No One's Ever Died of Boredom (Yet)
Summer’s officially in session. The best thing about the season? No school, and thus no homework hassles, stressing over schedules, and schlepping the offspring to after school activities and team practices. And the worst thing about the season? No school to keep the kids occupied.
In fact, the difference between a “hooray” or “oh no” summer for many families often depends on how well the kids are kept occupied. Fortunately, there are lots of strategies parents can employ to keep their kids busy and themselves sane. To help you do just that, I asked lots of experts and parents to help me brainstorm some easy ideas for keeping the “But there’s nothing to do around here” blues at bay. So here are my top five Boredom-Busting Summer Survival Strategies:
1. Do your homework.
Ideally, you and your child did this months ago but if you’re just starting now, relax. No matter how obscure your child’s interest, there’s a program for it. One of my kids is into opera and marine biology, the other filmmaking and fencing. We have found terrific summer programs on the Internet for each. But I did my homework and vetted the programs carefully; my kids and I talked to or e-mailed both past participants and their parents.
2. Mix it up.
Of course kids need to chill out; summer should be a time to relax. Building in downtime with parameters (i.e. no all day, every day computer or TV time) is important so that your child (and you) can chill out. But too much unstructured time isn’t always practical, especially for two-income families. So try to mix up your summer plans with a variety of downtime, structured camp programming, travel, and/or work and volunteer experiences.
3. Play tourist in your own hometown.
In addition to using on-line resources, invest in a good paperback guide to kids’ and other resources in your area to plan a sightseeing vacation at home or nearby. The upside: no packing and schlepping. Visit the traditional tourist attractions (try an organized bus tour of a nearby city, for instance) or uncover hidden gems in your own backyard. My favorite outdoor spots: parks and anything having to do with animals: nature centers, zoos, and interpretive farms. My favorite indoor spots: museums and libraries. Both have terrific permanent collections and lots of family-friendly programming. And they’re air-conditioned.
4. Put ‘em to work.
Older kids can scoop ice cream, clean kennels, babysit, or intern. Younger kids can be mother’s helpers, walk dogs, or take in vacationing neighbors’ mail. And kids of all ages can volunteer. But you don’t have to spend thousand of dollars to send your teen to Costa Rica to build roads, no matter how worthy a project that is. There are scores of local organizations that would welcome your kids’ help. Your child can share his talents or time at a senior citizen center, pack groceries at a food pantry, or cuddle and walk pets at an animal shelter – or even visit with or do simple chores for an elderly neighbor or relative. If your schedule permits, consider volunteering as a family. My family’s favorite joint volunteering experience was helping to socialize puppies being trained as service and guide dogs.
5. When all else fails, remember: Boredom is not fatal.
Contrary to what your child may have you believe, no one has ever expired of boredom. Rather than being fatal, in fact, boredom can be downright fertile and is often the mother (or child) of invention and creativity. So don’t forget to leave plenty of time this summer for your children to chill out and smell the s’mores.
PS: What are your favorite boredom-busting summer survival strategies?
Comments
Read Read Read! I love to take in a good book. I would rather that tban tv most days!
A great idea for kids young and old is some sort of photo project. If the kid is old enough spend a little for a decent digital (point and shoot with lots of options for extras--Casio exlim is a pretty ok one) if they are young give 'em a point and shoot one time use and let them have at it. You might be suprised what they come up with!
