There is one thing that you will hear again and again when you speak to most parents today though they may not say it directly. They believe that they are not doing enough to their children.
Not enough activities.
Not enough learning.
Too much screen time.
Not enough outdoor time.
Not enough attention.
One can never feel satisfied with everything.
According to a survey which was reported by the British newspaper Mirror, it was revealed that a good number of parents find it difficult to keep their children entertained over extended periods of time, particularly during holidays and weekends.
Many parents claimed that they are stressed when their children complain of being bored, and many of them admit that they watch TV or use tablets to get through the day. However the most interesting aspect of the survey was not that children become bored. It was that parents feel guilty when children are bored.
That guilt says a lot about modern parenting.
Earlier, boredom was just part of childhood. Children were bored all the time. They sat around, made up games, followed their parents around the house, fought with siblings, went outside, came back tired, and somehow the day passed. Parents were not expected to constantly entertain their children. They were expected to raise them, not schedule their entire lives.
But today, childhood looks very different. Families are not as big, children do not play outside as they were, and screens are never far. Gradually, parents started to take care not only of food, school and safety, but of leisure, education, imagination and emotional growth as well. Parenting became something that requires constant involvement.
Child development experts have frequently asserted that boredom is not evil in children. Indeed, child behaviour experts and psychologists have clarified that boredom makes children gain imagination and the ability to think independently since no one tells them what to do and they begin to establish their own games, narratives, and concepts. Free play and unstructured time are not really bad as far as emotional and cognitive growth of children is concerned.
However, boredom is no longer allowed much room in modern parenting. The classes, hobbies, activities, or screens are always present. Childhood has become organised. And when everything is organised, parents feel responsible for organising it.
That is where the pressure comes from.
Many parents today are not just raising children. They are managing childhood. They are planners, teachers, entertainers, drivers, cooks and emotional support systems all simultaneously. When a child says, "I am bored," it does not sound like boredom. It sounds like the parent has failed to plan the day properly.
But maybe boredom is not the problem.
Maybe the real problem is that parents feel like they are always supposed to be doing more, giving more, planning more. And that is what is making parenting more exhausting than before.
Children don’t actually remember every activity or every outing. But they remember if their parents were always stressed, always rushing, always worried that they were not doing enough.
Maybe children don’t need parents who constantly entertain them.
Maybe they just need parents who are present and not constantly feeling guilty.
Because most parents are already doing far more than they realise.
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