"Muuuuuuuummm, I'm bored!"

[Sparkler]

That's what I'm getting today.
Why do kid's do this? Like I keep telling them, they have numerous things they can be doing aside from just watching TV. They can do arts and crafts, they have a bedroom each and a toy room full of stuff to play with but it's just not enough for them.

No no sparkler my lovely. You say

"Oh okay then. Now I have some vegetables you can peel/a bath to wash/floor to scrub" etc. Boredom vanishes almost instantly I've found! lol

Get them to clean the living room/bathroom/bedroom/kitchen. They won't moan anymore and you'll have a nice clean house . It helps if you supervise with a glass of wine.

Message withdrawn

I've been with them all day up until the past 15 minutes. We've had family round and they've had their cousins here to play with too. We've also been out and bought two guinea pigs and have spent the past couple of hours setting up the hutch and chasing them around the lounge ( ) so they could sit on DD's laps to get used to them.

....yet they are still bored.

Actually they now have a really crap CD on with "I'm a Barbie girl" playing and they are dancing around with pom poms. I get the dreaded feeling they are "practicing" a show for DH and I to watch later. Great - not!

My general response is 'Aren't you lucky- I wish that I had the time to be bored'!
Boredom is very good for DCs-it makes them far more imaginative.

My response sometimes is 'well find something to do, then."

I like your response Abbey. I will save that up for when we start getting the 'I'm bored!' syndrome.
At the moment it seems I am constantly interrupting their play to go to school/bath/bed.

"tidy your room"
"wash the pots"
"mow the lawn"
"dust"

no-one is ever bored in my house

Make a shop for their teddies or something. Get all the treats out and get them to do the prices. You can go on mumsnet, it'll take ages!

After running through a few things she could do, I then say "tough, I can't help you"
She finds something to do then since she knows I won't help anymore or sympathise.

She also has a room full of toys and access to the TV and video (shared by us both and in the living room)

I'm a great believer in idle parenting

I am a great believer in it too, keep calm-it is important to be able to amuse yourself and to be happy with your own company. Always making sure that they have activities is not in their best interests.