Mommy, I’m Bored.

How many times have your heard that statement this summer?  How many times did you say that to your mom when you were growing up?  I think just about all children get the summer (or winter) blues at one time or another.  I’m here to help you beat the summertime/weekend/”Mommy, I have nothing to do” blues.

Summer is a time for fun and relaxing, but it also has the “blues”.   I find that in our fast-paced world my children always want to be doing something or have a scheduled activity.  Other moms and friends will ask, “what are your plans for this weekend?”  I don’t know about you, but the answer “staying home”, seems to get a disapproving look or comment.  Where did we get the idea we have to entertain our children 24/7/365?

I do try to plan 1 weekend activity (even if it’s just a simple visit to a park), but I don’t feel compelled to fill every minute of the weekdays or weekends for my children.

As I recently read, it’s a good idea to let our children come up with ways to entertain themselves.  If I allow my girls to play (aged 8 and 5), they will come up with fun and creative things to do on their own.  They play school and mommy and build “forts”.  Learning to use your own imagination and creativity is a great skill for children to learn.

5 Ways to Help Your Children Beat the “Blues” {also known as Mommy, I’m Bored Sickness}

Don’t set the expectation that you will have planned activities 24/7/365

Do you want to be the mom that runs from one party or soccer game or amusement park to the next barely able to catch your breath and totally exhausted at the end of every day?

Set expectations when your children are young that you love to do activities with them, but you don’t want to overwhelm them or yourself with too many activities.  It’s okay to allow yourself and your children unscheduled play and relaxation time.

If you always have activities planned every minute, your children will start to expect activities every minute.  Does this sound like your weekend – 9:00 am soccer practice, 10:30 am gymnastics practice, 1:00 pm birthday party for a friend, 3:30 pm swimming at the pool, 6:00 pm dinner.  All that activity makes me tired just writing it.  For busy working moms, this is a hard weekend schedule.

Don’t overwhelm yourself or your children every day or every weekend with overloaded schedules 24/7/365.  Pick only the best and most important activities.  This last Saturday, my husband asked me what I had planned for the day, I said “nothing, I think it’s going to rain.”  Turned out it only rained a little, but it was a nice relaxing day not running around.

When planning activities, ask your children what they would like to do

To make your activities the most fun for everyone, ask your children what they would like to do.  They will enjoy the activities more if they feel part of the planning (of course, as the parent you can set parameters for the activities).  If cost is a factor, help your children understand your budget and what activities you can afford.

If your family would prefer one big (expensive) activity, maybe you could skip a few smaller weekly activities for one larger activity.

Use community resources to create fun {free} activities

Our local libraries offer a full program of summer activities (so many they print a book for all of them), some of the activities are summer movies or reading times, others are science and learning times.  I have also noticed some of the local businesses like bowling, Pump It Up (indoor bouncy house) and others are offering free or low-cost play times during the summer.   If your children have favorites, you could join their email lists for updates.

Help your children learn and develop their own favorite “home” activity

Children will always think that staying home means “boring”.  I remember growing up when we had to stay home for summer I thought it would be a “boring” summer (because we weren’t doing any BIG exciting thing).  But, when I think about it, I read many books during the summer and learned that I did not need to be “busy” every minute, every day to have fun.

During the longer, slower days of summer, encourage your children to find a favorite “home” activity that will help develop their skills.  Reading great books or building with Legos.  Both of these activities involve creativity and developing the imagination.

Have specific family fun times

Once a week or once a month set-up a day for “Family Fun Day”.  You could go to a park or to the beach (or a lake if you don’t live near an ocean).  You could go camping, hiking or canoeing.  You could visit a museum.  You could plan a cook-out and invite extended family and friends.

Once a week, you could have family game night.  You could choose one game to play or play several that are short.  Games like Monopoly, The Game of Life, Twister, Battleship, Scrabble are competitive and family favorites.

Your Turn…

How do you end the summer (or winter) blues at your home?  What’s the best activity when your child says, “Mommy, I’m bored?”