Tips for parents when kids are bored

There are still several weeks left in the summer, but parents are already hearing that favorite mantra of children everywhere: "I’m bored."

Cal State University Northridge (CSUN) professors have some tips for parents battling the summer doldrums.

"My mother always used to say, ‘If you’re bored, then go clean the garage,’ and suddenly we’d miraculously find something to do," said Barbara J. Hill, director of CSUN’s Child and Family Studies Center. "There was some wisdom in what she said.

"Every parent has to deal with those words at one time or another and dealing with them is probably going to be a little different for parents who stay at home as opposed to those who work," Hill said.

For parents who stay at home, Hill said, the challenge is coming up with something new to do. She suggested that when a child says she’s bored, it’s a perfect time to teach her how to make her bed or help with the grocery list or other family tasks.

"For us it may sound like drudgery, but it can be a fun and new task for a young child to master and make them feel like an important and contributing member of the family," she said.

Hill said those are suggestions that parents who work might also consider. She said that trips to the park or the beach also are inexpensive, healthy and fun alternatives for kids whose only solution to boredom is watch TV or go online.

"It gives the kids something to look forward to and it is really not that hard to set aside a weekend to go to the beach," she said.

She also suggested giving older kids a project to do, such as going through their personal library and setting aside books to donate to a library sale or volunteering to help out an elderly neighbor for a couple of hours.

"We overschedule and overstimulate our kids so much that when they’re bored it’s a great time to impart some of our values to kids," according to Hill.