Helping Kids Survive Summer |
Children often seek out help to manage their boredom, looking for something to do.
Labeling boredom and pointing to past success in managing it can help kids break free.
Getting kids to play or laugh for a few minutes can shock them out of boredom.
Modeling how to regulate boredom can help kids learn for themselves to escape.
For many children, summer opens the door to more relaxed schedules, travel to different locations, visiting relatives, and expanded time to choose their activities. Initially, this freedom is a welcome relief from the constricted settings of the school year. But after a brief honeymoon period, many parents start to hear the dreaded words, “I’m bored.” The first response may offer possible solutions, activities the kids enjoy or have been talking about, options to visit friends, things that need to be done for chores, or self-care. Kids might reply with silence or say that the suggestion doesn’t sound good or fun. Children can stay in this state of tension for hours, torn between wanting something to do and not finding anything satisfying enough to actually pursue. It’s painful for everyone.
The literature on emotions and where they come from offers some tips for how to think about and manage this complicated situation. There are two key emotions likely contributing to how children behave in these situations: boredom and interest. Boredom emerges when the environment is not a match for our goals, and we don’t care about anything that is happening. This can be because nothing is........