Turn the day around when your child insists there is nothing to do.

There are many reasons why children get bored. Boredom isn’t so much about “lacking something to do” as it is an inability to become engaged in any specific activity.

 Educational psychologists say children fail to engage in a particular activity when the child perceives the activity to be unchallenging, tedious, repetitive or meaningless.  

The next time your child complains that there’s nothing to do, give these boredom-busters a shot.

Novelty, the great motivator

List down as many out-of-the-ordinary activities as you can with your child. Make sure they’re neither too difficult nor too simple. For instance, encourage them to set up a campsite outside, weather permitting. If not, an indoor obstacle course should keep them busy. The internet has tons and tons of activity ideas—research together, and post a ready list on the refrigerator.

Get down and dirty

Allow your child to manipulate objects and interact with the environment. If you usually discourage this kind of hands-on interaction, you may actually be reinforcing lethargic behavior. Relax a little, and allow him to get dirty. Let him make homemade clay with flour, water and salt (and try to bite your tongue if the stuff ends up all over your kitchen floor.) Let him try his hand at gardening and growing flowers and herbs.  The long process of creating things will make time fly.

Give old things a new spin

Take something that your child is interested in, and use that as a springboard to do something productive. If your child loves his Transformer toys, hand him a disposable camera and suggest he make a create a story book about it.  Be in-tune with your kid’s deepest interests, and stock up on crayons, paints, glue, clay, wooden sticks, scrapbook materials, albums and all he needs to get creative.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

If you notice that your child has lost interest in one of his toys, place it in storage for a few weeks, out of sight.  Bring it out again when your child complains of boredom. When children are re-united with a toy that they haven’t played with in a long time, it sometimes feels like a brand new toy again. 

Craving company

Is it boredom or loneliness? Sometimes, boredom isn’t so much the case with your child as it is a simple desire to spend meaningful, quality time with you. Take them along on errands—do the groceries or make bank deposits together.  Time in a car is a great opportunity for quality time together.

           The next time your child complains of boredom, wait a little. Don’t feel compelled to immediately rescue him. Let him experience the discomfort of doing nothing. A healthy dose of boredom may be just what your child needs to spark his creativity, imagination and desire to explore. 

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