Bored

I love the blog of Ann Voskamp.  She always has words that speak to me, to who I am, to where I am.  In my inbox today was a link to this article (courtesy of Ann).

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Children nowadays have more toys to distract them than ever before – toys that are more sophisticated. This suggests they are bored because they are over- rather than under-stimulated. For with choice comes restlessness, a nagging feeling that there might be something better to play with, or something on television they are missing, if only they were not wasting their precious time playing with toys.

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In our home, we try very hard to limit so-called "screen time".  While we do have a Wii, time spent on it is limited -- a special treat (for the most part).  Kids DO need to be bored!  The imagination that is sparked in a child with a simple box of Jenga blocks, or a container of Legos, or a bin of construction paper never ceases to amaze me.

Most recently, the bigger boys have been building "sets" from Lord of the Rings... Helm's Deep, Soromon's castle.

Characters from the movie are carefully made.  Each is placed just so.  The story is told and retold.  Hours of play.  (Now I just need to get them to read the books!)

Jenga blocks have become houses, roads, fences, garages, people, animals...  Pictures are drawn of ant home (you would not believe how elaborate these can be!  LOL) or pirates, or airplanes -- scenes that all include elaborate stories.

Magazines (Clubhouse, Clubhouse Jr., Highlights, NatGeo Kids) all provide hours of entertainment.

I find that the more T.V., movies, or video games they are allowed to play, the more they want.  It's like an addiction that I am loathe to feed.  Go, do!  Please!  Don't waste your life glued to a screen.

While I don't plan on smashing my Wii anytime soon, and I won't be getting rid of the T.V. (though at some point I would love to, but that takes some convincing/conviction of others *grin*), and the computer is going to stay right here on my desk, I do hope that I will be able to continue to keep my kids bored on a regular basis. ")