Do your kids get bored during the hols or do you keep them entertained....

[Flowertop]

Hi just wondering about how bored other people's kids get in the hols. I have tried really hard this hols to have other kids over, bowling, cinema etc. during the summer hols. We live in a village and the kids don't go to the local school so don't know any other kids. When we don't do anything for a day my two DS's can be a nightmare and I start to feel really guilty. On the other had I know that you can't keep them entertained all the time. Just interested to know how others deal with all this. Mine are 7 and 9 btw.

Mine get very bored .We go the library a lot and exploring just let them decide where we will walk they like that.

Today we have been and got some stiff card from the scrap store (tis only over the road) and are making collages from dd's dr who mags and ds's football mags .

Go and send them off to do daft stuff like who can find the most bugs /snails ,dosen't matter if the weather is a bit crappy just put them their wellies on.

You could have a cinema day ,get the lo's to rraw posters and make tickets for the mivie and then let them have popcorn . Sounds daft but my dc loved it when we did it.

Sometimes it's best just to leave them too it and let them be bored I bet noone entertained you 24/7 when you were a lo.

There is a thread on site stuff with lots of ideas for stuff to do.

Well I don't know about older children myself but I have to say when my niece and nephew spend 2 months of the summer with their grandparents which they do every year from the age of 5 and 7 until now (aged 13 and 17), they rarely if ever complain of being bored.

My sister and I did/do take then out quite a bit but they also spend days at a time just at home with elderly grandparents with failing health and almost no other children to play with and nowadays with no teenagers they know.

Frankly they loved being with their grandparents as children and to this day still choose to come and spend (admitedly less) time with them twice every year.

I think part of the reason they are so good about this was that they had access to almost NO activities specifically aimed at children at home when they were younger.

Their dad just didn't do children's days out and activities except for walking, cycling and sightseeing. The only time they did that was with us and that was rarely do they really appreciated it. Now they are lovely (though of course normally moody) teenagers who really never say they are bored.

VERY good idea re cinema day, Imnotok.
Will adopt that when my DS is old enough. Thanks!

Thanks, you know LC you are so right about them having few or now activities aimed at children at home. I think the problem is I have tried to overcompensate because my 2 are not at school in the village. I try so hard to invite kids over - with very little return - so when they do have to have a 'quiet' day they don't know how to cope. It was really getting me down today as just can't help thinking it will get worse as the get older. Why as parents do we have to beat ourselves up about ever little thing - or perhaps it's just me!
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Surely part of our job as parents is to teach our children how to entertain themselves to a certain extent too - it shouldn't be up to us to provide all the entertainment for them.

I actively encourage mine to be bored, I take them on a few outings during the hols and let them entertain themselves in between.

The youngest rarely says she's bored, the teenager is always bored but, then he's a teen so it's par for the course.

Flowertop

I know we all feel guilt and I'm just as bad about trying to entertain ds but a lot of the time I realise it is bacause I am trying to make him feel better and because I personally find the moaning too painful as I just want ds to be happy. I think the key is to get through the whiny I'm bored stage by convincing yourself that the bordem is not your problem it is your children's.

Eventually they usually find something to do and they could always help out around the house.

The other thing I forgot to add about my dn's is that their grandparents were genuinely besotted with them and although unable to do much active stuff they still spent a lot of time being with dn's and listening to them. If they hadn't then the experience of being a bit bored would have turned into something much less bearable.

So as long as you love your children and take an interest in them (which I'm certain you do?), a bit of bordem will not kill them, it may even teach them something if they can learn how to deal with it.

I'm a firm believer in letting the children get bored in the holidays. It builds their creativity.

mine get bored going from one activity to another

Being bored is part of life. You have to learn how to deal with it otherwise you grow up to be a pain the neck. Children need time to have active inner lives, use imagination, read, relax, make sense of things that have happened, plan things (Zombie plan!) etc. There is nothing worse than always being stimulated.

I think you can try too hard tbh. A bit of benign neglect and boredom doesn't do any harm. I've spaced out a mix of days at holdiay clubs, playdates, appointments, visits to family/friends over the weeks and then we'll go off on holiday. In between they make up stories , play together or individually , watch a bit fo tv, go for walks.

Thanks for your post Flowertop it's made me feel better about not entertaining DCs today. DS1 complaining of boredom but have just found this article written in 2006 and your post, so don't feel so guilty. (Unfortunately there is still a huge pile of lego dumped in the middle of the front room)

Sarahsails thanks for the article really makes interesting point. I think the problem is that when I was little I would go to the woods with my mates for most of the day. Or on our bikes riding around the estate. Today we are scared to let our kids go anywhere on their own so they are holed up at home. I think that's where the guilt issue comes in and the desire to keep them entertained.
It's really made me think.
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