It’s July and already almost the middle of summer! Have your children told you that they are “BO-O-ORED” yet? Did you know that boredom can actually be good for them?
July has been designated as “Anti-Boredom Month”. In an interesting online article on Child Mind Institute’s website titled The Benefits of Boredom, there are many benefits listed for boredom as well as ways parents can help their children creatively and energetically tackle it.
Some of the benefits of boredom are:
• Helps children develop creative skills
• Helps build tolerance of different experiences in life
• Helps children develop planning strategies
• Helps children develop flexibility
• Helps children develop organizational skills
How can parents encourage their children to handle boredom? Here are some ways:
• Respond to cries of being bored with excitement as to all the possibilities of what they can do. This includes tackling boredom proactively and as a team. Don’t drop what you are doing just to give them your immediate attention when they say they are bored. Be prepared with a list of activities. That’s key!
• Encourage creativity. Help them plan out steps to a project if they do not know what to do.
• Observe each of your children during independent playtime and reward them for their accomplishments in playing independently.
• Be realistic and expect failure. Talk with your children about what worked and what didn’t work.