Learning to Be Bored (and Loving It… Most of the Time)

In our house, we’re on a mission: learning how to be bored. Yep, you read that right. My kids, Gemma and Jules, get maybe an hour of screen time a week—usually when I’m desperately trying to wrangle their hair into something that resembles “presentable” before we leave the house. A couple of animal videos on YouTube, the occasional super simple song, and that’s about it.

Now, don’t get me wrong. My girls aren’t little monks who chant “no screens, please.” They love TV and phones just like the rest of us. Honestly, I can’t blame them—it’s hard to ignore a tiny glowing box that basically contains another universe. But we know the world they’re growing into is screen-heavy enough. Childhood feels like the perfect time to practice the fine art of being bored, exploring, and making up games that don’t come with a loading bar.

And let me tell you, kids are good at turning boredom into magic. Case in point: Gemma is obsessed with the movie Elemental. She’s seen it four times in six months and could practically recite the script at this point. Sometimes, when boredom creeps in, she’ll suddenly transform into Ember, leaping across furniture to avoid the “flood” that is our living room floor. It’s hilarious to watch and also reassuring—yes, she watched a movie, but then she took that spark and lit up her imagination with it.

At the end of the day, it’s all about balance. Screen time will come and go, but the ability to entertain yourself with nothing but your brain, a couch, and maybe a dangerously low coffee table? That’s a life skill worth keeping.

So while screens have their place (and let’s be honest, sometimes save our sanity), I love that boredom is giving my kids space to stretch their imaginations, get creative, and even turn our living room into a flood zone. If boredom is the birthplace of adventure, then I’d say we’re doing just fine. After all, learning to sit with nothing and turn it into something might just be one of the greatest skills they’ll ever carry into their screen-filled world.

Love, Gemma and Jules’s mom