Giving My Kids the Gift of Boredom

The importance of allowing our children to experience boredom seems to be everywhere these days.

As parents in the social media culture, I think we feel the burden, more than ever, to provide our children with Pinterested crafts, Instagram-worthy activities, to fill every moment of their days with activities we deem meaningful.

As if seeing a child walking around aimlessly for a few moments is a sin.

I don’t know about you guys, but I experienced a lot of boredom as a kid, and I got pretty good at finding something tor myself to do.

We were outside almost every moment of the summer months, building forts, playing war or house, running in barefeet, playing in any water we could find. I brought home tadpoles in my pockets or tucked a kitten inside my shirt more often than I could say.

When I look back at my childhood, I know it is exactly what I want for my children, those days rich with imagination are what made me who I am today.

That is the kind of gift I want to give my children.

All wrapped up in the gift of boredom.

Give Up that Burden, Mama

When I first became a mom I was completely overwhelmed by Pinterest. I would spend hours browsing, making myself feel like an awful mother if I was not offering my children sensory tubs, invitations, busy bags, packaged learning activities.

Diving into Montessori, and discerning how we would adapt it for our family, helped to relieve me of that burden, and if you feel the same way, I want you to give it up to.

It is not up to you to fill every moment of your child's day, to be hovering around them making sure they are learning or experiencing the world in a certain way.

If you allow them freedom and a prepared environment, then give them unstructured, and screen free, time to experience their environment and needs for themselves, I know you will find they are more than capable of choosing activites that are meaningful for them.

Even if it seems aimless or random to you.

Finding Our Balance

So, yes, if you follow me on Instagram you will see that we do structured crafts every once and a while.

You will see pictures of the boys doing work at the table.

I try to sit with, or near them, at least once a day to focus on work, and I have prepared our space with plenty of options between our work shelves and our rotated toys.

As often as they ask, I try to sit down and read to them.

But there are also a lot of times they just do their thing and I do mine. 

You will not find me offering them sensory tubs and you will not find us leaving the house often for playdates and scheduled activities. This is what I have found to be the best fit for our family, with the ages our kids are at this time.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I would also love to hear any suggestions for posts you would like me to write about. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.

God bless,
Olivia Fischer