Mom, I’m Bored
If I had time to be bored, I’d spend it online. But I don’t have time because I’m a mom. With a job. And a very messy home.
Well, that’s not exactly true. The mom part is true. And believe me, the mess is no joke. Obviously I have a job, as one of my responsibilities is to write articles for Vital KC. The lie is that I don’t waste time online. I do. On a recent squandering of the minutes, I found out that July is National Anti-Boredom Month.
As a writer of Vital KC articles, I was going to offer my personal suggestions to keep boredom at bay, but after my confession that I could spend an eternity mindlessly scrolling the Internet, I decided to ask my colleagues at University Health Behavioral Health for interesting, introspective ways to fill a lazy hour or two.
But like any good story, there’s a twist. Psychologist Jennifer Keller, PsyD offered an insight that boredom, or the feeling of your brain trying to fill time, isn’t a bad thing. In fact, she suggests that it can spark creativity by giving your mind time to find solutions to issues that you now have time to think about.
Psychologist Abbey Gripka, PhD seconds Dr. Keller. “Parents who are being proactive about ensuring their children don’t get bored often can over-schedule their child. Without down time, kids might never learn to entertain themselves,” said Dr. Gripka.
So here’s a suggestion for both adult and child: work together to create a list of new, fun, off-line activities. That way, when there really is ‘nothing to do,’ you can turn to the list and make memories together.