Impress Your Kids » Blog Archive » YOUR TURN: Boredom Busters

July 20, 2009 | Filed in: Your Turn | by Amanda

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Lydia is 3 and a half. And sometime in this last year the WHINING but has bitten. Her favorites are “I don’t waaaant to!” or “Buuuut…” and of course, “What can I do?” I feel like I am constantly saying, “Say it in a nice voice, please.” (Or a big girl voice or a quiet voice or whatever)

It’s not so much the annoying whine, it’s the complaint behind it. I don’t want Lydia to be in a constant state of selfishness and un-thankfulness spouting “that’s not fair” or “I want more” as a kid OR an adult.

I love Philippians 2:14 & 15 in the NIV,

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”

I’d much rather have my kids be shining stars instead of complaining kiddos! (Hmmm…shiny stars sounds like a fun craft waiting to happen!)

Anyway, a few weeks ago I got something in the mail that has helped head off the “What can I do?” question and the similar but also whiny, “I’m bored!” statement.

Usually we’ll be sitting int he playroom (which is entirely too big and packed for anyone’s good) and she’ll say, “What can I do, Mommy?” I want to look at her and say, “For real?! Most kids across the world would be ecstatic with just one of your toys.” But of course, I don’t and we go rooting around for a fun thing to do.

Until we got a Happy Gram from Primrose Schools. (They have launched a new blog called Dr. Z and Me which is full of fun tips and information from Dr. Mary Zurn, Primrose’s early childhood education expert. Dr. Z’s first post was on boredom busters!) So, inside my Happy Gram was a Boredom Buster jar complete with a list of boredom busting tips!

Lydia and I took that jar and ran with it! We used the enclosed glitter glue sticks and stickers to decorate the jar.

She was more intrigued with making polka dots with glitter glue than with spelling words on the side with stickers like me. Regardless, it came out looking pretty cute.

Then we wrote down all of her toys on a separate piece of paper along with some of Dr. Z’s best tips (my fave? build a fort!).

Then, the next time Lydia says, “What can I do, Mommy?” I have her run over to the jar, pull out a piece of paper and that’s what she has to play!

She likes it so much she asks me what she can do just so she can get something out of the jar! It really cuts down on whining because it’s catching the aggravation before it even starts. It also promotes thankfulness because Lydia has so much too choose from–she’s actually re-discovering stuff she hasn’t played with in forever. And if you’re like me, you can stack the deck by making a card that says “kiss Mommy” or “sing a song” in there. I also wrote down “read a book” on at least three pieces of paper!

Plus, Asa likes to push it off the toybox. It’s a two-for-one!

Now it’s YOUR TURN. Leave us a comment answering the question: What do you do when whiny-ness hits? How do you bust boredom?

Then you will be entered to win this BEAUTIFUL crayon holder thingie from Honeybug Bags (Leigh’s very own soon-to-come etsy shop!).

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Kids can take it in the car, into a restaurant or just hunker down on their bed to draw, write and color to their heart’s content. It makes me happy just looking at it! It’s a boredom buster for your purse or diaper bag!

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And don’t forget our Surprise Party is kickin’ all week! You can still enter Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4‘s giveaway and don’t forget to join us tomorrow for the last day of our Surprise Party… and the week’s final giveaway!

Since LB is just over 2, we don’t have much of the whining … yet. I know it’s coming. If she starts getting into trouble, usually all it takes is for me to get on the floor with her and play or read.

What a fun giveaway!
.-= Heather @ Not a DIY Life´s last blog ..Change: It’s Difficult =-.

I have your button on my blog!
.-= Heather @ Not a DIY Life´s last blog ..Change: It’s Difficult =-.

When we are bored, we try to leave the apartment for at least a little bit. We go for a walk, play at a park, or even just make a grocery run. If I cannot leave, I take out a toy or project that is a special one. Maybe it is the really messy art supplies or maybe it is something I had from my teaching days. My boys rarely ask me for suggestions on what to do. I generally break out these ideas when what they want to do isn’t safe/quiet enough/etc and they need an alternative.
.-= Casey´s last blog ..Comments =-.

We did something similar when the girls were arguing over what to play. They wanted to play together, but couldn’t agree, so we took all of their choices, threw them in a hat & they traded off, picking something to play from the hat.

Your jar is adorable!

I pull out some books and let Johnny read to ME. I talk about each page and he will tell me what he sees and then we laugh and have fun with the story he has told. We may sing songs or dance too.
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I subscribe.
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I have your button.
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My 5 year old granddaughter loves coloring so that is how her boredom gets busted.

My 2.5yo loves to sing (like her mommy). So I can usually divert her into a better mood by starting a sing-a-long.

When my kids get whiny, I ask them to use their big voices. If that doesn’t work, I try to get them distracted on something else. When we get bored, it’s usually time for us to head outside for a walk, or we like to go to the aquarium a lot (we have a year membership).

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We head outside or have an indoor dance party (good exercise for mom too).

When my kids whine? I give ‘em chores. lol (Suppose thats why my gf calls me the sargeant?)

This is tooo cute. It makes me happy too!

Cathy
.-= Cathy Tibbles´s last blog ..WFMW: Zeee Frrrrranch Maneecure =-.

And I subscribed – in my google reader.
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When my kids are bored we try to get outside to the playground or park. It helps so much to break the monotony!

I have your button up!

And I am subscribed!

To bust boredom in the house I take a long walk outside…it clears my head!

To bust boredom at our house, we make a craft. The other day we coloured butterflies in my daughter’s colouring book, cut them out, taped them to strings and tied the strings to a coat hanger. Then, she danced around the house, ‘flying’ her butterflies. She loved it so much–it’s now hanging up in her room, spinning around and fluttering in the breeze from her window. It didn’t require any special tools or any lengthy and difficult instructions. Just a little fun that helped distract her from being bored.

For my older kids they never whine and tell me they are bored anymore … because when they started to before I would gladly give them some chores to do!!!! They are now really inventive at finding their own stuff to do — I wonder why???

the best thing ever is to do crafts with kids, and when they see what they made, it is so precious

If we are home I would take my son for a walk. He loves checking the mailbox and taking out the trash.

When my daughter is bored, I bring out the buttons – a bin of cheap, colorful buttons of all shapes & sizes. She will happily spend an hour looking, sorting, pouring, stacking, etc.
.-= Jeni´s last blog ..David at 2 Months =-.

Whiny times require patience and moving on to something else……a new game, actvity, singing or new environment.

How cute! I’m pregnant with #4… and my oldest is 5, so it’s been super important to me to teach them “to do everything without grumbling or complaining”. I haven’t actually gotten the “I’m bored” comment, but when little spats start breaking out I know that they’ve got too much “free time” on their hands. One thing that’s really helped is involving them all in the morning chores. Once they’re finished with their cleaning jobs (we make it fun), they’re ready to have some free play time.

If it’s really getting crazy, we’ll pull out our craft boxes… or make some play-dough, or write/draw in sugar…
I love your jar idea though!! Good thinking mama!
.-= Christie´s last blog ..Oatmeal Spice Squares =-.

[...] Day 1: Boredom Busters: Win a Handmade Kids Crayon Wallet Thingie [...]

When Gabriel (age 13 months) gets whiney, I start dancing and he goes from whining to laughing and smiling. He tries to fight it, but he can’t help but laugh at his mom trying to “bring it around town” lol. If were in the car and he starts, I start telling him to look for cows and balls, he loves it!

We had a little “chart” at the beginning of this summer (before vacations and other things started). I had about 15-20 cards that I had pictures of things (my girls are pre-readers). The things included chores, the TV, games with Mommy, free time in room, meals, etc. They went to the pile and picked out what they wanted to do first and put it up on the frig and went and did that. There were a few rules (TV time was only for 2 shows, we had to do the chore some time in the day, etc.) but other than that- they choose what they wanted to do. Just giving them some choice in things was a BIG deal and put the responsibility on them – not me- to help do something. Maybe we should institute this plan again…

And Amanda – I LOVE your ideas container. I will have to try that!!

When my grandchildren are bored, we go for a walk on the bike trail. Looking for rocks, twigs, pine cones, etc…, that we can make craft projects out of.
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Great for church!!Thanks for this
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Am a subscriber
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[...] had a wonderful craft project that she did with Lydia right here – a Boredom Buster Jar full of ideas and activities to do when the “Mommy, I’m [...]

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