As a little girl, I loved learning new words. I recall learning some new additions to my vocabulary from new neighbors from New York City. I had absolutely no idea what those words meant and tried one in particular on my mother. My vocabulary shrunk instantaneously as my mother's reaction was swift, with a slap.
After that, I was more cautious in sharing my newly acquired vocabulary. I heard my friends telling their mothers that they were "bored," and they seemed to get some attention out of this. I decided to try this out on my mother, who was washing clothes in one of our deep sinks in our kitchen. I stood next to her and said, "I'm bored." She ever so briefly stopped her washing, leaned down at me and said, "With all the wonderful things in the world, how can you possibly be bored?" My mother was never a woman of many words, but I knew she was very wise. Her words resound with me still, and I am never bored for long.
Boredom for children, particularly adolescents, can sometimes be painful and serious. It's important to keep children busy, but not too busy. There is no doubt that structured play has a significant role in the development of growing children, but there also needs to be time for children to figure out how to occupy themselves in positive, meaningful ways.
Too many well-intentioned parents exhaust themselves amusing their children, rather than assuming the more distant, but watchful, role of being a guide. In developmental psychology, we know there are critical periods in a child's life when the child learns how to walk, talk and learn skills essential to being future healthy adults. This is equally true in acquiring the trait of creativity. When children and adults are bored, they should turn off the TV and go outside, free of all electric devices. Be observant to the world around you. It is a training ground for future creative geniuses.
Professor Peter Tooney from the University of Calgary, ("The Thrill of Boredom," New York Times, Aug. 8, 2011) writes that humans are not the only critters exhibiting boredom. He refers to Santano, a 33-year-old chimp at a zoo in Sweden who collects and piles rocks close to the visitor side of his cage island. As spectators hone in to gawk at him, he pelts them with the rocks. This is not unusual for our caged monkey brethren who often don't have rocks to hurl and creatively use their own byproducts. Did you know monkeys can laugh?
Tooney says boredom is a product of predictability with a long history which may be part of our innate warning systems and a need to step back. Boredom encompasses a lot of not-so-good feelings, like feeling discontent, flat, fatigued and concerned with petty and uninteresting details. Many experts cite boredom as being a good thing which encourages reflection that is essential to the growth and promotion of creativity.
I notice that a lot of research on boredom comes from Northern Europe where half the year is spent in darkness and bitter cold. A number of years ago, I found myself in a guest house for visiting professors in Helsinki, Finland. Breakfast was served very early in a community dining room where you sat down anywhere available. Not being a chatty early morning riser, I looked for a table where I could eat by myself, but none was available. I sat down next to a man who I found out was a teacher in a university above the North Pole. My interest, and a good dose of Finnish coffee, was piqued and I asked him where he was originally from. He told me he was an Etrian from Africa. My interest increased and I asked him how he could now live in a place that was dark half the year. He responded, "What nature takes away, she gives back in other ways."
In further conversation, it became clear that this gentle soul was never bored.
I'm convinced that good jokes often evolve from boredom and that humor is often a great outlet for boredom. Surfing the net for jokes on boredom:
"Airline travel is hours of boredom interrupted by moments of stark terror." - By somebody called Al Boliska
(Dr. Donna Pinter is founder and director of Psychological Services Clinic, Bloomsburg, Danville and Sunbury. "Slice of Life" appears on this page each Sunday.)
