Boredom is a common part of life, . That’s because boredom serves a useful purpose: It motivates people to pursue new goals and challenges.
I’m a professor who studies . I am currently writing a book about modern parenting, and I’ve noticed that try to help their kids avoid boredom. They might see it as a negative emotion that they don’t want their children to experience. Or they might steer them into doing something that they see as more productive.
There are they want to prevent their children from being bored. Many with work. They’re stressed about money, . Making sure a child is occupied with a game, a TV show or an arts and crafts project at home can help parents work uninterrupted, or make dinner, without their children complaining that they are bored.
Parents may also feel pressure for their children to succeed, whether that means getting admitted to a selective school, or or an accomplished musician.
Children also spend less time playing freely outside and more time participating in structured activities .
Easy access to screens has made it possible to avoid boredom more than ever before.
Many parents needed to put their children in front of screens throughout the pandemic to . More recently, some parents have reported feeling social pressure to .
That is to say, there are various reasons why parents shy away from their kids being bored. But before striving to eliminate boredom completely, it’s important to know the benefits of boredom.
Benefits of boredom
Although boredom feels bad to experience in the moment, it offers real benefits for .
Boredom is a , whether it be a change in scenery, activity or company. Psychologists have found that the experience of boredom can lead to discovering and trying .
Harvard public and nonprofit leadership professor Arthur Brooks has found that for reflection. Downtime leaves room to ask the big questions in life and find meaning.
Children who are rarely bored who cannot cope with boredom. Boredom also offers a brain boost that can cultivate a child’s innate curiosity and creativity.
Learning to manage boredom and other negative emotions is an important life skill. When children manage their own time, it can help them , which includes the ability to set goals and make plans.
The benefits of boredom make sense from an evolutionary perspective. . It affects , and . Natural selection favors traits that offer a leg up, so it is unlikely that boredom would be so prevalent if it did not deliver some advantages.
Parents should be wary of treating boredom as a problem they must solve for their children. Psychologists have found that college students with overly involved .
shows that young children who were given screens to help them calm down were less equipped to regulate their emotions as they got older.
Boredom is uncomfortable
Tolerating boredom is a skill that many children resist learning or do not have the opportunity to develop. Even many adults would than experience boredom.
It takes practice to learn how to handle boredom. Start with small doses of boredom and work up to longer stretches of unstructured time. include getting kids outside, suggesting a new game or recipe, or simply resting. Creating space for boredom means that there will be some stretches of time when nothing in particular is happening.
. Parents do not need to play with them every time they are bored, but offering suggestions is helpful. Even five minutes of boredom is a good start for the youngest children.
Encouraging older children to solve the problem of boredom themselves is especially empowering. Let them know that boredom is a normal part of life even though it might feel unpleasant.
It gets easier
Children are adaptable.
As children get used to occasional boredom, it will take them longer to become bored in the future. .
Letting go of the obligation to keep children entertained could also help parents feel less stressed. Approximately 41% of parents in the U.S. said they “are so stressed they cannot function,” and 48% reported that “most days their stress is completely overwhelming,” according to .
So the next time a kid complains, “I’m bored!” don’t feel guilty or frustrated. Boredom is a healthy part of life. It prompts us to be self-directed, find new hobbies and take on new challenges.
Let children know that a little boredom isn’t just OK – in fact, it’s good for them.
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