Do you remember being bored in school? Now, I am not saying being bored is bad since this is usually when we have to be creative but it’s hard to be creative when you’re sitting in a chair for hours a day. My children never told me they were bored at home because if they did, I would give them chores to do. There are also tennis lessons that could get them up and outside. If they told me they were bored I would suggest to them to find tennis courts, in an effort to get them up and out of the house. Victoria Prooday wrote an excellent article on Why are our children so bored at school, cannot wait, get easily frustrated, and have no real friends? I agree with her for the most part but we got bored back in the day before so much technology too. My thought is that children were not created to sit in a chair for so many hours a day and so much time is wasted in schools, but I will get back to this.

First she writes about technology and the harm it is doing to our children. It isn’t healthy to look at a screen all day. “Parental emotional availability is the main nutrient for child’s brain.” How do children receive parental emotional availability the best? Having a mother who is home full time with them and homeschooling them. Of course, this takes a mother who is disciplined enough not to allow too much screen time for herself and is available for her children. Many women tell me they are addicted to screen time. How to stop it? Accountability and reminding yourself that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you plus keeping your children’s eternal souls in the forefront of your mind.

Next, Ms. Prooday wrote that children today get everything they want right when they want it. This causes a child to not develop self-control which is beneficial for every area in life. “The ability to delay gratification is one of the key factors for future success.” Children need to learn to work hard for what they want just as most adults must do. (This is why the entitlement culture we are presently living is so harmful for human beings; it takes away motivation to work hard.)

One of my sons is an orthodontist and he had to work very hard to get there. Even when he was a young boy, he missed family vacations due to being a valuable asset to the sports’ teams he played on. In college, he played on the baseball team and was majoring in Biology. His favorite verse in high school was “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). He learned to deny himself worldly pleasures at a young age to receive something better later in life.

As many of you have noticed, children rule their homes more than the parents do these days. “Unfortunately, in order to achieve our goals in our lives, we have to do what’s necessary, which may not always be what we want to do” just as my young son decided early in life. The major problem with children ruling the home are parents who are allowing their children to rule. Parents need to let it be known when the children are very young who rules the home and it’s not the children. Our children clearly knew this and respected us as their authority. It makes child-raising a whole lot easier as well.

We have become a nation of seekers of pleasures rather than seekers of God. (I am not sure whether or not the author of the article is a Christian but this is how I interpret her next point.) Children need to learn to work from a very young age because work is good for everyone. “Why aren’t children helping us in the kitchen or with laundry? Why don’t they tidy up their toys?” Next time your children say they are bored, tell them to clean, declutter, or organize something.

“Teaching a child to love working is one of the greatest gifts you can impart. I have spent over 2,000 hours ministering in the prisons, and I have seen men released only to return six months later. I have also met other released inmates at the work place years after they did their time. Without doubt, the thing that most determines whether or not a man will make it in the outside world or be recycled through the system again and again is whether or not he is lazy. The hard worker gets a job and stays busy with no time to hang out and idle away at home or on the street. He has self-respect, a vision, and goals, and he is happy succeeding. The lazy man is self-loathing and bored, seeking meaning in things that will land him back in prison. Furthermore, a hard worker is admired and liked, whereas a lazy man is scorned and despised by his peers. There is no such thing as a successful lazy man.” (Michael Pearl) Don’t allow your children to be lazy but you must be an example to them of working hard.

Children being able to play is also important for them. When I was growing up, back in the 60s, all the neighborhood children would be outside playing until the sun went down. When I was raising my children, we all gathered in the cul-de-sac and watched the children play while us mothers talked together. We didn’t have iPhones or computers to distract us. My grandchildren spend a lot of their days in their backyard playing and creating. “Unfortunately, technology replaced the outdoor time. Also, technology made the parents less available to socially interact with their kids.” Be available to your children and let them play and interact with each other instead of watch a screen for hours every day so they will learn to have real life friendships throughout life.

I believe the best environment for children is in their home with their mothers full time. They can play, move, learn to work hard and have self-control! If you don’t have a backyard, take them to a nearby park and let them just run around. When I homeschooled my sons through junior high, I took them to the beach to surf after they were done with their three hours of schoolwork. The only screen was the television and we didn’t allow them to watch it much so you, young mothers, have to be much more vigilant in helping your children have a healthy, well-rounded childhood.

Even a child makes himself known by his acts,
by whether his conduct is pure and upright.
Proverbs 20:11