Summer and Boredom

Summer is upon us - and parents are scrambling to fill the long days with activities for their children. Interestingly, many psychologists believe that boredom (yes, boredom!) is crucial for children to discover what truly interests them. In fact, having to "come up with" things to do helps children develop internal stimuli, and it's a developmental achievement to learn to cope with boredom.

“Your role as a parent is to prepare children to take their place in society. Being an adult means occupying yourself and filling up your leisure time in a way that will make you happy,” says Lyn Fry, a child psychologist in London with a focus on education. “If parents spend all their time filling up their child’s spare time, then the child’s never going to learn to do this for themselves.”

As parents, we can help children discover interests, not by overprogramming their free time, but by working with them to explore and try new activities. One suggestion is to sit down with your kids, and collectively write down a list of everything they might enjoy doing during their summer break. These can be basic activities, such as playing cards, reading a book, cooking a fancy dinner, or putting on a play. Even Pokemon Go can be a fun family activity! 

As philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote in his book, The Conquest of Happiness, there is value in boredom. Imagination and the capacity to cope with boredom must be learned as a child. Russell wrote, “A child develops best when, like a young plant, he is left undisturbed in the same soil. Too much travel, too much variety of impressions, are not good for the young, and cause them as they grow up to become incapable of enduring fruitful monotony.”