This one has always been a tricky one for me, ’cause my son is not always as curious as other kids his age, never into destructive play, always needed a +1 to engage him. There is a part of me that felt that a child should be allowed to be bored, to sit idle with their own thoughts and feelings and not smother them with hobby classes, activity sets, and playdates. That part of me often let my son sit on the sofa and do nothing. I even took him to social events where he was bound to be bored. And I am glad that something very beautiful came out of it. He learnt to have patience in a social setting, he learnt to find engagement within himself, he found ways to occupy himself in places which didn’t give him much creative freedom.

There was also a part of me that kept thinking – idle mind is a devil’s workplace. So there were times when I found something for him to do, but thankfully, instead of giving him some coloring activity, I let him help me in whatever I was doing. So we ended up being in the kitchen together many times, him mostly watching me cook his dinner.

Sometimes he would help me clean, organize, and declutter.

So I would say, it’s okay to let them be bored than give them something to distract them just so that they are quiet.

P.S.: As a child, I used to be so bored in my vacations, I would stand at the kitchen entrance and watch my mom cook as I rambled on about my boredom. And I realize, some 30 years on, my mind was registering all my eyes were watching, while I thought I was just bored.