Clearly I grew up in the 80's. You can tell because I wasn't allowed to say "I'm bored", and I owned niether a game system, hand-held game system, or VCR. Yup, forget DVD, computers, or BlueRay, I didn't even have a VCR! Telling someone you were bored or had nothing to do carried some heavy consequences.
In the spirit of my energy diet and helping parents and kids everywhere, here are some of my childhood solutions to boredom:
-homework. I always hear parents today complaining about how much homework their kids get, yet I'm always hearing there's nothing for them to do. Well, they can do their homework then
-teach them to READ. Not to skim over text books or assignments, but to pick up a book, read and process the words, and create pictures with their imagination. (an imagination is that thing we used to think of things to do and make before electronics took over)
-teach them something, absoutely anything. 5 year olds can do a lot more then people think. Sure, they can't use the stove or oven alone, but they can make the mix (they also learn reading, measuring, math) or they can learn to print, handwrite (yup, I know it's a lost art, but doesn't that just make it cooler to know?) help them learn a card game or another language, teach them an instrument. Young minds learn faster then adults, and they are starved for information. Find what they like and encourage it.
-let them do chores. Yup, I said "let" and not "make". Catch them while they are young enough that helping is fun and they will develop habits you want them to have later. Don't like things put away wrong? Do they load the dishwasher differently then you? Well guess what, you had kids knowing they would change your life, so just don't look. Let them do it and if it bothers you that much either seek help or fix it when they are in bed, and don't complain about it. Sure, I like my plates facing a certain way, but I also like to wear clean pants, I've learned neither of those are as important as forming an amazing child into a wonderful adult.
-help them pick a hobby
-give them a chalk board
-create a playroom or area, and make them responsible for it. When they enter that space they are to find their own things to do, amuse themselves, create rules, and clean it up when they are done. Don't tell them all the time where every single stuffed animal or little car goes, let them have a little space all their own. They won't ever learn how they want their own home set up if you don't let them learn, and you don't want them to grow up and move out into a big mess, you'll want to visit them and if you don't let them learn to organize you won't like their place later...
-sent them outside with a piece of cardboard and don't let them back in for a whole half hour
-stop telling them how to play. If they don't learn how to do it themselves they will forever need you to amuse them
-get them involved in A sport. I'm not saying spend hundreds or thousands on fees and uniforms, I'm saying take them to the park with a basketball and teach them what to do with it. Show them how to play tag, show a few neighborhood kids how to play baseball or softball. We used to all meet at the park with aball and play soccor, no coaches, parents, or referees. We knew the rules, we knew how to play fair, and I'm not even sure we kept score. I don't know when all sports became organized sports, but I think they are missing out on a lot of fun.
I think that by organzing and arranging every minute of every day, our children are not learning how to make their own decisions, are not learning how to spend their time or to plan for themseves, and I think that these are skills we all need as adults. It's our job to m