I'm not bored. I can't think of a time since I was a child that I've been bored. There's always something to do, if only we are willing to look around.
Funny, when I was a kid I used to get bored. Since Aniki was much older than I, I never had a sibling to play with. It got pretty lonely and when I wasn't in school with all that Socialisation I found myself sad and with nothing to do. Before I went to school there was always something fun. Kids to play with, games to make up. Once school began it was all Games With Rules and team games. Nobody wanted to pretend anymore or explore anymore. Life got boring quickly.
It hurts me when parents share that their kids say they're bored. Or when parents say they can't wait for summer holiday to be over so they can send their kids back to school. To me, that's an indicator that kids haven't been allowed the freedom to not know what boredom is. Because when we're free to learn and explore the world, rather than be put into a Learning Box, then there is no boredom. When we are led by our interests and curiosity, there's no reason to be bored. There's always something interesting to do! But when we put children into school they are conditioned to believe that life is supposed to be fed to them constantly. What else could we expect when we tell them what time to get up, when to go, what to "study" and when, when to eat, when it's ok to use the bathroom, when it's okay to take some exercise, when it's okay to excuse yourself from class, when it's okay to go home, when it's okay to sleep...you get the idea. We take young children and knock all the sense out of them in the name of Learning. Which isn't learning at all but conditioning for society! The worst part of it is that parents complain when their kids react to the surroundings they were put in by demanding the same stimulation when they're home.
These kids aren't bored, they don't know how to think for themselves or initiate activity for themselves!
I'm so thankful that I've never heard either of my kids say "I'm bored". They know that life is too interesting to be boring. For them, there's not enough time in the day to squeeze in all their interests. There's simply not enough time for them to be bored.
I hope you'll give the gift of freedom to your kids today and every day. Unschooling isn't lack of learning, it's the freedom to learn every minute of the day!
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