“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.”

~ Mary Jean Iron

We’ve reached that point at our house during the summer when boredom sets in. Not the rainy day “let’s do something crafty with toilet-paper rolls and duct tape” kind of boredom. It’s the real thing. The constant stream of activity from my revolving front door has slowed to a slow dull whimper. It’s too hot to go outside. My couch, once an indoor trampoline, an island base on a lava-filled floor or a secret fort covered with blankets, now just sags in a mid-summer slump. It too is bored and hot.

I remind myself that even these normal everyday moments, the ones where the kids are bored to tears and fighting with each other over who ate the last Pringle, I will miss. I will miss this. I will miss the whining and complaining. Yes, I will miss it said the crazy lady. Because when they complain to me, that means they think I have a solution to their problem. Someday, they won’t need me to solve their problems. When they whine, they know I can comfort them and help them. Someday they won’t need my help. Today they do. And I’m helping them by letting them be bored. And allowing them to complain about it.

In a world of over scheduled success-oriented children’s activities, the unstructured nature of being bored is the ultimate childhood luxury. Saving my children from summer boredom would rob them of the opportunity to think creatively to solve their own problems, find new interests they never would have pursued otherwise, and to get lost in their own thoughts and dreams. Learning that you have the power to make interesting things happen in your own life, and that boredom is a choice, is a life lesson worth every whining moment.

Thank You Moment

Today, I’m grateful for the unstructured moments of a boring summer day and all the lessons it brings.

Thursday Blog Hops

This post is participating in the Thought Provoking Thursday blog hop at Intentional.Me.  Please stop by to check out the Intentional.me blog and some of the other ones participating too.

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