Children should be allowed to get bored

Jeanwah

Interesting...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21895704

Children should be allowed to get bored so they can develop their innate ability to be creative, an education expert says.

Dr Teresa Belton told the BBC cultural expectations that children should be constantly active could hamper the development of their imagination

She quizzed author Meera Syal and artist Grayson Perry about how boredom had aided their creativity as children.

Syal said boredom made her write, while Perry said it was a "creative state".

The senior researcher at the University of East Anglia's School of Education and Lifelong Learning interviewed a number of authors, artists and scientists in her exploration of the effects of boredom.

She heard Syal's memories of the small mining village, with few distractions, where she grew up.

Dr Belton said: "Lack of things to do spurred her to talk to people she would not otherwise have engaged with and to try activities she would not, under other circumstances, have experienced, such as talking to elderly neighbours and learning to bake cakes.

"Boredom is often associated with solitude and Syal spent hours of her early life staring out of the window across fields and woods, watching the changing weather and seasons.

"But importantly boredom made her write. She kept a diary from a young age, filling it with observations, short stories, poems, and diatribe. And she attributes these early beginnings to becoming a writer late in life."

'Reflection'
The comedienne turned writer said: "Enforced solitude alone with a blank page is a wonderful spur."

While Perry said boredom was also beneficial for adults: "As I get older, I appreciate reflection and boredom. Boredom is a very creative state."

And neuroscientist and expert on brain deterioration Prof Susan Greenfield, who also spoke to the academic, recalled a childhood in a family with little money and no siblings until she was 13.

"She happily entertained herself with making up stories, drawing pictures of her stories and going to the library."

Dr Belton, who is an expert in the impact of emotions on behaviour and learning, said boredom could be an "uncomfortable feeling" and that society had "developed an expectation of being constantly occupied and constantly stimulated".

But she warned that being creative "involves being able to develop internal stimulus".

"Nature abhors a vacuum and we try to fill it," she said. "Some young people who do not have the interior resources or the responses to deal with that boredom creatively then sometimes end up smashing up bus shelters or taking cars out for a joyride."

'Short circuit'
The academic, who has previously studied the impact of television and videos on children's writing, said: "When children have nothing to do now, they immediately switch on the TV, the computer, the phone or some kind of screen. The time they spend on these things has increased.

"But children need to have stand-and-stare time, time imagining and pursuing their own thinking processes or assimilating their experiences through play or just observing the world around them."

It is this sort of thing that stimulates the imagination, she said, while the screen "tends to short circuit that process and the development of creative capacity".

Syal adds: "You begin to write because there is nothing to prove, nothing to lose, nothing else to do.

"It's very freeing being creative for no other reason other than you freewheel and fill time."

Dr Belton concluded: "For the sake of creativity perhaps we need to slow down and stay offline from time to time."

chadwick

i agree. take your asses outside and or play, draw, build, create & things. i've never been bored more than 32 seconds in total ever in my life.

hedonist

I know some people who allow their children virtually no free time - almost every minute packed with an event, practice, activity. The "go go go!" mentality.

I loved, as a kid, having a big pad of paper and watercolors or the 64-crayon box of Crayolas, and just letting loose. Or writing my own stories, or in a journal. It was exercise for the brain and imagination.

People - children included - are so bombarded with images and sounds and "look at me, look at this!" and...the mental therapy of just BEING (something like the stand and stare mentioned in the article) is just so healing and rejuvenating. Allows not just for growth but also problem-solving.

Among my favorite times of day are the early mornings sitting by the balcony, Danny still sleeping, kitties just awakening, watching the city, and just thinking.

Who Princess

hedonist wrote:

I know some people who allow their children virtually no free time - almost every minute packed with an event, practice, activity. The "go go go!" mentality.

I loved, as a kid, having a big pad of paper and watercolors or the 64-crayon box of Crayolas, and just letting loose. Or writing my own stories, or in a journal. It was exercise for the brain and imagination.

People - children included - are so bombarded with images and sounds and "look at me, look at this!" and...the mental therapy of just BEING (something like the stand and stare mentioned in the article) is just so healing and rejuvenating. Allows not just for growth but also problem-solving.

Among my favorite times of day are the early mornings sitting by the balcony, Danny still sleeping, kitties just awakening, watching the city, and just thinking.

I was thinking about this recently. Kids with incredible schedules--after school it's soccer, dance, music lessons, tutoring. When do kids get to go out and play?

even flow - question mark

I heard this lady on the radio the other day. She does make some good points. But....some kids are lost when it comes to down time...case in point....my buddy had his two nephews and some of their friends over so he explained and then they played hide and seek......kids couldn't stay hidden for more then a minute and needed to do something else.

chadwick

ppl period who hold to a rigid schedule should might deserve to be beat with a 4 foot piece of lumber with nails rammed through the thing. this exculdes pearl jam's rigorous touring schedule as long as they are slapping some ppl around for shits & giggles

hedonist

chadwick wrote:

ppl period who hold to a rigid schedule should might deserve to be beat with a 4 foot piece of lumber with nails rammed through the thing. this exculdes pearl jam's rigorous touring schedule as long as they are slapping some ppl around for shits & giggles

Thanks for the , sir.

I get that some people have to abide by strict timelines, be it due to work, children, home life, health issues...but if you DON'T have to, why would you?

Free time to do whatever or nothing, is not only a luxury for me, but has become a necessity as well.

A necessary luxury, if you will - or maybe a luxurious necessity.

Whatever...I need it and make sure I get it :P

It'd be interesting to see how the minds/imaginations of the children of today differ from those of earlier generations.

Jeanwah

My nephews' and neices' time is mostly scheduled, if they're not at school, they are at one of numerous sports practices/games or music lessons. My siblings seem to think (because I've asked them about this) that if they are not scheduled 24/7, they will be into trouble and drugs. They're good kids, they may get into trouble, but they're not going to get in trouble with the law or anything, they typical kids! But, they're exhausted and completely uncreative, unable to sit still and have no imagination. I often feel bad for them.

PJ_Soul

Totally agree. When I was a kid, we had to find ways to entertain ourselves. But now, all I see parents doing is bending over backwards trying to keep their kids entertained, as though they can't do it themselves. It's totally fucking ridiculous.

pandora

I think kids must still get bored in school and church, yes? Times when doodling and daydreaming take over,
maybe even a cat nap. Boredom is for children. I know few adults who get bored.
I think for us it's peaceful

chadwick

my nephews & neices have 4-wheelers, ninja swords, pocket knives, axes, art supplies i bought them, they write poetry, they read, they swim, they play sports, they go camping, they go fishing, some of them go hunting, they go sledding in the snow, snowball fights, video games are played, television is watched & they fight amongst one another & they sit around the firepit with the adults

the other day we were destructive w/ the ninja sword. was awesome

by the way... a muddy & wet & cold kid is a happier than shit kid. fact.

Jeanwah

pandora wrote:

I think kids must still get bored in school and church, yes?

Yeah, they get bored in church. That's why they leave the church. And some still leave school.

cincybearcat

You know what, all kids are different. Not everything works the same for all kids and anyone that thinks they know the answer for the one way for all kids to be better is an idiot.

PJ_Soul

cincybearcat wrote:

You know what, all kids are different. Not everything works the same for all kids and anyone that thinks they know the answer for the one way for all kids to be better is an idiot.

I'm not sure there is much room for debate when it comes to saying that kids need to learn how to keep themselves entertained instead of relying on others to do if for them... Wouldn't you agree?

cincybearcat

PJ_Soul wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

You know what, all kids are different. Not everything works the same for all kids and anyone that thinks they know the answer for the one way for all kids to be better is an idiot.

I'm not sure there is much room for debate when it comes to saying that kids need to learn how to keep themselves entertained instead of relying on others to do if for them... Wouldn't you agree?

Then why do idiots keep writing books and articles about it?

PJ_Soul

cincybearcat wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

You know what, all kids are different. Not everything works the same for all kids and anyone that thinks they know the answer for the one way for all kids to be better is an idiot.

I'm not sure there is much room for debate when it comes to saying that kids need to learn how to keep themselves entertained instead of relying on others to do if for them... Wouldn't you agree?

Then why do idiots keep writing books and articles about it?

Because yet more idiots keep fucking reading them!

hedonist

Idiocy is (sometimes) subjective :P

even flow - question mark

cincybearcat wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

You know what, all kids are different. Not everything works the same for all kids and anyone that thinks they know the answer for the one way for all kids to be better is an idiot.

I'm not sure there is much room for debate when it comes to saying that kids need to learn how to keep themselves entertained instead of relying on others to do if for them... Wouldn't you agree?

Then why do idiots keep writing books and articles about it?

Come on Cinci any idiot can write a book about parenting. It is the parents who buy the books that keep said idiots around.

cincybearcat

even flow - question mark wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

I'm not sure there is much room for debate when it comes to saying that kids need to learn how to keep themselves entertained instead of relying on others to do if for them... Wouldn't you agree?

Then why do idiots keep writing books and articles about it?

Come on Cinci any idiot can write a book about parenting. It is the parents who buy the books that keep said idiots around.

Very true. Because lazy parents are looking for someone else to parent their kids.

JonnyPistachio

chadwick wrote:

my nephews & neices have 4-wheelers, ninja swords, pocket knives, axes, art supplies i bought them, they write poetry, they read, they swim, they play sports, they go camping, they go fishing, some of them go hunting, they go sledding in the snow, snowball fights, video games are played, television is watched & they fight amongst one another & they sit around the firepit with the adults

the other day we were destructive w/ the ninja sword. was awesome

by the way... a muddy & wet & cold kid is a happier than shit kid. fact.

Chadwick you are a master. I love your posts.

even flow - question mark

cincybearcat wrote:

Very true. Because lazy parents are looking for someone else to parent their kids.

This is why a generation of children wondered why their parents were not purple and a dinosaur.