Idle hands are a Devil's Playground
In today's day, we as a society, are constantly being entertained. We all have pocket computers that literally bring the world to our fingertips in the form of games, videos, music, and information. Even some kids as young as 2 have tablets with videos and games to keep them from bugging the adults who are busy scrolling away on their phones. Everybody is busy with their own preferred electronic entertainment. But what happens to us when we go without the magic pocket devises; when the child forgets to charge the tablet or, heaven forbid, forgets to bring it on the long car ride. That's when the dreaded "B" words comes out in the form of the most awful, tooth grinding whine that is probably the reason children have these devices in the first place.
As parents the hardest thing to deal with is a kid who doesn't know how to entertain himself/herself without the aid of electronics. Que the whining at mom or dad to direct their entertainment. What a bummer on our time to relax with kids strapped in their carseats.
What often gets forgotten, however, is that boredom is actually a good thing. It is the beginning of creativity and learning. Kids need to be bored.
Adults need to be bored too. It has been a goal of mine since before I got married and had kids to write and publish a book. These days my only time to work on it comes in the 30-45 minutes I have in bed after the kids are all asleep and the nighttime chores are completed. But with my phone near me with all social media and games weeks go by without me writing a single sentence. (There, I said it). But then there was that one time when I accidently dropped my phone ( my new Galaxy S7) off the third floor stairwell. Ya. It didn't make it. We had a funeral for it and everything. The laptops gave a beautiful eulogy. And I was without my phone for nearly a week. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for you to guess that those nights I was able to get a few chapters written. That is right, there was nothing else to do but to "entertain" myself with my own story and my own creativity. It was only sad that it took the blood sacrifice of a Galaxy S7 for me to finally get some writing done.
"Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true."
- William Inge
