Or am I indeed the worlds meanest mum?

[Titsalinabumsquash]

My children have been off school 1 week and 2 days, they have so far spent every day "chilling" on the sofa and playing Xbox with friends.

The bickering has got worse and worse until today I marched in and turned it off and yoke them both to go outside.

But they're bored, there's nothing to do, no ones around (we have no local kids) etc etc etc.

I'm fed up of them being entertained by screen alone, there's no where local to go that doesn't cost ££££ r they've deemed babyish or boring so I've told them they can make their own entertainment until it's time to pick DS3 up from holiday club.

They're 9 and 11 (v.nearly 10 and 12) and I'm fed up of them moping and moaning about the house expecting to be spoon fed entertainment or screen time.

For what its worth DS1 has a scout camp 4 days this week and tomorrow they're both off out with our community support team for the afternoon.

I've been declared the meanest mum in the world and DS1 had muttered that it's akin to child abuse

Make a bored jar. Numerous ideas on pintrest and can be made easily/quickly

Mine are older now OP but we have the same age gap and I remember the bickering / 'boredom' (= lack of imagination / laziness). My mum said it took the first week for them to get used to not being regimented as they were at school and to trust them to find themselves something to do, as long as there are options (lego / craft stuff / books / train station nearby if you don't mind them going on the train alone). Mine used to play football out and met other kids that way, they found a recipe they wanted to make and then went to the shop to buy the ingredients and cooked it. They tie dyed some old clothes and changed their bedroom furniture around, that sort of thing. I think the key is that if you are going to ask them to make their own fun, you have to let them get on with whatever it is they've chosen to do. If you're going to be fussy about mess etc, then that's not fair, you should be taking them somewhere. It depends how much of a control freak you are. Either way is fine, but you can't have it both ways. You're not the meanest mum, though BTW.

Not mean at all. My dc come up with some of their best ideas when they're bored. It usually takes about half an hour of moaning first I agree with the PPs who think that boredom can be good for kids.

Sorry OP, bit of a nostalgic tangent there! My point was 'only boring people get bored' as my mum used to say. Ignore the moaning, stick to your guns and I bet they'll find something imaginative to do that they never would have done without the freedom you are offering. YANBU and I would fall down laughing at the suggestion that it is child abuse.

Yes cath I suspect the day is probably coming I will be wishing she never heard of computers!

I don't remember my parents ever having to 'entertain' me and my sister during the school holidays. Mum was doing house stuff and we were just left to crack on and entertain ourselves.

My youngest is 10. Some ideas from things she has done are:

Make a fairy garden - use a shoe box or box of similar size. Get twigs from garden and put into blue tac to make them into trees, add paper tissue for leaves. Foil for a pond. Make little ducks, a path, flowers etc. Award a prize for most effort, best garden.

Build a town - DD builds a town in the conservatory or the living room. Finds a way to make a road, roundabout, puts out cars, makes lego houses and shops. This may be a bit 'young' for yours but my dd loves this.

Get them to Design a poster. Can be anything you choose or it could be a poster for their bedroom door/s with their rules etc on it.

Make a snowglobe. Empty jar, glue a decoration onto the lid, add water and glitter into the jar and then glue lid in place.

Creative crafts - give them 2 boxes, a couple of tubes, random craft bits and glue and paint. Tell them to make something with what they have. See if they can work together on something.

Basically, give them a head start and the tools they need and then leave them to it.

At this age if mine were bored they'd be sent into the garden or play lego or baking.

Comments like 'it's good for kids to be bored' is a convenient way of feeling less guilty of lazy parenting

I don't think it's good for kids to be bored but I don't think it's good for them to rely on a parent to come up with entertainment for them.
It's not lazy parenting to expect your kids to amuse themselves.

Sometimes its no bad thing to have a screen break!
Here are a few ideas that my two enjoy - we are all in the same boat for six weeks, so if we all list a few we should have a good bank of ideas to dip into!
Scavenger hunt - you list a range of items from the house and garden to find and off they go, either collecting or photographing each item eg. an interesting leaf, your favourite stone, something spotty, a snail...
Stop motion - this does require a tablet but is a bit more creative than just playing games. (The lego app is free). Draw or make figures/scenery/props - lego minifigures/sylvanians work well and then create the film. Add music, special effects etc.
Cook a meal - one chooses the main and one chooses the dessert. They list the ingredients they need/or better still buy them themselves and then help each other to prepare each course. Decorative menus and elaborate table decoration also add to the finished meal. You just hover in the background to help with the oven if need be.
Baking cakes always goes down well!
www.funology.com has lots of ideas for science experiments, magic tricks etc. to try out something different
Make a magazine - include comic strips, wordsearch, factfile on pokemon characters, puzzles etc.
Roll up sheets of newspaper very tightly to make spills - then challenge them to build the highest tower/building/make a dinosaur etc. Lots of masking tape needed for this one!
Hama beads - my DS would not be seen dead making disney princess characters but finds images online to copy and has done Zelda/pokemon/starwars characters, world flags, and made small necklaces with his friends initials.
Tent in the garden

Are they competitive? I'd be tempted with a large box of leg of each with a goal like "who can build the longest bridge" or designing a paper aeroplane that flies the furthest, or the kite that stays up the longest. Or could they have a project, like building a go kart from scratch. Take them to a scrapyard to find some wheels etc. Do they have cameras? See how many different wild animals, bugs, flowers, birds they can photograph. Do they have a garden that they can plant/ build a raised flower bed? If you're anything like me, you want them entertained but with other demands on your time, you want something that will involve them being self engaged, rather than dependent on you all the time.