Let Children Be Bored to Foster Their Creativity

Idle hands are the devil's playground notwithstanding, some experts now believe that you should let children be bored, so they can develop their innate ability to be creative:

Dr Teresa Belton told the BBC cultural expectations that children should be constantly active could hamper the development of their imagination. [...]

Dr Belton said: "Lack of things to do spurred her to talk to people she would not otherwise have engaged with and to try activities she would not, under other circumstances, have experienced, such as talking to elderly neighbours and learning to bake cakes.

"Boredom is often associated with solitude and Syal spent hours of her early life staring out of the window across fields and woods, watching the changing weather and seasons.

"But importantly boredom made her write. She kept a diary from a young age, filling it with observations, short stories, poems, and diatribe. And she attributes these early beginnings to becoming a writer late in life."

Hannah Richardson of the BBC explains: Link


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We've intentionally limited our children to fewer and simpler, non-gadgety toys, but it isn't boredom we're after. If you encourage a child's natural curiosity and sense of wonder about the world they will retain it into adulthood. Loads of electronic, readymade entertainment inhibits that. That's my opinion, anyway. So far out efforts have been fruitful.
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