|
| ||
| ||
Click here for some great mommy and baby freebies from BabiesOnline.com
 | |||||
 Main Page Site Index Getting Pregnant Pregnancy Parenting Pregnancy and Parenting Journals 
|
MOMMY, I'M BORED!
As I write, the summer holidays are in full swing. (By the time you read this, they will be almost over!) Tamsin has finished her first year of school. As she did four terms at nursery school, this is actually our third 'summer holiday', so I should be getting used to it. Before she started at nursery school, I don't suppose that it made much difference to me whether or not it was the school holidays. Most of my friends had children the same age as mine, and we had acres of time to fill in with our children every day of the year. The toddler group we went to tended to close down over the holidays, but the other regular activities we were all engaged in went on as ever. Many of the children had summer birthdays, so birthday parties filled in the gaps. And if we were lucky with the weather (not always so in England!) there were long afternoons in the paddling pool to look forward to in the summer. Before having children, school holidays were something we avoided like the plague. I worked in a university and had to be around for the start of the academic year in early October, but there were always a couple of weeks at the start and at the end of the university long vac when we could go away without encountering hoards of school children. Now I have to think about what to do with Tamsin when she is not at school. She has grown up an awful lot since those pre-pre-school days. She can certainly amuse herself excellently, but there is no getting around the fact that she is at home for much longer hours than either of us is used to! We have a very good Day Camp facility nearby which operates during school holidays. Primarily designed as childcare for working parents, it also caters to those who want to go a day or two a week to join in the activities. This summer there is everything from clay modeling to kite making to falconry displays, and an ever-present store of rollerblades and drawing materials keep Tamsin happy. Tamsin is not a child who complains of boredom. She has always been good at finding things to do, and we have a house bursting at the seams with toys, books, videos, art equipment. The computer is a recent addition, but she already has a healthy collection of (educational) computer games. She recently told me, 'I really love school, Mummy, I love learning things.' I hope she will always feel that way about learning opportunities, but also about all the other opportunities she will have in life. All parents my age find themselves saying at this time of the year, 'We always had to look after ourselves in the school holidays, there was none of this constant pressure to go out all the time.' Yet many of the same parents spend the whole seven weeks running around in circles, taking their children to theme parks, zoos, other expensive and exhausting days out. Certainly we will be taking Tamsin (and Angus, now just 2 and old enough to enjoy these activities too) to a few exotic places. But the bulk of her time will be spent around home, doing homely things. I think we need to learn how to cope with boredom, and childhood is the place to start. We didn't have a lot of money when I was a child, and my summer holidays tended to be spent playing in the garden, or sitting inside reading, writing or drawing. (We didn't have a television - for ideological reasons more than financial ones!) I developed a lot of solitary hobbies. I would see the occasional friend, go out for the occasional day trip with my parents, but most of the time I was left to my own devices. I am now very good at amusing myself - if I ever have any time to myself! My hobbies remain much the same - reading, writing, doing handicrafts - though I am an avid television watcher, possibly due to childhood deprivation! Without having to cope without a constant stream of entertainment, I would worry that my children would grow up to need constant outside stimulation in their adult lives, too. It may seem a little pretentious to suggest that adult self-reliance and strength of character stem directly and solely from being bored during the school holidays! But I do think it is a sign of the times when we feel obliged to bombard our children with elaborate entertainments from the moment they are born. I have always bought my children a lot of toys and books and videos, so that they will learn to use these things for themselves. They rarely ask for specific toys or entertainments and are not greedy. I have always encouraged them to play by themselves. Obviously I show them how to use unfamiliar things, and suggest ways of using various materials. I watch videos with them and talk about what they are seeing. Now that Tamsin is using the computer with great facility and interest, I dip in and out of her computer games so that I am able to suggest increasingly challenging ways of using them. My whole aim, I think, is to produce self-reliant children who grow up into self-assured adults. I worry about the world in thirty years time if we do not teach these skills to our children. It has been said that the baby-boomer generation grew up selfish and over-indulged, and this has impacted on our present society. If this is so, what further impacts have we in store for us? Too many parents today encourage their children to expect a new and lavish entertainment around each corner. Are these children going to grow up sated, unable to connect with whatever the future holds? Allow your children some time to be bored. It could be the best entertainment you provide.
|
|
|||
Please feel free to email us at 
if you have any questions or comments!
© Earth's Magic Inc 2000 - 2009. All Rights Reserved. [ Disclaimer | Privacy Statement ]