At 7:15 this morning my phone rang...never a good thing....but since this was my kid's mom's number I answered...
Dad: What?
Voice on the other end: Hi Daddy....(it was Fiona)...
Dad: (suppressing urge to ask Fiona if she knew what time it was)...hi princess...whats going on?
Fiona: I'm bored....
And so it begins...21 hours into school vacation and one of my children has already declared themselves board. I give my kids another 4 hours before they declare me boring. I know of one mom who is already poised to declare her kids boring.
We parents arrange play dates, vacations, send our kids to summer camp, buy swimming pools, erect basketball hoops, juggle our schedules all so our kids can be entertained during the summer. We behave as though we are legally obligated to provide food, clothing, shelter, and entertainment.
I am not a cruise director...this is what I told my daughter and her less than thrilled mom.
So my daughter is bored...I am sure her brothers will soon follow suit. Everybody gets bored...I get bored...last night I was bored silly. It happens. But expecting to be constantly entertained is...well...not good...and certainly not an expectation we should create for our kids. However, our behavior fuels that expectation.
So I told Fiona two things...that for some people 7:15 is the middle of the night and that its OK for her to be bored and that if she looked around there were plenty of things for her to do. I will need to keep this in mind as surely there will come a time this weekend when I will say to myself..."I'm bored."
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That reminds me of something else I tell the kids when they are bored. 'Only boring people get bored'. I can remember that we got bored during the holidays but in those days a pile of comics or a trip to the park or the pool or the library would keep us happy and at least it didn't cost my mom an arm and a leg!
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