Are your Kids Bored?

I was reminded the other day about young kids and boredom.  Everyone gets bored sometimes, but here is a good way to look at it.  Think of boredom like hunger.  Boredom is to the mind what hunger is to the body.  When you get hungry, your body is telling you it needs nourishment.  When you are bored, your mind is telling you it needs to be stimulated.  Just like food, there are varying qualities to mental stimulation. 

There is junk food (empty, worthless, time-wasting activities) and then there is nutritious food (worthwhile, interesting and challenging activities).  With the advent of the internet and the proliferation of video games and text messaging, mental junk food is more accessable and tempting than ever before.  Just like when you are hungry enough, you will eat just about anything, so your mind will be entertained by the most mindless, tasteless and utterly useless images and media when you are bored enough.

Think about doing things that are worthwhile and challenging.  Boredom comes from within, not without.  It’s not that there is nothing to do, it’s just that you are unmotivated.  There is a song at the beginning of the television show “The Biggest Loser” that says “What have you done today to make you feel proud?”  It then says, “We need a change.”  Wise words.  Like the Michael Jackson song, “Man in the Mirror.”

I remember many years ago my Dad gave me a cartoon about an astronaut.  It was a short story really, titled “Have you worked on your dreams today?”  I think about that often, and have over the years.  Whenever I find myself mindlessly surfing the internet or doing something of little or no consequence, I remember that line.  Do I have dreams?  Absolutely!  Are they going to happen by chance?  No way.  You have to go out and make your dreams come true.  The world meets nobody halfway.  If you want something, you’ve gotta take it.  Now go do it.

What HAVE you done today to make you feel proud?  Have you worked on YOUR dreams today?    Be sure to teach your kids AND yourself this concept. 

Tags: , astronaut, bored, boredom, dad, dreams, junk food, mental stimulation, michael jackson, mom, nutrition, parent, pride, world