Being Bored is Good for Kids
There is an interesting post over on Parenting Ideas about the advice given by Alan Hess, a noted child development expert and president of toy company Safari Ltd.
According to Alan Hess:
“Think back to when you were a kid and you will recall valuable lessons. Left to our own devices we discovered resources we didn’t know we had. I’m concerned that our busy, well-entertained children may not ever have the chance to learn them.”
He encourages parents to limit the amount of TV their kids watch and let them learn to entertain themselves.
“Bored kids eventually take out the paints, build a dinosaur den, read a book … and create things, or they come home sweaty from a game of neighborhood soccer”
I have to say this is certainly true in my experience (even though my kids are allowed to watch TV). Parents should welcome this news, because there is so much pressure to make the most of your kid’s potential and ferry them off to one class or another. This news will help to counter some of the Parental Performance Anxiety going around and just let kids be kids.
Related Entries:
- Pushy Parents
- At what age do you let your children go out on their own?
- Children Learn What They Live
- Teacher says STOP READING with your child!
- Teaching Kids How to Knit
December 5th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
I agree although some kids are easier to extract from the tv/computer than others. My son cannot think of anything to do and begs all day to be allowed to watch Cbeebies whereas his twin sister will spend hours making up little games with a few buttons, a cardboard box or a ‘family’ of cutlery.
A while ago I read this great article from The Idler on child rearing entitled ‘Leave Them Alone!’ http://www.idler.co.uk/archives/?page_id=158