I have boards on Pinterest with pictures of crafts I want to do with the girls. I know websites I can visit listing every activity in 3 nearby counties. I see Facebook posts about my friends who took their kids to a museum, stopped working all afternoon to swim in the pool with their kids, or made organic, no-refined sugar smoothies for their kids for breakfast. And I feel like an overwhelmed underachiever (too much comparison is a trick of Satan because I do spend time with my kids doing awesome stuff...just not constantly).
I am working to let it go. I am not supposed to spent every moment of the day with my kids. Every moment is not quality time and it is not my job to entertain them all the time. God calls moms to invest in their kids and to train them--not entertain them. There are no rewards for most crafts completed or even the most organic cook. God wants followers who follow Him...not Pinterest or Facebook.
So this summer, give yourself permission to not be the boredom rescuer. Around here boredom is a 5-minute state but while in it, there are three rules to get out of it....
You can't let your girl learn to end boredom by eating. Bad habit. And you can't let her end boredom by watching TV or playing video games. More bad habits. Train her to be creative. And if the way she solves her boredom breaks these rules, make her help you with the laundry or whatever you are doing. Following through with the threat is critical to effective parenting.
But, don't expect your daughter to know how to solve boredom issues alone. Our job is to train our girls, and this includes instruction on using down time wisely. Give her some ideas before you institute rules. I sat down with my girls one day and we brainstormed a list of things they could do when they were bored. It had things like puzzles, baking cookies (baking is different than just eating) for neighbors, painting nails, climbing trees, cleaning their treehouse, asking neighbors if they could help with a project, building a fort, making a new guinea pig house, writing a letter, plan a lesson for an imaginary class etc.
The girls no longer tell me if they bored since they don't want more chores. But sometimes, if they are laying around doing nothing, I apply the rules of boredom anyway. Now, go enjoy your summer without feeling like you need to entertain your kids.
Participating today with Hearts at Home Blog hop. The topic: How to beat summer boredom. Check out other ideas from bloggers on this topic.
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