By Varsha Morani
Parents who wish to increase their children’s academic potential, social skills and creativity should allow them to experience boredom. That’s the advice of child development specialists who want to see children spend more time in unstructured play, and less time in structured activities (or zoned out in front of an LCD screen).
However, opportunities for ‘creative boredom’ are rare these days. Parents dread the words “I’m bored” and allow them to frequent video game centers, watch scary movies and engage in mall-crawling – anything to keep them occupied.
However, such entertainment leaves kids thirsting for even faster and more violent stimuli. From infancy, today’s children are bombarded with noise, stimulation and instant gratification via crib mobiles with flashing lights and music, high-tech DVD entertainment car systems and the like.
Whatever happened to quiet time? It’s virtually programmed into children never to have it. A parent pushes the button to turn on the mobile to entertain a cranky infant – instant comfort and distraction, but the toddler learns nothing about his capacity to solve his own problem.
If left alone, the child will shift his attention from crying to exploring his toes and hands. He figures out how to entertain and distract himself. He’s also learning something profound – that he has the capacity to solve his own problem.
Experts on childhood dynamics are now wondering if the spurt in children labeled with attention deficit disorder and other behavioral and cognitive disabilities is, in fact, caused by the fact that these kids have inadequate analytical and problem-solving skills.
Boredom can have its advantages as well as drawbacks. On the downside, it causes irritability and crankiness. On the positive side, however, it can catalyze a state of creativity!
American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald felt that boredom can be a tool for developing creativity. He wrote, “Boredom is not an end product; it is, comparatively, rather an early stage in life and art. You’ve got to go by or past or through boredom, as through a filter, before the clear product emerges.”
Many inventors will tell you that some of the most brilliant ideas they’ve come up with were initially stimulated by boredom. Researchers and educators believe that children learn best by initiating, manipulating and observing cause and effect.
Giving your children a break from organized activities and electronic baby-sitters could very well mean sentencing them to boredom – at least at first.
However, experts say that when deprived of anything else to do, children will find a way to amuse themselves – even if it means simply daydreaming. And that’s exactly the point – letting children use their own creativity to fill some of their time. In the process, their mental, emotional and social skills get a vital workout.
The slow parenting movement started when parents demanded a measured and caring way of stepping back and letting our children face the world themselves, as Carl Honoré described in his book, Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting
The American journalist, Lenore Skenazy, writes about the problems of over-parenting with a particular emphasis on risk, but also the unnecessary extra cramming classes. Her book, Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry
In them, she highlights the unnecessary protection from risk which limits the child’s experience to mature properly into independent adults, and the unnecessary training, even in using flash cards for preschool children, which limits their opportunity to have fun or do their own thing.
Many inventors came up with brilliant ideas when stimulated by boredom“Parents worry about kids’ boredom, so they schedule their lives to keep them busy,” says Alvin Rosenfeld, a child psychiatrist who is co-author, with Nicole Wise, of ‘The Over-Scheduled Child: Avoiding the Hyper-Parenting Trap
The question often asked is – what’s a parent to do? Children need adults in their lives who understand the relationship between boredom and creativity – and are willing to set the stage so that kids can create the play. Very often, we will not our kids any free time because we are unsure of our ability to handle them bored.
Parents can optimize the benefits of unstructured play by ensuring their safety and keeping clear of electronic entertainment devices. They can also provide materials (paints, clay, et cetera) and even gentle suggestions, if necessary. That it!
Constructively bored kids eventually turn to a book, build a fort or pull out the paints … and create, or come home sweaty from a game of neighborhood cricket. Nevertheless, kids DO need the guidance of parents or other adults if their boredom is to be constructive, and lead to creativity.
Sharna Olfman, an associate professor of psychology at Point Park College, warns that children are not likely to take boredom lying down at first. Parents can expect an increase in bickering among siblings, and general whininess.
“It would be easier just to give in and throw a video on,” Olfman says. “But it’s really so much better to let your child be bored. Amazingly enough, they will eventually think of something to do.”
The benefits of unstructured play are considerable, and parents would do well to let it happen regularly. A few tips to make getting started easier:
- Limit Television And Screen Time
This is the most important recommendation, and made by a lot of experts. It’s probably also the most difficult, since both children and parents tend to use TV and computer games to give themselves a breather.
- Choose Toys Carefully
Increasing unstructured play time doesn’t require a big investment in new toys. Some basic art supplies, library books and objects collected from nature can keep kids busy for quite some time. As much as possible, send your children outside to play. Playing outside promotes more running around, which helps children sleep better at night and keeps them in better health.
- Spend Time Watching Your Child Play
Watching your child play makes them feel valued and secure. It’s not necessary to join in, although that’s an option too – as long as parents don’t try to take over. Allow the child to make the decisions, control the flow of the play and assign roles.
- The Power Of Visualization
Imagination is a powerful tool in the fight against boredom. Encourage children to create visual images which stimulate them. Ask them to visualize who they want to be and where they want to go, and you will find that feelings of boredom will soon dissipate.
The trick is to find a balance between adult direction and child boredom. Too much boredom can lead to trouble, but too much supervision can kill constructive boredom – and the creativity it brings.
I have often observed that children are often motivated by boredom, since it forces them to lean on their own inner resources, develop their imagination and envision new possibilities. As a famous man once said, “If necessity is the mother of invention, boredom might be the father…”
Higher Order & Creative Thinking Skills (3 to 7 Year Olds) – Do you want your child to become a creator of new ideas, analyser of information and generator of knowledge? Children who engage in higher levels of thinking are more likely to want to learn, enjoy learning and gain satisfaction from their own independent thinking.Amazing Science Discovery: Making Science Fun For Kids – Want your kids to grow up thinking science is fun and cool? Re-discover science with your grade-school age kids and learn how you can support your budding scientist and turn your kids’ natural curiosity into a love for science. This has everything you need to turn your child’s natural curiosity to a love for science.Nurturing Creative Children – Introduce the element of creativity to your child-rearing process. If you have a child with learning challenges the information on high achievers with learning problems is a must read.Free-Range Kids: Is Lots of Structure Actually Bad for Kids?
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