I was trying to think of the last time I was truly bored. It’s actually hard to pin down — being a leader of PreK-12 school of 965 students tends to keep me engaged and focused! Now, when I get a the rare moment of quiet inactivity, I tend to we,,lcome that as an opportunity to think, reflect, and take a deep breath.

 

Not all of us welcome the opportunity to be bored, but we really should. Recently, I was getting my oil changed in my truck and observed two young parents trying to entertain their three young children from having ”boredom meltdown” in the waiting room at the garage. We have all been there before as parents: trying to keep our children engaged when they are caught up in some ultra-boring environment in public. Watching these parents struggle to keep their kids entertained and under some semblance of control made me think of my own childhood. Back then, there was no iPad or iPhone or device for me to play with when things got a bit dry. While I think we all appreciate it when a parent is able to prevent wailing and crying in public places, I wonder if there is some cost for the infant and toddler who are given an electronic game in exchange for quietude.

 

If we go beyond those “waiting room.” moments of trying to engage our kids, it feels like there is a bigger pattern of parenting behavior towards keeping children constantly entertained. For some reason, modern parents feel a compulsion to keep children programmed with activities. Stillness is not something that many children experience nowadays. Children have a difficult time with boredom — particularly in this day of immediate electronic access and instant gratification. But, there is a lot of evidence that boredom is a good thing, because it leads kids to imaginative play.

 

We also know that “play” — even for adults — is a very good thing as it helps with the development of problem solving, as well as creative and critical thinking skills.

 

I found several articles online that help support this thesis that boredom is a good thing. In a BBC article titled “Children Should Be Allowed to Get Bored,” Hannah Richardson spoke to childhood experts about how boredom is essential to developing a healthy imagination and finding hidden talents. One expert, Dr. Teresa Belton, argues, “When children have nothing to do now, they immediately switch on the TV, the computer, the phone or some kind of screen. The time they spend on these things has increased. But children need to have stand-and-stare time, time imagining and pursuing their own thinking processes or assimilating their experiences through play or just observing the world around them.”

In another article published in The Guardian, author Edward Collier reflects on his own childhood of the 1960s and 1970s when parents were far less concerned with always ensuring their kids were doing something: “Boredom opens channels. If you’re truly, stultifyingly bored and, despite desperate complaints, no one sees fit to alleviate your boredom, then you have to rectify the matter yourself. It was when I was bored beyond belief at the age of 13 that I discovered that the piano, an instrument I’d hitherto regarded as a relic of  the age of Torquemada, could be induced to make sounds that chimed with my nascent musical sensibility. I began composing, something I still do to this day.”

 

Boredom connects to play because children — who have to use their own brains rather than some device to find some stimulation — typically can draw on their imagination to entertain themselves. In that process, creative play emerges. This type of play has all kinds of advantages for human growth and development.

 

Although an older article, a 2008 NPR story nicely captures the research connected to creative play for child development. The article quotes from Howard Chudacoff, a cultural historian at Brown University, who notes the evolution of child play in American social history. He argues that in the first half of the 20th century, young people engaged in unstructured and unsupervised play: “They improved play, whether it was in the outdoors … or whether it was on a street corner or someone’s backyard. They improvised their own play; they regulated their play; they made up their own rules.” Things shifted in the second half of the 20th century as toy manufacturers developed specialized toys that dictated child play and became something that served to “shrink the size of children’s imaginative space.” He also notes that safety concerns led parents to embrace play environments that “were secure and could not be penetrated by threats from the outside world.” Thus, parents signed their children up for an array of organized and supervised activities and, in the process, created the modern, over-scheduled child who faces increasing pressure to excel at these extracurricular activities at a young age.

 

Now, in my 19th year of working with high schoolers, there is a price to be paid by overscheduling young people and robbing them of autonomy and low-stakes participation in co-curricular activities that should be viewed as fun rather than as a job.

 

The cognitive benefits of play are well documented. The NPR article notes: “It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good

self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.” Citing a number of important academic studies, a 2014 article on Education.com argues that unstructured play offers numerous gains on a number of levels:

 

One major positive is the benefit of imaginative play. The article cites numerous studies underscoring that “the ability to engage in make-believe [is] essential to children’s developing the ability to create internal imagery, stimulate curiosity, and experiment with alternative responses to different situations. This capacity, practiced in play settings, enhances children’s ability to engage successfully in new situations. Creative thought can also be viewed as an aspect of problem solving, which has its roots in play.

 

When young children use their imaginations in play, they are more creative, perform better at school tasks, and develop a problem-solving approach to learning.”

 

In CA, we integrate a certain “playful” approach to our teaching and learning. Lower School Counselor Kate O’Donnell says, “Play is how children process what they learn; they incorporate what they learn into their play, and that is how they make information their own. Playing is also how they practice and make improvement. It is also how they test theories and ideas in a safe way.”

 

Long-time teacher Diana Giarusso is a passionate defender of the value of play in the classroom. She says, “In all my 30+ years as a teacher, my only truth and the only belief I have been unwilling to compromise on has been giving children the opportunity to play. One can debate what play exactly means, but I am talking about a committed time to a child being able to explore and have some choice in what he/she chooses to engage in at that moment. No matter the pressures on teachers to fulfill certain curriculum requirements, I have always been clear on the need for play in early childhood. It provides the balance for all the other demands and high expectations I have of children in learning to read, to write and to solve math problems. It is the joy of learning. It is why children love to come to school. I am continually in awe of the creations my students share with me during Primary Lab.

 

They think of things I would never think of assigning them to do, because they are developing their own passions, making their own meanings out of the world and acquiring new knowledge.”

 

But, play is not just important for young minds – it is important for adolescents as well. A great article in a teacher-oriented website called KQED Mind/Shift titled “How to Bring Playfulness to High School Students,” calls for teenagers to have “creative outlets just like elementary school children.” The article by Zaidee Stavely lays out a number of approaches (many of which we are employing at CA) to engage teenagers and give them creative space. These include:

 

Where does this all lead? I don’t know about you, but a huge perk of my job is meeting some of the more interesting people in the Denver community. Many of our parents are community leaders and my role brings me into contact with creative people who are transforming our city. I find that when I meet an extraordinary leader, many have a healthy sense of humor, a large dose of humility, deep curiosity, and a vibrant imagination. A Fast Company article about the traits of creative people notes, “Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.” The article goes on: “Despite the carefree air that many creative people affect, most of them work late into the night and persist when less driven individuals would not.” Fast Company also observes, “Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.”

 

For adults, playfulness should play a role in our lives as well. A Boston Globe piece about “What Playfulness Can Do For You,” states that researchers “are discovering … that playfulness, as a personality trait, is not only complex but consequential.

 

People who exhibit high levels of playfulness — those who are predisposed to being spontaneous, outgoing, creative, fun-loving, and lighthearted — appear to be better at coping with stress, more likely to report leading active lifestyles, and more likely to succeed academically. “

 

So, let your kids be bored. Limit the screen time and stand back to let your children discover themselves on their own. Most importantly, don’t make school or responsibilities drudgery. Design them to tap into the playful spirit that resides in every human being.