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Summer has been in full swing this month. According to recent weather data, Sunday July 21, 2024 was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth. While some families have tried to brave the heat recently, others found themselves ditching their outdoor activities and staying inside to keep cool. If you were in this latter group, how did the change in plans go for your family? Pivoting to staying at home can be very difficult. Did you hear the chorus of “I’m bored!” from your kids? Or maybe you were even feeling this way? As you may have noticed in your house, boredom can lead to family members feeling angry, sad, anxious, and other emotions that can be unpleasant to experience. It is completely understandable that you and your kids would be feeling this way. Handling these tricky situations and assisting your children with navigating boredom in present moments can help plant the seeds that can effectively change how they approach similar situations in the future. Interestingly, July is National Anti-Boredom month. Rather than the goal being to strive for never feeling bored, it is more realistic that we acknowledge that there are going to be times, planned and unplanned, where we are going to experience boredom. In fact, there have been various research studies, TED talks, and articles, such as these, that have highlighted the concept that boredom can spark individual creativity and productivity. Here are some tips for your kids summer boredom:
Planning ahead
Prior to these moments where meltdowns can happen due to boredom, it can be helpful to have children complete the following task that can help foster creativity, problem solving, and independence. First, ask your children to create a list of activities that they can do when they are feeling bored and unsure of what to do next. Oftentimes this will be a list of things that your child routinely enjoys doing. Encourage your children to also add a new activity or two that has not been tried before but that interests them. Ideally, it would be good to have them add activities that do not involve screen time to help plan for situations where your children either do not have access to their devices and/or you do not want your children using them for whatever reason. Finally, having a mix of activities that can be done independently or with family members can be beneficial as well. Once everyone has generated a list, finding a time where all family members have the chance to share with each other what is on their respective list, can be a helpful way to encourage discussion around this topic. Having the list can serve as a visual concrete reminder and be useful for children to refer back to during times of boredom. Additionally, utilizing this list can promote important qualities such as resilience, problem solving, and independence, when children are having to put these into practice by choosing something to do when feeling bored.
During times of distress
It can be easy to want to jump right in and solve the problem when your child is feeling bored and in distress. Instead, it can be beneficial to first acknowledge how your child is feeling and help your child try to identify their emotions. Something simple and direct, such as, “From what you are sharing, it sounds like you are feeling angry and stuck right now that you do not have something to do. That can be really frustrating for me too.” Depending on your child’s age and developmental level, you could tailor what you say, however, the goal would be to acknowledge and help validate how your child is feeling. After validating how your child is feeling, the next step can be to provide choices, which helps give your child a sense of control. Having done the above mentioned list exercise ahead of time can support idea generation in these moments along with helping to establish predetermined rules and expectations regarding activities that would not be allowed to be included (i.e. for safety reasons).
Spending Quality Time with Family
When plans change for the whole family, this can be a chance for an unexpected opportunity for families to navigate boredom and spend quality time together. Quality time is something that we all strive to achieve. There is the notion of making family time “count.” With that idea, there can be a lot of pressure to feel like this time needs to involve meaningful experiences and making lasting memories. Letting go of these expectations and trying to focus on being in the present moment with family members can be a more realistic and compassionate way to consider quality time. So parents, showing up for your loved ones, listening to them, and asking thoughtful questions can show that you care, appreciate, and respect them.
With the remaining weeks of summer left, we hope that you have the chance to enjoy quality time with loved ones and feel ready to navigate times of boredom when they arise. Please check out our services and contact us for more information by emailing info@thinkhappylivehealthy.com or calling 703-942-9745.
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