Some of us may have already accepted that summer boredom is not only a thing, but it’s a good thing. As I wrote in a previous blog, boredom can not only help children find solutions to their own problems, but it also helps them discover their true inner life and perhaps even what drives them. But how to give them a little push towards this self-discovery? Here are ten ideas for strategies to help those bored kids launch into something scintillatingly stimulating.
- Idea jar. Buy a pack of small origami paper and write ideas on each slip, folding it neatly and putting into a clear jar with a ribbon or bow. When those kids come whining with a desperate glint in their eyes, just hand them the jar. Talk to the jar, kids.
- Pick a sport. Sometimes the solutions are just so easy. Hand them a badminton set, a ball, or a scooter and send them out the door.
- Build a fort. Who doesn’t have fond memories of creating secret snack depositories and wrestling matches inside a pile of old blankets and sheets? Just be ready to do some laundry (or, better, pass it onto the kids) after they spill their favorite drink into the fort because it was … ummm … holding up a major corner of the fort on some teetering edge of the furniture!
- Clean your room. At first your child may groan at this idea, but reorganizing a room when bored can refresh and restore a sense of calm and excitement about the ideas that pop up when considering how to create the coolest room ever.
- Make a career plan. A huge part of self – discovery is finding who we want our future selves to be. It may start as an idea of what we want to feel or how we could impact the world and grow from there into a career path. My daughter recently said she wanted to “help solve problems” as an adult. That conversation led her into finding diplomacy as a future job. Now she’s following all kinds of international diplomatic stories and offering her own solutions to issues that our top negotiators can’t seem to push forward. Time machine, anyone?
- Write a letter. Many kids actually love to envision themselves as adults and anticipate what they might forget or need to know later on in life. A designated place for letters of this sort is ideal, and parents should resist the temptation to look without permission. We all dread reading those “Don’t ever become like Mom” notes. Spoiler alert, kids. You probably will.
- Make a time capsule. While the kids are on the topic of their future selves, they might as well make a little package for themselves. Special trinkets, photos, or memories can go in to a decorated box or bottle with the note “Do not open until 2030.” That is a real year in the near future.
- Make something gooey or squishy. Even the most self-respecting and mature teen can be captivated by a good old – fashioned batch of ooblek (cornstarch and water). There’s also lots of easy homemade clay and Play-Doh recipes out there they can bling out with glitter, dried flowers, essential oils and food color.
- Plan and make a meal. Baking projects are awesome and great for learning fractions and heaps of science. Planning out a whole meal can be even more fun when armed with a computer and cravings for something new. Your kids might even find a new weeknight staple.
- Build something. Toothpick or cotton swab towers, recycled castles and secret boxes all come in handy and require plenty of problem – solving and creativity opportunities. Having an end use plan for the creations helps to keep those long projects out of the trash bin for a while. Cat castles, secret depositories and dreamscapes for figurines are all winning designs that the kids can use for a long time to come.
Hopefully these ideas are enough to jump start some interesting and probably messy work. Don’t forget to get them to agree to clean up afterwards! As for me, I’m going to support the diplomatic negotiations over what kind of cat castle can both include a drawbridge and accommodate teenage disdain for “totally weird” use of space. Let the talks begin!
Photo: Adobe Stock
