Is Your Child ‘Getting Bored’?
A very colloquial phrase which many a times drives my sanity to bitter ground is “I am getting bored”. I dread it like anything when my daughter says it. I make sure she is equipped with countless activities so as to not venture in that zone; yes the zone of ‘getting bored’.
With summer holidays just peeping round the corner, I am worried if I can extend all my creative horizons to stack up an eternal entertainment series round the clock to prevent her from venturing in that ‘bored zone’.
But the other day, I was going through an article and could relate to the thought which was inscribed in it. The topic discussed the fact that getting bored can be an onset to a new dawn. ‘Being bored’, ‘getting bored’, ‘feeling bored’ – these can really be stimulants to a new thought process, an idea, an invention or a creative awakening.
Today amidst our very hectic lifestyle, a child barely has the time to indulge his or her finest sensibilities to create, imagine or even day dream. The fast paced lifestyle, technological advancement and an over scripted brain are factors which do not entertain or rather are unable to stimulate the mind with ‘nothingness’. It is rather overstuffed with layers; even the child sometimes urges to break free from that overscheduled and high strung brain.
Psychologists say that modern day parents cannot think of their children indulging in pure bliss of ‘day dreaming’, ‘thinking’ or even ‘doing nothing’. Life is a cycle of swirls and spins rotating around results and focusing on a mechanised path.
Psychologists and behavioural therapists are exploring programs with the help of recent methodologies to help children venture into the ‘no zone’ area with a bit of mindfulness and at the same time helping them to preserve calmness, stretch their imaginative skills and unravel their clutter box. Kids are constantly seeking a stimulant to engage their brain and mind. The power of reflection is being pushed away and eventually a sense of frustration, boredom and monotony grips the child easily. The very concept of ‘mindfulness’ which is being mindful of the present moment is being inculcated in many schools all over the world (in the UK & US primarily) these days. It is said that mindfulness concentrates on ‘focussed breathing’. It helps in concentration, stirs creativity and tames the mind in a positive way.
A mind preoccupied with thoughts can never welcome a new creative process, or even dare to imagine a path breaking ‘Eureka’ idea. The mind when doing nothing or laying in that ‘no activity zone’ is ready for brilliant novelty. So, let your child relish those day dreaming reveries, idle fancies, bored tracts and no mind yet mindful introspection. You never know when he could gaze at a trivial object and a new law or a unique invention might poke his mind. The rest is history or may be a 4th law! 😉
Ronita-Maitra Bhandari is a freelance creative writer who writes for various sites and blogs. She has also done a certified course in “Positive Parenting” from U.K. She is a mom to a 7-year-old and loves nurturing her greatest resource, her daughter. Apart from writing she is a nature lover and gets energised wandering around green patches. She believes family is a treasure chest and children are those precious jewels in the chest who sparkle to illuminate lives. What else would one desire to live a rich life? You can read more of her writing on her blog http://ronita-blogs.blogspot.