately switch on the TV, the computer, the phone or typically a screen based device. The time they spend on these things has increased. They no longer have to make up games or find ways to amuse themselves, images on a screen fill these ‘bored’ moments.  

It is, however, essential for children to have stand-and-stare time, time imagining and pursuing their own thinking processes or assimilating their experiences through play or just observing the world around them. It is this sort of thing that stimulates the imagination, while the screen tends to short circuit that process along with the development of creative capacity. 

Boredom is a very creative state. Children need time to reflect. Boredom builds self-confidence. 

Boredom is often negatively associated with solitude but being on your own, in your own space with your own thoughts is an important part of development. It allows the brain time to be creative, for thoughts and ideas to flow and for children to process events and activities. 

As parents we want to keep our children busy, but over scheduling their time reduces their opportunities to explore child led play. Children need time to just ‘be’. Periods of boredom, where children must rely on themselves for entertainment are essential for a healthy childhood. Child led play creates opportunities for children to make mistakes. Children need to make mistakes; to fail and to lose, so they can build resilience and ‘grit’ to persevere and develop their critical thinking skills. Children who never experience failure don’t know how to deal with it when it arises. 

Having unstructured time to play with other children will help your child develop interpersonal skills that are becoming lost in this technology obsessed generation.