Bored Kids: Give them something to do

by Gisela Méndez

One of the biggest tensions between parents and kids is that sometimes kids do not have enough to do. It’s difficult not to feel powerless when our child complains about being bored. We live in a society where children are used to being entertained. We, as parents, tend to believe that if our children do different activities they will be busy and in consequence happy. However, most children may seem not interested in anything we offer them to do. Have parents ever thought that children do not need lots of things to do to avoid getting bored?

The children’s book “Marcela was bored”, by Robert Byrd, depicts children’ boredom such as it was real life. Many parents may be familiar with most of the situations described in the book. Marcella is a cat, who is bored with her usual activities. So she decides to run away from home. Many of us may perceive that the cat stands in for the usual portrait of dissatisfied children.

Children today are so over programmed that they don't know how to actually play .As Marcella is tired of her dance classes, many children complain about their physical activities.

Another characteristic of dissatisfied children is that boredom modifies their willing to eat. Marcella, as most of bored children, rejects food. When she goes to the kitchen, she grumbles “everything always tastes the same”. Forcing kids to eat when they are bored will destroy their sense of hunger. Children will and do eat when they are hungry.

Boredom also affects relationships. Marcella complains about her brothers, her grandpa, and her friends. When children says they are bored, it would be okay to remind them once that it is their job to find something to entertain themselves. Once in a while, they need to learn how to entertain themselves. When children feel secure again he will probably pull away from you and go back off on his own again.

At the end of her adventure, Marcella discovers that she loves her life. Taking into account this, we can realize that it is important to find a balance between children`s everyday and free time activities to let our children enjoy their routine.