Keeping Boredom at Bay: The Power of a Playful Spirit
I’m delighted to be linking up with Hearts at Home today and joining other moms in a discussion of how to keep summer boredom at bay. If you haven’t yet met Jill Savage or visited the Hearts at Home website, be sure to check out this go-to place for moms of all ages and stages.
To be honest, the words “I’m bored” rarely surface at our house in the summer time.
And it’s not because we’ve packed our summer days with structured activities or a full-plate agenda.
I’m a firm believer in reclaiming the old fashioned joys of childhood each summer.
On any given day, you might find my five kids, aged 3-13, hunting butterflies, baking mud pies, tossing eggs out of our living room windows, or building a bigger-than-life board game in our basement.
I think the reason we rarely battle boredom is because after fourteen years of motherhood, I’ve learned that if I parent with a playful spirit, I will usually have a house filled with playful children.
Practically speaking, it’s not possible for a mom of five (or one or two or ten…) to play with her children every moment of the day. Goodness knows there are mountains of laundry to scale, meals to cook, and dust bunnies to chase.
Not to mention that entertaining our children every moment of the day doesn’t give our kids a chance to flex their own creative muscles or discover the blessing of boredom that leads to big ideas.
But it IS possible to wake each morning with a playful spirit and allow that spirit to pervade all the ordinary things we do throughout the day.
I believe that a playful spirit is contagious.
So when I make the deliberate decision to be playful, my children follow suit.
The result?
They create and investigate and dream.
They entertain one another and brainstorm their own ideas for play.
What more could a mom want on a summer’s day?
My playful spirit will, no doubt, look different than yours.
My playful spirit may mean dancing in the kitchen with my toddler while I flip pancakes or inviting my preschooler to grab a hammer and smash those rocks we found along the road so he can see what’s inside.
Your playful spirit may mean reading a favorite book in silly voices or inviting your little ones to sit on the kitchen counter and sample the chocolate chips before you pour the bagful into the cookies.
There’s no right or wrong way to don a playful spirit.
But here are a few of my favorite tips in case you’re not sure where to start…
*A playful spirit says, why not?
So often our first response to our children’s “grand ideas” is NO.
It’s too messy. It won’t work. It’s going to inconvenience me.
But a playful spirit understands the power of yes.
A playful spirit responds: Let’s try it! Let’s learn about that together. Let’s see what happens.
A playful spirit says embraces a barefoot life–
Let’s feel that mud.
Let’s see if the rain drops taste good.
Let’s roll down that hill.
*A playful spirit turns work into play.
I fondly remember one day when my mom hung a small clothesline in the backyard for me to use. Each time she hauled out a load of our family’s wet laundry and hung it up to dry, I carried a bucket of my dolly’s clothes and hung them up, too.
Let your kids join you as you complete your daily tasks.
Give your kids the vacuum and invite them to make the vacuum monster “eat up the crumbs” on the floor.
Give them a bucket of soap and water and let them wash their bikes as you wash the car.
Let them cook with you or deliver the mail to the mailbox. Or write letters as you pay the bills.
The work that we find mundane may seem fun through the eyes of a child.
*A playful spirit asks “what if.”
Nothing breeds creativity faster than a good question. A marvelous round of play often stems from the simple question of “what if.” Ask it if often and see where it leads…What if this swing were a rocket?
What if we dropped these eggs from the window?
What if this picnic blanket were a boat?
What if these pillows on the floor were alligators?
*A playful spirit turns the same old thing into a sensational thing.
Our children don’t need a truck-load of the newest and finest toys or gadgets. They simply need some help in turning the ordinary stuff of life into an extraordinary moment of play.
Use nature as a toy closet. Rocks are made for skipping, frogs are made for catching. Puddles are made for splasing
In his marvelous book, Romancing Your Child’s Heart, Monte Swan shares these lyrics to a song he’s penned about the treasure trove in our own backyards…
He’s found riches in rocks and ropes and rain
And in bugs and bark and bones.
He’s got a treasure trove that money can’t buy
And his own goldmine in his boyhood blue sky.
I’ll never forget the day last fall when Joshua wanted to buy a new set of race cars during our routine Walmart run.
I said, “no” because the last thing my four-year-old needed was another toy to stuff in his closet.
He responded with a huge tantrum in the middle of the toy aisle.
However, when we got home, I gave him a handful of acorns that we’d collected the day before on one of our hikes through a local campground. I informed him that we had luckily chosen “racing acorns” when we’d selected our natural treasures, and I asked him if he’d like to test them out. Within moments, my gotta-have-a-new-toy kid forgot about those cool cars in Walmart and began setting up a “track” with a large piece of cardboard leaning against the coffee table.
Before the day was done, Joshua had hosted a dozen acorn races, and had even painted each acorn and adorned every one with a “racing number.” Who needs Hotwheels?
*A playful spirit is wonder in bloom.
A playful spirit takes time to marvel at the moon, pauses to applaud the sunset, and gets out to study that cool tree in the yard. God has infused our world with wonders. Let His creativity inspire your children.
*A playful spirit is quick to laugh and quick to listen.
A playful spirit understands the power of healthy laughter.
That’s why a mama with a playful spirit might serve up cereal in the bathroom sink now and then.
Or invite the kids to dine UNDER the kitchen table. Or serve up supper without silverware.
A playful spirit laughs at the kids’ horrible knock-knock jokes and even tells a few of her own.
And a playful spirit listens. Listens to the stories that children tell; listens to their dreams, listens to the music of the crickets outside the window.
And listens to the kids’ great ideas on how to keep boredom at bay on an ordinary summer’s day.
Wishing you the a summer filled with the wonder of play!
Interested in more thoughts on play?
I’ve been writing about it all summer! Check out these posts…
How to start your day with a tiny taste of Heaven
Growing Playful Kids Part 1
Beware of Play-Killers: Growing Playful Kids Part 2
Why I don’t Ever Want To Grow Too Big To Play
Pleased to be linking with Jill for Third Thursday Thoughts today!
To listen to the kids’ ideas seems the most interesting of all…following their lead can be so incredible! Fellow linker at HAH blog hop! 🙂 Michy
I love this posting too. And now I will play with my kids. Have a fine weeknd!
Hi Alicia…I love this post…I need to do it more with my children. They love it when I am silly and playful. The giggles are music to my ears. I have to tell you that I am so glad to know that I am not alone in my thoughts on serving…it is not that I have never served, but I need to change why and how…align it with God’s how and purposes. Somehow your comment on my post is just further confirmation that God has got my attention in this area. Would love to hear more of your thoughts (if you care to share can you email me at cdadkison@msn.com )? Have a great weekend!
Hmmm. I make my kids play but am guilty of saying no because of mess and inconvenience. Thank you for these reminders.
You children are filled with the playful spirit….I miss them! They get all their creativity from their fantastic mommy! 🙂
I like that term “playful spirit.” The idea of boredom leading to big ideas is so true. So many times we keep our children so busy they don’t have time to think and dream.