Sunday, August 30, 2009
It has been a very long day at our house. Instead of going out, I opted to stay home and get some things done. This is a very rare occurrence in our house, so around 2 o'clock this afternoon, everyone was getting completely stir crazy. The problem was that I didn't want to leave. I was in the tidying zone and that doesn't happen often.

By 3 o'clock, I was subjected to a nearly constant stream of "Mommy, I bored" or "Mommy, this is not fun." Hearing this once is bad enough, but a full on assault every few minutes quickly made me wish I were a violent person. Who was it that said the best cure for boredom is Mommy boredom? I think they are so wrong. So wrong, in fact, that I'm thinking of taking out an ad in all the major parenting mags to let everyone know that he/she is a liar.

I was completely baffled by how to address this problem. My frustration was quickly stumping my creativity. On principle, I didn't want to give in and take them out. I also didn't want to have to turn into the family entertainer.

So now I'm looking for advice. How do you respond to this scenario? Are you as flummoxed as me or do you have a fail safe response? I have a feeling that this will not be the first time I am confronted with this and I want to fill up my parenting toolbox with as many chainsaws and power drills as possible.

5 comments:

Wendy said...

Playdoh or painting, usually on a large sheet (or several large sheets) of paper. I am a sucker for all those Crayola gimmicks too, like the black paper that is rainbow colored underneath or the white paper where things show up only after you color over the paper. The color-wonder paper, or whatever it is called.

We keep a few varieties of it. :)

Anna said...

ignore them after saying once, 'Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It's no fun to be bored. I hope you can find something to do.' Continue with what you were doing. Say, 'I'm sorry, I can't help you now,' as needed. I'm assuming you've exhausted the Tom and Jerry supply, of course.

Helen said...

I'm disappointed that no one is suggesting large amounts of alcohol or similar.

Anna said...

oh, now you're picky about your free advice? whatever.

Helen said...

Yes. In fact, I'm a very discerning parent.

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