Do you remember being bored as a child? I do. When I started elementary school, whenever we would return to our island, we no longer slept in our old house because it had more tenants, so my mother would leave me with my aunt and uncle whom I adored.
But they were working. Which means that I would often be alone in a place where my relatives weren't. So I wandered the hills.
I learned how to climb all the trees, picked blackberries and figs, and discovered the world of the island. I read a lot, which I still do today, so I believe that I owe this passion to the summer boredom in the house on the island. There was no internet or cartoons on TV all day long. I had to create ideas and do things to fill my time. Today, it's completely different.
If a child is bored, they stick to a screen and their world is filled with colorful images that drug the brain with happiness hormones... And the child is passive. They don't have to do anything to entertain themselves.
We have become a society of instant gratification and children seem to panic when they have nothing to do, so they shout "moooooooom, I'm bored" expecting someone else to create their world for them. Technology and consumerism have created a world in which a child lives in a very structured world, without much time to just "be there". And you know when the best ideas arise?
Remember the last time you had a great idea. Maybe it was when you were driving a car or a bike, swimming or running, when you were falling asleep... All of these are situations where you are relaxed, and precisely then, when we don't have anywhere to write down our ideas, the best ones arise!
It's the same with children. If you let them get bored, who knows what they will come up with. Their brain will be active in finding ideas to entertain themselves. If you try to "kill their boredom" by turning on the TV or YouTube, they are passive and focused on other people's ideas, those realized in the form of cartoons. Even if you have enrolled your children in various activities, just so they don't stay at home, it is not necessarily a good thing.
If you want your children to have their own ideas, let them be bored. Research has shown that children in a state of boredom take initiative and stop being completely dependent on finished products or older people. Boredom breeds curiosity, persistence, playfulness, interests, and self-confidence. These are also important characteristics that lead to smart and non-boring people as they grow up.
So parents, if your child says they are bored, don't feel guilty.
Don't immediately jump in and come up with activities. Plan to plan less. You really don't need to fill every moment of your child's life. Give them a chance.
If you want to entertain your child right away, remember this: boredom breeds opportunities!
What you can do is provide your child with tools for entertainment: books, shovels, balls, boxes, crayons, clay, whatever is at hand. Let them figure out what to do with them.
Let the child's mind wander, because a rested mind generates more ideas and creative solutions.
The most important thing is to know that wasting time is not wasted time.