Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks recently wrote an impassioned plea: “You need to be bored,” he said. Others have called boredom the most important skill of the 21st century.

How can boredom be a skill? And why is it so important? To see why it matters, we need to look at young kids who are still learning the art and skill of being bored without imploding.

Kindergarten teacher gives lessons on how to be bored

Lisa Elaine Peters is a popular teacher and social media creator. She recently took to Instagram Reels with one of her favorite, underutilized classroom management tips.

In the video, Peters says she sees a lot of teacher colleagues who have trouble with their kids’ behavior when they’re between activities, whether it’s waiting for instructions or lining up in the hallway. Peters says it’s because being bored is not a skill a lot of kids have today.

“You may have taught them behavior in the hallway, but have you taught them behavior while you wait? …This is something a lot of teachers don’t explicitly teach,” she says.

She constantly reminds her kids—both her students and her own children—that it’s OK to be bored and that we don’t need constant stimulation all the time.

“Most kids don’t know how to be bored these days,”........

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