My whole life I was into TV and things that I was absorbed in what we now call the “lean back” type of entertainment. I never got into books as I always found reading too slow and a struggle to get a book finished. Finding the time to read was never a priority. I was never really into games either so it is not that I have to be interactively entertained. Yet I have never, and I mean never, felt bored.
I absolutely hate the concept of my children using the word – “bored“. Having the potential to be bored is something that is sooo ALIEN to me I cannot relate to it at all. So the word is banned in the house. This has met with some resistance but I have persevered.
There is so much to do in life and the list of jobs, both chores and not, is huge. So how can someone get to the point where they use the phrase – “I am bored“? It seems the time we have on the planet is tiny – there really is too much I still need to do, and I know I will run out of time. The number of projects, in my life, that have been bypassed through a lack of time and change in priorities staggers me
It may make me sound old, I know it does, but it concerns me that we have a generation of people who seem to be saying, “I am incapable of entertaining myself or of thinking of something to do!”. We create this if we raise children unable to take any responsibility for anything including their thoughts and direction of focus.
I have posted elsewhere on the subject of how we spend our 168 hours – I may redo that here soon.
My 8 year old child was picking up the concept of bored from his older brother but had shown an interest in Mandarin Chinese. As a full member of audible, thanks to Leo LaPorte and twit, I found Michel Thomas method. This is about spoke language and the ability to communicate not written.
We both thrived on this method as described in a different post (future), and as I was reading audible books including Terry Pratchett I let the boy listen to Guards Guards on his CD player, borrowed from the library.
Months later and he is using an IPOD and discs to listen to books. As a home educated child it is fascinating the language patterns he has picked up through this medium. We often get comments about him sounding older than he is. I do however realise that some of the language patterns are inappropriate for his age and we have addressed with him the realities of when, and when not, those patterns are acceptable. This is an education in itself.
Back to the original point. At times when he is not energetically playing or doing some of the things kids do get engaged by, he “goes missing”. Rather than standing around coming dangerously close to using the “B” word, he can usually be found in his room listening to one of the many stories he has access to while building something, currently bionicles.
Time is always useful, I feel my job is to teach him to have a passion for life long learning…
(watch this space)