8 year old ALWAYS bored

[sunshine05]

My 8 year old son is always 'bored' the instant he's home he's lamenting at how bored he is, what can he do? If his brothers aren't around he'll whine about it until it drives me crazy. The other two used to amuse themselves ok- drawing, lego, cars etc. He doesn't want to do any of those things. Any ideas please for solo activities for an 8 year old?? I can't always play with him as I'm studying and also I want him to be able to amuse himself too and not always rely on others for entertainment.

I read this once and thought it has some good ideas when kids say they're bored...

B - build. Lego, a den, house of cards, Jenga, cake, play dough.
O - outside. Garden, park, football, scooter, sand.
R - read. A book, a magazine, homework.
E - earn. Do a chore and earn money.
D - draw. Colour, write, crafts, painting, chalk.

He sounds like me -- I'm an extrovert and my favourite thing is being around people I love. As a child I would read to deal with boredom, because being in the company of book characters was the next best thing to being in the company of friends/family. Could you take him to the library to pick out some books?

DD2 is like this. I wonder if it’s a younger sibling thing. She’s a good reader but hasn’t taken to reading for pleasure yet sadly, prefers more physical activities and ideally with company.

Yes! endlesslaundry123 he's definitely an extrovert so this makes sense. He loves being around others and if he had it his way he'd have his friends over every single day after school lol! He used to love reading but now it's become a bit of a chore so that's a tough one. We have tons of books at home as his bookworm older brother has handed down lots of book series. Unfortunately at the moment he just won't sit and read on his own.

minipie yep sounds very similar to mine. He got totally absorbed in the Harry Potter series but once that was finished he was more meh about reading and now it's back to the obligatory 10 mins a day.

greenbirdsong thanks for the suggestions, I'll see if I can inspire him!!

Have you tried audio books alongside other activities? Audio is more immersive in some ways and you can build Lego or whatever as well.

Give him a housework chore to fo every time he complains of being bored. Either he will stop whining or you will have a tidy house!

Try looking for fantasy and sci fi books for him. They often snag the attention of small boys who are bored of reading

Apart from that, write a list of jobs on a piece of paper and stick it on the fridge. Tell all the dc that anytime they are bored, they should pick a job to do. If they complain to you, you will give them a job from the list and it might not be the one they picked themselves.

Then write a list with some real jobs lie sweep the kitchen floor and some ‘pretend’ jobs like park all the hot wheel cars in their garage. Put the bath toys through the ‘toy wash’ in the bathroom sink and set them to dry on a towel.

My 8 yo watches TV - I feel like I'm missing something here.

Let him be bored.

The value of boredom is learning to entertain yourself, be creative, problem solve. If you come up with an endless list of things for him to do he's not doing any of the work or getting the benefit.

Tell him to stop nagging you and then leave him to get on with it.

me too!

xbox?
tablet?
any sort of device?

You don’t have to solve boredom, it sparks creativity. Plus we have to learn to cope with a certain amount of boredom in life.

If DS says he is bored I offer to give him housework to do. Within 5 mins he is usually playing independently and more creatively than if I lead play. I make sure to do plenty of fun activities with him in general but sometimes I am busy or want to read my book etc and he needs to learn how to entertain himself.

Definitely recommend audio books though, they make building Lego or doing a jigsaw etc more interesting and absorbing.

😂 I'm sure the OP has heard of TV/other screens, presumably she's looking for other suggestions!

If he like Harry Potter, get him Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin. Brilliant book. I think, written in the 50's. A boy is told he is a wizard and goes to a wizard school in a castle on an island.............Lots of similarities but what ever gets children reading is fine for me. There's a series of what he does. Think I'll get my copies out and read again!

I think he’s misusing the word ‘bored’. It sounds like he struggles with entertaining himself or making do with his own company, but you can’t have company all the time. Presumably he enjoys lego and other things you mentioned if others join in. Maybe try an audio book to keep his mind busy while he plays or draws? Otherwise as above, set him some chores? Entertaining yourself is just a life skill he needs to improve really, it’s not someone else’s role to keep him entertained all the time. I’d offer some more ideas as you’ve been doing but then I would get to the point where I’d say tough we’re all busy, deal with it. He may just have to learn the hard way.

yeah Zerofuchsgiven he does get screen time but I'm trying to think of other things he can do outside of this. He will quite happily play on my phone if I let him but I want him to do other non-screen things too

gelert5619 thanks I'll have a look!

BeanieTeen yeah I think he may just have to learn the hard way. I think he's just very sociable and prefers to play with others. My other two were always ok playing by themselves for a while. He doesn't seem to have that gene 😂

NuffSaidSam I totally agree with you and my other two would do that, but he starts rolling on the floor making silly noises, huffing and puffing saying he's going to die he's so bored. I have frequently sent him to his room he's become so annoying but unlike my other two he still doesn't eventually go and do something by himself . He'll just then lie around on the floor or get upset....

What about a good story telling device?
Something like Tonie has stiff for older kids I think.