{"id":1800,"date":"2009-06-24T16:04:51","date_gmt":"2009-06-24T23:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janice-campbell.com\/?p=203"},"modified":"2017-03-28T22:03:41","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T22:03:41","slug":"the-perfect-cure-for-summer-boredom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/the-perfect-cure-for-summer-boredom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Perfect Cure for Summer Boredom"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s summertime, and a few days after you put away the schoolbooks, you may hear the dreaded complaint, “I’m bored.” It’s a complaint I always welcomed, because I had found the perfect answer<\/span>. However, let’s look first at the history of boredom.<\/p>\n

Next time one of your children complains about being bored, or you wonder why you have to do the same task over and over again, consider this: You may be bored, but did you know that the very word itself wasn\u2019t even invented until after 1750? Now that\u2019s an interesting fact to keep your boredom at bay!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

A history of boredom<\/h1>\n

Think about it: If people were bored back in the 1700s, they had no clue. They might have felt it, but they hadn\u2019t come up with the word to describe it yet, according to Patricia M. Spacks, the author of Boredom: The Literary History of a State of Mind<\/span><\/a>. But once the concept had a name, it became universal. Children soon\u00a0adopted the idea. Researchers blame it for a number of society\u2019s ills, including drug addiction. Even entertainment can be\u00a0seen as boring, because there\u2019s so much of it to go around. The bottom line, according to Spacks, is that there\u2019s no cure for boredom. You just have to accept it, and know there will be a change soon enough.<\/p>\n

The late poet Joseph Brodksy offered this advice\u00a0in a 1989 college commencement talk: \u201cWhen hit by boredom, let yourself be crushed by it; submerge, hit bottom,\u201d he said. \u201cThe sooner you hit bottom, the faster you surface.\u201d According to some experts, the real trick is to simply get used to monotony. It\u2019s a part of life, even among seemingly exciting people. They suggest that you try to experience things in new ways, and not mistakenly assume that only new things are interesting.<\/p>\n

The cure for summer boredom<\/h2>\n

That’s all very well, but my perfect cure for the complaint of boredom was to cheerfully say, “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that! Here’s a little project you can do” while handing them the tools for accomplishing a chore from the day’s to-do list<\/strong>. My boys learned very early that it was much more fun to choose<\/span> an activity from the Summer Fun List<\/span> (a list of outdoor fun<\/a>, good books<\/strong> to read<\/a>, art<\/strong> projects to try, things to build<\/strong>, games<\/strong> to play, etc.). The key was that once the word “bored” was uttered, there was no taking it back, and the suggested chore had to be completed. Trust me, this works like a charm!<\/p>\n

If you feel a little guilty for requiring your children to entertain themselves (I always thought of it as a facet of Charlotte Mason’s idea of “masterly inactivity”), or worse, you suffer a bit from the inability to keep yourself happily occupied, I assure you that befriending\u00a0boredom is a good thing. Consider these quotes:<\/p>\n

\u201cMany hours of solitary occupation and enjoyment, will lead to the development of the highest intellectual and moral traits<\/strong> of character; in fact, his mental resources may be considered entirely unknown and unexplored, who cannot spend his best and happiest hours alone.\u201d (Jacob Abbott, c. 1850)<\/p>\n

\u201cShakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln never saw a movie, heard a radio, or looked at television. They had loneliness and knew what to do with it<\/strong>. They were not afraid of being lonely because they knew that was when the creative mood<\/strong> in them would work.\u201d (Carl Sandburg)<\/p>\n

All creative people know that there’s really no such thing as boredom\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/strong>it’s just a feeling of dissatisfaction that, if properly channeled, can lead to great work. Don’t be tempted to respond to complaints of boredom by rushing about, providing distractions. Let your children learn how to constructively use time, and they’ll never have to be bored again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s summertime, and a few days after you put away the schoolbooks, you may hear the dreaded complaint, “I’m bored.” It’s a complaint I always welcomed, because I had found the perfect answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[268,294,297],"tags":[394,395,429,460,217,2148,1150,991,992],"class_list":["post-1800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth","category-inspiration","category-learning-lifestyle","tag-bored","tag-boredom","tag-chores","tag-complaining","tag-creativity","tag-curiosity","tag-nature","tag-summer-activities","tag-summer-fun-list"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Perfect Cure for Summer Boredom • Doing What Matters with Janice Campbell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Boredom isn't a bad thing, especially if you have a plan to keep children interestingly and constructively occupied. 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Truths carried to the heart through the power of story wil linger far longer than anything that comes through a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books and Reading"","block_context":{"text":"Books and Reading","link":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Read-for-Fun.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Read-for-Fun.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Read-for-Fun.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Read-for-Fun.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Read-for-Fun.jpg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1432,"url":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/why-you-probably-need-a-summer-break\/","url_meta":{"origin":1800,"position":4},"title":"Why You (Probably) Need a Summer Break","author":"Janice Campbell","date":"June 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"If your student is behind in a school subject and you are thinking of homeschooling through the summer break, please stop a moment. 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Here’s why.","author":"Janice Campbell","date":"July 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of my favorite\u00a0childhood moments took place outside. I remember hours of playing with neighborhood children \u2014 skating, riding bikes, playing hopscotch, and acting out stories around my swing set and playhouse. Other happy hours were spent with my grandfather in his beloved organic garden, finding sowbugs, enjoying kumquats, green\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Charlotte Mason"","block_context":{"text":"Charlotte Mason","link":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/category\/homeschool\/charlotte-mason\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by John Singer Sargent,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/John_Singer_Sargent_-_Carnation_Lily_Lily_Rose_pd-dwm-sm.jpeg?fit=1000%2C1130&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/John_Singer_Sargent_-_Carnation_Lily_Lily_Rose_pd-dwm-sm.jpeg?fit=1000%2C1130&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/John_Singer_Sargent_-_Carnation_Lily_Lily_Rose_pd-dwm-sm.jpeg?fit=1000%2C1130&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/John_Singer_Sargent_-_Carnation_Lily_Lily_Rose_pd-dwm-sm.jpeg?fit=1000%2C1130&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p65lfN-t2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doingwhatmatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}