I just finished listening to a book named:  “Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things”.  The book, written by Jenny Lawson, is about her battle with Depression and other health issues.  She writes the book in a way that makes you laugh and at the same time think about how we as individuals act.  She makes a lot of interesting points, but the one I want to mention in particular is that of being bored.

How often do we hear our children say, “I’m bored”, as if the parent can fix the problem.  This is not just a child issue, but also an adult complaint.  The point made in the book is that too many children today are over scheduled and so they never have time to experience the being bored syndrome, which according to Jenny does not allow the children to learn and grow.  She makes the comment that children need to learn how to deal slow, nothing to do, times as well as the too much to do times.  She says that this allows them to think and come up with ways to entertain themselves and not having to rely on someone else (i.e. parents) to schedule their lives.  There are a number of options which allows the child to use imagination in coming up with solutions.

For me, I always approached the comment, “I’m bored”, with the following comment, “I have dishes to be washed or cleaning to be done”.  This brings up options and it always seems to settle the issue with the bored one coming up something else to do on their own.

We all need to deal with not having  enough to do at times and yet I have found that if I really consider it, there is always something to do.  There are great books that could be read.  We have the internet with a myriad of things to be learned.  We could exercise or go for a walk outside.  There are a number of hobbies that could be started or improved.  There is always something in the yard or house that could be done.  So, I don’t believe that we are without something to do, but we are being selective and choose to be bored.