Summer boredom?

I asked my son to write a guest post for me this week. I am sharing it here verbatim and unedited. I tried to get him to write one entitled “Top Ten Reasons Why My Mom is Not as Cool as I Always Thought She Was” but he declined the topic as too inflammable. His caution and tact he gets from his father.

Enjoy.

Hi, this is Aarick. I am the oldest of mom’s brood, turning thirteen this summer. Yeah, I know, that’s just great, isn’t it? This summer has been amazing so far, considering that I’ve been busy for more than fifty percent of the time. My projects have been taking care of my chickens, weed eating, mowing, brush clearing, learning about websites with dad, roasting a marshmallow (hurriedly) over a fast-dying fire made with flint and steel, planning a survival watch which won’t probably ever be made, fixing knives that lost all but one or two of their screws, arguing with mom ?, and being bored. The fact is, I have not been bored nearly as much as other summers. Some of the credit goes to mom, for her many ideas of how to fool us into being happy. Staycations, Niagara Falls, intense schedules, computer time, and work are some of her many anti-boredom traps. Is it normal for moms to keep a careful eye out for anyone who is loafing, idling, loitering, dawdling, dallying, rambling, lazing, lounging, trifling, work-shy (all of these are compliments of power thesaurus), or otherwise appearing bored?  Mom’s punishment is one (1) dish drainer emptied immediately by the party concerned. Talk about anti-boredom!!   This is a list of some ways to keep your kids (or yourself) out of boredom!

• Work is the best way to turn around from being grouchy and bored to cheerful and motivated. Physical work especially is good. However, almost no one likes starting to work. So, you have two choices: either make your kids do it anyway, or make it fun. A reward, whether you give it or if it is a natural consequence, is a great idea. Also, I like working with my parents much more than alone.
• When I am gearing up for Christmas Vacation or something like that, I like to make a list of ten to twenty fun activities to do for when I’m bored. Most times, I can find several items that sound nice even on the worst days. The trick is to make the list when you aren’t bored, when you have lots to do.
• I love Regan as my brother, and I do a lot of stuff with him. This is a great cure for boredom, since you can play games, explore, or whatever. The important thing to remember with friends is that they aren’t there all the time. Sometimes, when I want to play with Regan, he is busy, or visiting at someone else’s place for a while, and then I can get even more bored than before. You need to include some things on your list that you can do all by yourself.
• Adventures in Odyssey. Here is the one we have, six hours long.
• Learn to solve the Rubik’s cube. This was random, but it takes up lots of time, and gives you bragging rights over all your friends. Learning to cube can help you learn to solve puzzles, as well as indirectly helping your brain to be sharper. I found a good series of YouTube videos. It is six clips about five minutes long each. They are very good, but with lame humor. Here is the first one.
• If you are a parent, I will tell you that children love time with their parents. I especially enjoy one on one time, although often it is not possible. Either way, whether it is a park, ice cream, or a family game, children love time with their parents.
• To go along with the last item: many parents have great stories from growing up. Those are great boredom busters, even if they have morals. ?

I hope that these ideas help you and your children to survive the summer, and possibly to enjoy it.

Aarick Zook