- Better Society -
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Great parents let their kids be bored. And that’s a good thing.
Did you know that you may very well be doing your child a favour by letting him or her do nothing?
Do you remember that feeling of boredom, when you were a kid? I sure do. And I didn’t like it. But… the good thing is that – as far as I recall – it never lasted very long. And not because I got my iPhone out to play a game or chat with some friends (the smartphone was about minus 30 years when I was a kid), but because I usually came up with something else to do.
But nowadays it becomes harder for kids to simply experience what ‘boredom’ actually means. That sounds like a good thing, but it’s not.
We don’t actually need research to substantiate that kids don’t get that many chances at being bored anymore. Just look at us adults. Every waking moment, we have that tiny little screen in the palm of our hand. Sure, we can put it away. But TBH it is my reflex when I’m in a meeting and there’s a break, I immediately dive into my smart phone ‘twilight zone’.
Are you bored? Congratulations!
Research has shown that being bored – both for adults as kids – stimulates our creativity. It stimulates a part of the brain that we hardly tend to use any more. Digg into our memory for example, contemplate about a specific situation that’s worth some deep thinking, look around and find something at hand to entertain ourself with. Or simply experience what it’s like to just do nothing…
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