Worried About Being Bored at Home
Many women seem to be worried about being bored at home, so they stay in the workforce. I was in the workforce before going home full time. I often was bored in the workforce. It consisted of doing the same things over and over, yet I was in a place far away from my baby and my home. I would far rather be bored in my own home with my children by my side.
Boredom is WAY overrated, women. It’s okay to be bored. I remember hearing a good phrase: “Only the boring get bored.” One thing I learned to do is to never, ever dwell on whether I am bored or not. I accept my circumstances and do my best to remain thankful and joyful in the midst of them. I was just on my back for ten days with shingles. It is easy to get bored when sick and stuck in one place. But I had determined long ago to not think about this. It takes continually renewing our minds with truth and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Being home with your children is where God wants you to be. Life isn’t about not being bored and having a thrilling life as Hollywood and feminists want you to believe. No, life is about obeying God and glorifying Him in all that we do. How do we glorify Him? Obey what He commands including be thankful and not grumbling. Find joy in your circumstances as the Apostle Paul did!
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:11-13)
We are to be lovers of God rather than lovers of pleasure. Our culture seeks constantly after pleasure. This is why we see so much destruction in our culture. Seeking pleasure brings short-term gain but often results in long-term pain. Be in God’s Word daily. Renew your mind with Truth. Dwell on the good and the lovely. Have Bible verses memorized to replace negative, ungrateful thoughts. Listen to hymns and good theological songs. Let your children see you praising and thanking the Lord.
Learn to work hard in your home. Learn to cook healthy food for your family. Keep your home as clean and tidy as you can. Teach your children to help you from a young age. Read good books to them. Be outside as often as possible. They need the fresh air and sunshine. So do you! Take up hobbies in your home if you have time that benefit your family like sewing, crocheting, knitting, canning, and so on. Be creative! I cross-stitched two of my children’s Christmas stockings (shown in the picture above), sewed some of their clothes, painted the inside of my home, made frames for the windows, and I took up a Tole painting class when my children were young before I got sick. I loved it. I painted this nativity scene!
Your work at home is good, mothers. God wants you to raise godly offspring and in order to do this, you must be with your children consistently. Your presence helps your children to grow up to be secure and emotionally stable adults. Remember, there is no greater joy than to have children who walk in truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
3 John 1:4
13 thoughts on “Worried About Being Bored at Home”
I love your posts and often share them with my 14 year old daughter as a training tool and an encouragement. We are thankful for your voice of Biblical truth even though it is very unpopular today. We have found that even the church has become very modern and perpetuates the idea that girls can no longer aspire to become wives and mothers. When asked by well meaning friends and family what they want to do when they graduate HS, they must have some answer (any answer!) other than wanting to prepare for that! The church expects our girls to go off to college or some formal training and pursue a career. The church is full of women working full time jobs, placing their little ones in institutions as early as 6 weeks of age and sharing household responsibilities with their husbands. You can hardly find, even in homeschooling circles, anyone who doesn’t have big educational/career/ministry plans after HS.
…Church can be a very lonely place. Not one single church within driving distance from us, that is doctrinally sound, encourages the stay at home wife and mother and the husband to be the provider. Not one class, ANYWHERE, for women on how to steward their husbands income and how to be keepers at home. Pastors wives lead the way and set the example. They’ve gone to big Universities and have impressive careers. They make our daughters feel so small if they want to be what their mothers are….
How can Christian homeschooling moms who gave up everything to stay at home with their children be so quick to proudly ship their daughters off? Are we supposed to be the last generation to do this? It’s very confusing and is a sad state of affairs when the church (leadership to peers) is a bad influence…
Thank you for your good influence! You are one of the very, very few that will speak the truth about God’s plan for women. It’s unchanging and does not reflect the culture which is always changing. Tending our Father’s sheep is how the faith is passed on and nurturing our own children is His good old path for us. We must cling to His ways even when everyone else around us is succumbing to the popular culture of the day. God bless you and I pray you have a blessed Christmas.
It’s shocking to me how many mothers think Raising Children Under 5 consists of sitting on the couch watching tv all day.
I remember when a mother said to me, ‘There’s not much to do during the day’ before shrugging and turning towards her kids who were both glued in front of the tv watching, in my opinion, inappropriate children’s pop stars (purposefully homosexualized of course)
I agree with the phrase ‘Only the boring get bored’
No truer words.
The other day while walking my cat (yes I walk my cat…not on a leash either) we ran into two little boys who were making HUGE snowballs as big as possible and they were having the time of their lives. I had to pry myself away because I too wanted to make a huge snowball!
I second what Rebecca said. I have felt the same things she mentioned like feeling very lonely in church when just about all the women there have jobs/careers. I too was confused why so many Christian homeschooling moms are proudly sending their daughters off to college instead of training them in wifehood, motherhood, and being keepers of the home.
Boredom is a by-product of laziness, regardless of which sex you are. There is ALWAYS something productive or engaging to do with one’s time, and it doesn’t usually take very much effort to find. The “bored” person is unmotivated, goalless, and ultimately irresponsible. For a godly person there is NEVER any reason to be bored.
So tragically sad that so many millions of women are deceived into thinking school and a career are superior to marrying, and caring for a husband, children, and home, in that order.
Many only realize they were deceived when it is too late to remedy, and they are old and lonely.
I’m almost 44 years old with three grown children. I’ve never spent a single day in the workforce, and I’ve never been bored a day in my life. There are always things to do as Lori says. And a little down time for me is good too!!
Loved this, and these comments were great! I worked many years before I had my child, and just about every day I wished I was at home, especially when running the copy machine or changing the client’s name on 1000 letters. So boring doing the same work and tax returns over and over each year! Mind numbing but paid well. Doing laundry, keeping my house clean, and teaching my child is more interesting than my work ever was! When I was the only one home on the entire block when my son was a baby I missed talking to my clients… but not for long! Clients come with headaches and caring for my baby was mainly wonderful because I had time to do it well, without having to rush anywhere. We began visiting my parents once a week and have done this for 16 years now. The lady across the street retired and became like an aunt when my child was a toddler. We made lifelong friends at the park with a once a month park day…these ladies are still my prayer partners. We were able to follow my husband’s unusual schedule, whereas if our son had gone off to school he would never had seen his dad except on weekends. It’s been a wonderful blessing to be at home!
I am in my 60’s and have longed all my life to “be good enough ” as a wife, homemaker and a mother, yet have struggled with the loneliness and sense of inadequacy of not “doing more “. I am blessed with 3 sons, 3 daughter in laws and 8 grandchildren (6 of them step). Many ministries here!
I also suffer from a form of chronic fatigue that is managed but I still tire easily. Yet I still work 2 half days which are often the last straw to exhaust me. I want to leave the job, but am afraid of possible isolation and inadequacy. I read posts like yours often and they give me inspiration! It’s not easy to fight the culture in this area! There is little support, I would love to join a “homemaker ” group, there are groups for everything else but that.
Being creative in ways that benefit our home instead of benefit my social image to other women in the workforce, is such a beautiful change . There is only so much time and creative energy to be had yet I know see what a waste it was spending so much time at the knitting circle s trying to impress other women instead of looking at how I was still refusing to use those skills being learned to create a home. I applied some to our household but but not in the degree I could have over the years had my priorities been different. Still today after being married over a decade , when I’m relishing something creative Iv done in my household I find I still have a drive to want to use the final result as a way to keep current in the social world of women who don’t value their roles as women in the way I do now. It’s very easy to over extend time or resources in order to continue to attempt to impress other women , by reacting to the fear that I’m going to go without approval . I have found from following your message that god is using my creativity to left up my family it is so much more rewarding yet I need gods help to keep down to right size. Thank you for your story’s . And I’m inspired to do some crossstiching for our family! Beautiful!:) your shingles episode sounds so painful I hope you don’t have another for a long time if ever please keep up sharing your experience as your able Lorie . Thank you and god bless!:)
Oh how lovely those stockings are! I also cross-stitch, but have not done stockings in such needlework. I did make stockings for my children though. Forgive me, I thought you had 4 children, did you make stockings for your other 2? I wish I could paint as well as you, but was not gifted by the Lord in such a way.
I don’t understand how women can be bored at home at all! When there is always so much work to be done. I just got done baking over 1,000 cookies over the past 2 days for our soldiers who will be working over the Christmas holiday and not able to travel home. Do you do such volunteer work? My husband says that sometimes I stretch myself too thin. Please guide me to discernment in this area, but I do have such a heart for our younger people.
Thank you for your writing, it has been such a blessing.
I think being bored brought on lots of creativity for my kids and I…They are grown, but I still stay home. Got me some milk cows for good fresh milk, so I am never bored!! The thought of going back to work is terrifying!!
I was able to stay home with my son till he went to school. I then attended college . I went on to work in the OR for 25 years. When I first started I had that independent attitude . Self reliant, needed no one. How much I missed. I was not serving God at that time in my life, but always knew he was there ! I believe that my career was a great part of the failure of my marriage . My son is now married with a 2 year old . He is a Christian and leading his family to Christ. I surrendered my life to God 7 years ago. I am now retired and taking care of my granddaughter . I left behind my career to be home with her . She is being raised with Christian values and she will be taught the value of taking care of the home and her family. She loves baby Jesus !!! My husband is the head of our home. My son is the head of his home. This is God’s will , it is the way it is suppose to be. I have no regrets in leaving my career. I loved my work but I look at the world today and where it is headed and I need to be home to take care of my family. That’s Gods plan !!!!
SAHM daily schedule. Wake, feed kids bowl of cereal. Get on internet for four hours. Nap. Watch tv. Frozen dinners. GSR on internet seeking other lazy moms who will tell her she is magnificent.