I'm Soooo Bored!

Jeremy and I had to take a mandatory parenting class through Spencer's new private school the past two weeks. I was kind of dreading it because a parenting class? Come on! That is just a big guilt fest that I don't need right now. But actually it was pretty good, and here is one of my favorite moments from the class.

"When my kids come to me and say, I'm bored. I say Congratulations! and walk away. Being bored is the best thing that can happen to a kid. That is when creativity and imagination come alive."

I thought this was pretty funny because I could definitely see myself saying congratulations sarcastically and walking away (can you see why I was dreading the class?). But the teacher really meant congratulations in this exciting way and kept expressing how important it is for us to let our kids be bored sometimes. I realized I don't let my kids be bored that often because I am always shoving some activity or video in their face to keep them "happy."

Yesterday I was getting dinner ready and my kids were really bored. Rolling on the floor, driving me crazy bored. I decided to let it go, and magically after about 15 tortuous minutes they started playing horses and were riding all over the house pretending to be horses and giving each other rides. It was a very nice moment and something I remember doing as a kid. Really I just can't wait for one of my kids to come up an tell me they are bored so that I can say congratulations and walk away. Maybe I will make a bored reward, a trophy or something. Then they can decorate it and maybe I can find some movie they can watch about ideas for when they get bored... oh wait bored is good. Bored is good!