The Luckiest Place to Be

“I’m bored.”

My kids, bless their bored little hearts, say this to me on occasion. Drives me nuts.

Worst of it is, they usually say it after I’ve spent time with them, having made plans for an activity-filled day: playing, make believe, bike rides, airplane rides, snacks, piggybacks, life hacks, meals, hugs, discussions, fart sounds, pretending to be amazed by the rock they just found.

But as soon as there is a dull moment, a break in the action, those words sneak out.

“I’m bored.”

My kids have thousands of things to play with. And I mean that — if you were to count every Lego piece, there are literally thousands. But a kid is just like water. They look for the easy way out. And, in this case, the easy way out is Dad figuring out what they should do.

I mean, I can even get bored by a conversation at work, but in that case I’m a bit trapped. But when you’re a kid — WOW — being bored means an invitation for the imagination to run wild.

So should I blame myself for creating this big, bored monster? No. I should let them be bored.

Being bored is the most exciting state to be in. You can do ANYTHING at that point. So how do I get my kids to understand this?

The only way to get them to not say “I’m bored” is to let them be bored.

If I constantly give them the next play in the book, of course they are going to wait for me to choose their destiny. And I want them to figure that out for themselves.

Being bored is the luckiest place to be.

A privilege.

Man, a whole lotta people in this world would kill to be bored.