A few ways to cure kid boredom
May 6, 2020 Adrienne Brown 0 Comments
Are you longing for a few easy & free ways to cure your kid’s boredom?
I’m bored! There is nothing to do! I bet those two phrases have been bouncing up and down and all-around in your house since all of this mess has started. Am I right? I know this because I have young kids and they have said these same words. Yet, there are a few ways to cure this kid boredom!
The words “I am bored” & even the look of a bored kid drives me crazy. You know the look that I am talking about.
A bored kid has slumped shoulders, eye-rolling and is constantly sighing so that you might hear them. I bet you are like me and can’t stand it either. This is why we must find a few ways to help them find cures for their boredom.
Oh, they may protest, cry and look totally irritated, but you can trust, after using these tactics, they will be cured of boredom.
Bored even when surrounded by an abundance of things
Did you know that boredom can be brought on even when he has a multitude of activities to choose from? Yes, this is true.
It is sort of like us being lonely even when we are in a room filled with other people.
Just take a look around your home, are there things that they have never explored. See, I told you. I bet there are board games, card games, and I know there are video games. (One thing I encourage you to put extreme limits on)
There are many cures lying on our shelves just waiting to cure kid boredom.
You have bookcases filled with books that will transport them to another world if only, they would pick them up. What about the crafts that have been sitting on the shelve since last Christmas?
Yep, they are there, aren’t they? Yes, they are there because, prior to our lockdown most of us never had the time nor the interest to learn anything new.
If there is one thing this downtime has done for us, it has given us back the time to explore our surroundings, time to dream, and time to embrace our family unit again.
My point is that our kids have no business being bored? They just need redirecting and that can be lead, by us.
What are the few ways to cure kid boredom?
what can we do with our bored kids you ask? We can train them how to discover new activities and how to complete projects that will stimulate their brains and fulfill their need for active movement. We can show them that small personal accomplishments can bring much joy, fulfilment and mental strength.
When kid boredom kicks in, it is because they have not unlocked their full potential. In other words, they don’t have to be sitting around being unfulfilled. They have not discovered what they are capable of doing with their own brains and hands.
But, that means that we have to help them discover their superpowers. We can help them by teaching them to change their mindsets. Don’t you remember a time when you felt bored and unfulfilled as a teen? You felt as if you could never do anything right or create anything or be useful?
That’s because we had not found our superpowers yet! Now that we are adults we know that we can do whatever we put our minds to! This is the mindset that we want our kids to cultivate early on.
Give them meaningful projects
What I am saying by meaningful is give them something that brings value to everyone in the home. Something that the child can walk by, look at it and then smile in the proud moment of accomplishment. I’m sure you have things like that around your home, right?
If you just think about it a little creatively and out of the box, kind of, you will find something to fit the child’s ability.
We have found such projects around our home for our kids on many occasions. Like during this enforced stay, we have pulled out the lawnmowers, weed whackers, axes, saws and many other kinds of scary-sounding tools! Lol!
No, seriously we had all of the kids helping us to knock back the long, sharp, tall briars. These things had put a death grip on what used to be our garden area 3 years ago, choking out everything.
The perfect Project
It was so overgrown, that it was sort of creepy. But it turned out to be the perfect project for our bored kids! The looks of accomplishment on their faces, when the days were done, were priceless.
Of course, at the start, you will have to build it up as if the work is the biggest, toughest project in the world, and you will have to act as if only they can help you get through it!
My bored kids and the creepy overgrown garden
You guys, when we first walked into that garden, it looked so ugly and scary, that I almost turned around and walked back into the house. I mean, it looked like it was going to be some long hard work! Guess what? It was just that!
This garden was a long way from the one written about in the book The secret garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. No, my garden was terrible.
Yet, we marched on in and took a look around to decide who would do what. All of the family worked on it. Me, my husband and the 4 bored kids. It took us a week to get that garden in shape, but it was well worth it.
Hard work is a sweet cure for boredom
At the end of each day, at 6 pm everyone carried his or her tools to the garage and the raced to the showers. I don’t know, but it seemed as if the hard work made them (The bored kids) appreciate the refreshing showers a little bit more. They came down, to the dinner table with smiles on their faces and a slight pep in their steps.
The food was ravishingly delicious for them. They told me many times. I could see pleasure and contentment on their faces. Remember, these were the same kids who were kind of bored early on at the beginning of lockdown.
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Other fun cures we have discovered to beat back kid boredom
One very, exciting thing we did as we worked was to listen to books on tape. Really, it was the highlight of the working sessions. I had downloaded books onto my phone using Audible and then connected my phone to my JBL Blue Tube speaker.
It was an instant hit with the kids, all 4 of them. From my 7-year-old up to my 16-year-old, they were all captivated by the story. Even, I couldn’t wait for the next garden workday!
And I wouldn’t want you to get bored with me!
My husband And I have been homeschooling for 26 years now, and It has been a wonderful experience for me. I share the beginning of our journey in my first book.
👇🏼clicked here to get a copy 👇🏼
