Boredom Is never or should never be a problem

"I'm Boooored" — The Two Most Dangerous Words

There are two words that can drop a mother's blood pressure in real time. They are not profanity. They are worse. They are: “I'm boooored.”

Said with that particular whine — the one that stretches the 'o' into a four-syllable opera of despair — while surrounded by approximately $3,000 worth of toys, books, crafts, and entertainment options.

“I'm bored” has never once, in the history of my household, been solved by my suggestions. “Go read!” — boring. “Go outside!” — boring. “Clean your room!” — suddenly the most offensive thing ever said. “Play with your siblings!” — and now they're fighting, so thanks for that.

Here's what I've learned after years in the boredom trenches: boredom isn't the problem. Boredom is the doorway. Every creative thing my kids have ever done — the epic blanket forts, the backyard “inventions,” the elaborate games with rules only they understand — started with “I'm bored” and me refusing to fix it.

So now I have a response. A single, calm, devastating response: “Boredom is just your brain asking for a project. Go find one.”

Then I walk away. This is the hardest part. The walking away. Because for about ten minutes, the whining intensifies — it's the extinction burst, the last stand of the bored. And then... quiet. Beautiful, suspicious quiet. I check, and they've built a city out of couch cushions. Or they're all outside. Or — my personal favorite — they're reading. READING. Voluntarily.

I'm not saying it works every time. I'm saying it works enough that I now treat “I'm bored” as a gift instead of a threat. A gift I immediately re-gift back to them.

What's YOUR boredom response? And what's the wildest thing your kids built out of boredom? I need fort pics.