“I'm bored.” You may turn your nose up at the words when a child says so. In fact, boredom is generally viewed as an unpleasant 1 state. How can anyone 2 boredom when there's so much that can and should be done?
But boredom is 3 to experience. 4 the lesson most adults tell you — boredom is for boring people — boredom is useful. It's good for you.
If kids don't 5 this out early on, they're in for a not-so-pleasant surprise in the future. Life isn't meant to be full of 6. “That's right,” a mother says to her daughter in the novelWhere'd You Go, Bernadette. “You are bored. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it's boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The 7 you learn it's on you to make life interesting, the better off you'll be.”
People used to accept that much of life was boring. 8things happen when you're bored. Once you've truly felt bored, you find yourself 9 to discovery. This is why so many useful ideas occur in the shower, when you're held captive to a routine activity. You let your mind wander and 10 it where it goes.
Of course it's not really the boredom itself that's important; it's what we 11it. When you reach your breaking point, boredom teaches you to make something happen for yourself.
Teaching children to 12 boredom will prepare them for a more realistic future. One day, 13 in a job they otherwise love, our kids may have to spend an entire day answering Friday's leftover email. This sound boring, you might conclude. It sounds like 14, and it sounds like life. Perhaps we should get used to boredom again, and use it to our15.
