I'm bored...

What an interesting perspective! That would be a horribly boring thing...to have no imagination. I'm glad I was able to read lots of books when I was younger to gain an imagination that I have taken with me through life. I think it makes life much more colorful. Thanks for your response!

Thanks so much for describing the good old days. It definitely put a smile on my face! I absolutely loved reading about your childhood. It reminds me a little of my own childhood. When I was younger, my siblings and I (I have five siblings) would go outside and play all day. We would climb trees and go over to the next door neighbor's house. It was a dream come true in my mind. We rarely ever had to look for things to do because we knew if the words, "I'm bored" came out of our mouths, my mom would've had us doing chores in a matter of seconds! I give her a lot of credit, though. She definitely left us to be kids. We even had a lake in our backyard. We couldn't swim unsupervised, of course, but we would sit in the sand and play with our toys amongst ourselves or with our neighbors. When we did swim, we'd jump off our sailboat into the water. We'd have some many neighborhood kids all around the same area of the lake so we could all play and swim together. I have fond memories of my childhood... Which is why I tend to agree with you that kids nowadays are "supervised" by the TV, probably because it's easy entertainment and a "good" babysitter while the parents are off doing whatever around the house or otherwise. It's really interesting all the things you and I did to keep busy when we were kids compared to what goes on in many homes now. Turning on the TV was either a planned even to all sit down as a family to watch a show or movie or it was a last resort. We didn't use our TV as a means of entertainment when I was younger; we used it as a family get-together, an event we looked forward to. The TV wasn't on while we ate because then the kids wouldn't pay attention and spill food in their laps straining to see what was on TV. Meals were considered another family gathering. I think that's why families were so much tighter and closer back in the day. I definitely miss that! My husband and I don't have kids yet, but I can tell you our won't be like these kids nowadays. I want them to grow up with the kind of childhood I had, where I got to go off and discover things in the yard, similar to what you described with the magnifying glasses and so on. Kids learn so much more when they spend time out in nature, reading books, and things like that. If TV is all the education and entertainment our kids get nowadays, we're in trouble. There are plenty of things to do to keep from being bored, even if electronics aren't involved! (Don't get me wrong, myLot is an excellent place to be, but you see what I'm saying.) Thanks for your input. It makes me happy reading about your childhood and how much fun you had! Those were the days...

Okay, I'm an old fart baby boomer. When I was a kid, we didn't get bored in the summer until about 3 days before school started. By then, we had had enough bike rides, skating adventures, tree climbing. We had done a monthly neighborhood newspaper. We had read about a book a week. We put up the wading pool every day. We picked wild raspberries and green grapes and green apples. We fed the horses down the road and helped another farmer milk his goats. We took magnifying glasses out to explore the ground around us (and got grossed out at all the bugs we didn't normally see). We climbed trees. We went to the park. We walked through the woods. We played four-square, jumped rope and played jacks. Some of the above is not possible for kids today - like walking in the woods without adult supervision. I understand that. But when they're put in front of TV sets at such a young age, when they're not taught to love learning in school, and when they think that their world has to include the latest technology to be "happy", it's no wonder that kids today get bored after the 3rd day of summer.

Isn't it amazing how we tend to do those activities that best suit our state of mind? For instance, when I get home from work each day, I'm usually pretty tired so I'll sit down to watch a show for a little while until either I gain more energy and feel like doing something else or until I get hungry and decide to cook dinner, etc. If I have just drank coffee and have lots of energy (lol), I will feel like cleaning house, which I probably wouldn't feel like doing had I just gotten home from work. Our lives really do revolve around our boredom or lack thereof. I remember when I was a child, I would get bored and think it was the end of the world because I couldn't find one activity I was interested in doing. What a horrible thing! Kids seem to have so much time and not too many activities and engagements. Now as an adult, it seems like I have too many activities and not enough time! Amazing how things change, isn't it? Thanks for your perspective on the discussion.

I really like your idea about the toy boxes and switching out the toys for kids. My husband and I don't have kids yet, but what a wonderful thought! If the child doesn't always see all the toys all at one time, then he or she will never be bored because the toys/toy boxes are constantly changing. Plus, on top of them, I'm sure parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. will be purchasing new toys as gifts for the child. Wow, thanks for your advice. I really like your method of keeping children from becoming bored! As for adults, I agree with you that there are so many good uses of our time that we really shouldn't become bored. Even those who don't work outside the home usually have a reason for doing so, and they have things like myLot to keep them occupied! Thanks for your response!!