Let kids be bored again to prepare them for a realistic future, says columnist

A newspaper columnist has hit out at modern parenting and teaching, claiming there is too much focus on creating excitement and not enough time to let children’s minds wander.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Pamela Paul said it’s concerning that boredom is now considered taboo – and claimed kids are therefore growing up with unrealistic views on life.

Not too long ago kids would have to sit on long car trips with nothing but a book and their passing surroundings to keep them entertained. Siblings would have to make up their own games, using their imaginative minds to make the long drives go faster.

But Paul claimed in more recent times, as soon as that dreaded phrase ‘I’m bored’ is heard, many parents quickly throw an iPad, phone or television control their way to ensure they aren’t left sitting around twiddling their thumbs.

In fact, she said many parents today tend to try and overcompensate for a child’s boredom – and when planning a long journey, they become like “Army officers plotting a complicated land manoeuvre”.

According to Paul this is sending kids down a bad path because she believes boredom is useful, and sometimes it’s in these moments that the best adventures occur.

“People used to accept that much of life was boring. Memoirs of pre-21st-century life are rife with tedium,” she wrote. “When not idling in drawing rooms, members of the leisured class took long walks and stared at trees… Children could expect those kinds of futures and they got used to the idea from an early age, left unattended with nothing but bookshelves and tree branches, and later, bad afternoon television.

“Nowadays, subjecting a child to such inactivity is viewed as a dereliction of parental duty.”

Reminiscing on her own childhood, the columnist said when children are left alone to their own devices, they learn to entertain themselves through different creative outlets. She explained boredom, can in fact, teach self-discipline and resourcefulness.

“What did parents in the ’70s do when kids were bored in the way-back [of a journey]? Nothing!” She added. “They let them breathe in gas fumes. Torture their siblings. And since it wasn’t actually for wearing, play with the broken seatbelt.”

Paul went on to say how parents and teachers of today could be setting kids up to have unrealistic expectations of life, because there are dull moments over the years and not everything is thrilling. Whether it be writing up notes for assignments or responding to endless emails at work, not every task it full of excitement.

The columnist said educators are partly to blame and shouldn’t be throwing fun games at their students all the time instead of the sometimes long and tedious teaching ways of the past. This, apparently, will just tend to short attention spans and in turn stop kids from reaching their full potential.

“Surely teaching children to endure boredom rather than ratcheting up the entertainment will prepare them for a more realistic future, one that doesn’t raise false expectations of what work or life itself actually entails,” Paul concluded.

Do you agree with the columnist? Do you think boredom is helpful?