AIBU to let DD be bored?

[IrrelevantPeasant]

Dd1 is 8 and expects to be constantly entertained by myself. She can’t paint/ play in the garden/ do a jigsaw etc etc unless I physically do it with her which makes it so hard to get any housework done or anything else for that matter. DD2 is 5 and by contrast will sit at the table and get on with whatever activity she has chosen. It’s now week 2 of the Easter hols and I’m starting to get a little impatient with the incessant whining that she’s bored/ has nothing to do when she actually has loads but she just can’t/ refuses to occupy herself. Anyone else got this? WIBU to just let her be bored instead of occupying her myself all day long?

My DS1 is a bit like this. I let him be bored sometimes. Learning to entertain yourself is a necessary life skill. After a few minutes whining he usually manages to entertain himself just fine (he's 6)

Definitely not! If she is bored she has to learn how to entertain herself, that's not a bad thing!

Being bored is actually a really important thing to develop.
My son is like this though and I was the same as a kid but we’re both on the spectrum, if she’s not then definitely let her be bored, or set some stuff out (a toy, drawing stuff, a book etc) so she can choose to do something

Do it! I banned screens during the week and insist that the kids entertain themselves during afternoons (they are home from school by 2:30)

My 8 year old complains of being bored but if I send him away often enough he often finds himself a really creative game.

You have to be persistent but it is really worth it.

Experts have come out recently saying being bored is actually good for children to go through and learn to deal with, plus she wont learn unless you leave her to it. Go for it!

God, could someone please, please communicate this to my husband? I am so tired of being the bad guy...

Let her be bored.

Can you see yourself still having to lay on entertainment when she's 12?

Yes they definitely need to get bored every now and then. Will she not go and play with her sister?

Could she be encouraged to join in with what DD2 is doing? Not necessarily even the same thing, but just so that they could sit at the table together and have company.
Personally, I would let her get bored and organise her own things to do.

Please let her be bored. I know so many adults and children who can not entertain themselves.

Letting her be bored is the best thing you could possibly do. Do you really want to be one of those parents who dreads the school hols and is constantly taking the DCs out to entertain them at great expense when they have truckloads of toys and games at home? Tell her to go and read a book, or play with her toys......

YANBU you can't entertain her all of the time and she needs to learn to amuse herself.

My son is younger (4) but during this holiday, although we have been out and i have done things with him, he has also had periods at home where he has amused himself with his toys. If we go out and do something then when we get back I will usually say to him 'right, you play with your toys now while mummy does X'

I know someone who never let her kids be bored in the hols - literally filled each and every day with activities. They are 13 and 11 now and constantly complain of being bored/asking what they are doing today and the mum is wishing they could amuse themselves a bit.

Right, tomorrow she will be bored! Yes, I’ve tried encouraging her to join in with her sister but she expects me to sit with her and do it too. She gets plenty of activities and days out, it’s just when there’s down time and I need to get things done, she can’t seem to do anything by herself.

Bored? Must be time for putting clothes away. Sweeping the kitchen floor. Preparing vegetables for dinner. Whatever.

There was no boredom at mine because it either meant that there was literally nothing to do or we wanted a currently occupied grown up to stop and engage with us.

This meant that we were handed the hoover, a duster to sort the skirting boards or banisters, hot soapy water and a cloth to wash and dry the outside kitchen cabinets and the mess of tupperware to sort or laundry to fold and deliver to bedrooms.

Boredom was always a very last resort, although once the chore was completed a grown up would be available for time limited frolics.

Parasite - I could’ve written that...

Last week our DS (who’s 5) had the following timetable:

Monday: Softplay and family visit
Tuesday: all day activity camp
Wednesday: all day with DGPs who absolutely dire on him
Thursday: all day activity camp
Friday: day out swimming then brought home by DGP where he was played with, read to and entertained for more hours.

We’ve got a 7 week old baby and we’re blth recovering from illness so I’m not exactly full of energy.

Because we stayed home all weekend it was like we were torturing our son:

‘I feel really bad for DS - we haven’t done anything with him - he’ll get so bored if we don’t sort more out next week’

Er... he’s got a trampoline, access to Netflix and Amazon, an iPad and toys coming out of his arse. HE’S FUCKING FINE!

Mine learned quickly not to announce to me that they were bored. If I offered to get them a duster they soon found something nicer to do.

Strawberrypenguin said it all really. They need to be bored to learn entertaining themselves.

Is she lacking in confidence or anything similar, where it's not your presence perhaps but some reassurance she needs? Only a possibility.