Kids don't have any room to be bored anymore

🤣

YABU for putting watching screens non-stop and having clubs at the weekend for a start.

I hate pottering around with a passion, I can't see why my kids should be stuck at home at the weekend doing nothing. They are like puppies, they need activities. It's terribly unhealthy to do nothing.

We have all been bored during the lockdown, I am not doing that ever again, and older kids have had enough boredom for a lifetime. Unless you count being bored at school.

My kids are great at amusing themselves. They amuse themselves fine in doctor's surgeries, hospitals (there for 6 hours waiting for older one to be seen) and while waiting for the older one to finish clubs.

They climb on walls, turn the seats into an obstacle course, crawl under the chairs and my younger one was sprawled across the cubicle floor trying to pull clinical supplies out of a plastic set of drawers while I was holding her by the ankle and trying to talk to the A&E doctor about her brother's projectile vomiting. In between the vomiting, the two of them were having great fun peaking through the cubicle curtains and doing jumps from the bed onto the floor. The older one started shaking the vending machine to see if any of the chocolate bars could be dislodged.

You could lock DC1 in a completely empty room for hours and he'd amuse himself doing parkour off the walls.

It's not my children who are the problem, it's all the grumpy sods round about us who object to the disruption they cause, the noise they make and the property they damage 😂. Hence I bring appropriate activities for them (and yes, that does sometime includes screens). Of course, a rope or some duct tape might also work but I'm not keen on social services involvement.

My kids are forever saying they’re bored and don’t do any clubs apart from after school ones till 5 while I’m working, maybe I’m doing something right then!

That's not what my 11 year old says.. he's frequently bored apparently (despite having a world of information at his fingertips, and 100 things in the house he could do/try)

My kids have always been find in shops alone (well, with me) - it's if they're both together that there's a problem, they egg each other on/wind each other up rather than just being pleasant/reasonable...

It’s true. One of my friends said that was one of the hard parts of getting sent to boarding school (over 20 years ago)- that she lost the time in between school and bedtime where she’d be bored and then daydream or come up with her own creative games or projects to fill the time. Boarding school had that time scheduled and adult let and she felt it was a great loss. Now loads of kids that live with their parents have that time scheduled too but won’t know what they’re missing as that’s all they’ve known.

My kids were never content to just be in a supermarket. They constantly wanted stuff, grabbed things and threw tantrums. I got online delivery for years.

this was early 2000s.

good luck training your 2 year old to behave in the supermarket.

The Anxious Generation is worth a read on this subject. Good data and research (though not universally accepted) on some of the factors that may be contributing to the rise of mental health issues in young people, including safety culture, reliance on screens, the many impacts on decrease in time spent I indirected play, and others. I found it really interesting.

TBH a lot of this resonates with me. I recently had to retrain myself from constantly relying on external stimulus for entertainment - if I was going for a walk/commuting I'd always feel I needed music or a podcast or whatever. I made a NY resolution (ugh, I know) to try to be more engaged with the world around me and especially not to plug in before going for a walk anywhere. I've been astounded by the positive impact it's had on work, sleep, wellbeing. The only downside is I'm way behind on my podcasts.

Im very lucky that I have very sociable, very sporty kids and live in an area where friends and lots of good places to play are within an easy walk but even then it's so hard to limit time on their screens as they get older. It has to have an impact on kids.

My kids constantly tell me they are bored so they’d disagree with you 🤣🤣

Both mine do after school clubs, as we work full time, they do wrap around in the morning also.

Theyve both got hobbies and interests and we support these and encourage extra circular activities.

I also want them to do things I couldn’t as a child… times move on, times change and that is life

I agree, though it’s not just children. I think that modern society is unhealthily overwhelmingly overstimulating and anyone who can’t tolerate this constant barrage of stimuli is now seen as neurodivergent. It’s no wonder mental health is on the floor.

Couldn’t you just be bored instead of on mn doing the weekly Kids are never allowed to be bored thread?

I would say that what you are seeing is a brief snapshot of people’s lives. You have no idea what is going on in their lives or what challenges they are facing.