Do you remember being bored when you were a child? How often do your children complain "I'm bored" ?
It seems being bored can be a good thing, as it may foster creativity. But kids often use screen time to prevent being "bored".
I have just read a very interesting article about this by Speech Language Pathologist, Renee Petherbridge-Lim. She questions whether the access children have now to ever-present smart phones, iPads and tablets is depriving them of opportunities to be bored.
She says, "Boredom is important as it encourages imagination and promotes creativity, all of which are important skills not only for school but for life. If children aren’t able to imagine and create, how will they complete written expression tasks, how will they visualise the latest story they read? As they grow, how will they become an individual and separate themselves from the pack when searching for jobs?
Don’t get me wrong, technology is great, it has allowed us to be connected with people all over the world, it allows for a new and interesting way to teach. But I think it is also important that we think about the consequence of too much screen time, it might not be square eyes, but instead a loss of creativity in ourselves and our kids."
I agree. There are many ways children can benefit from technology, and use of well designed software that they can access via their devices can even improve their learning capacity. But as parents and educators we owe it to our kids to make sure they have balance. Make sure you create times when they can't use their screens - give them an oportunity to be bored!
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