The Art of Boredom

Enter the holidays, and out come the desperate pleas for recommendations on Facebook and the “AIBU”* to expect my children to be entertained every minute of every hour of every day for the whole duration they are out of school?” searches on online forums.

It has become something of a given that we should be expected to find ways to occupy our children, to find something for us/grandparents to do so the children aren’t at any time in the least bit, well, bored.

But boredom isn’t necessarily a curse for the young. In fact it is a force for good, for creativity, and a building block for young imaginations.

We are very quick in today’s society to ensure little minds and fingers are constantly occupied, throw them an Ipad at the restaurant table, a mobile phone in the doctors’ waiting room, a DVD player in the backseat, lest we have to deal with questions or conversations. We fall into the hands of the media giants. Bored? Don’t worry! We’ve got an app for that.

Yet as children ourselves, boredom was something we dealt with on a regular basis. We occupied ourselves, we found things to do, friends to talk to, made up games to play, and created new worlds for ourselves.

As far as I’m aware, the creator of ‘I Spy’ didn’t wake up one morning and think, “Today I shall invent a game to pass the time on a long car journey.” No. He/She was stuck in a car or waiting room, decided to look for objects and let others guess what they were; a tradition was born. Out of boredom.

Lack of boredom stifles creativity. Imagine if Art Garfunkel had been playing Candy Crush while sitting in a railway station? If JK Rowling had been streaming Suits rather than staring out of the train window, daydreaming between London and Edinburgh? Music, literature and performance are critical to us as humans and they are born from our unoccupied minds.

Play acting and imagination are key to the well-being of children. They develop communication, places children in touch with different emotions, help them explore both the inner and outer world. Tea parties with dolls are their first entries into social situations, troops of soldiers on the stairs are exercises in leadership and precision, doodles on a notepad can herald the start of an artistic career.

Giving children lines and dance routines to perform isn’t essential to their future, but allows them the freedom to create these lines and routines is.

At Noodle Performance Arts our aim is to get children thinking, devising and working together. Some of the best works we see aren’t polished performances of famous musical pieces, but play acting improvisations that children produce – from the funny to the downright bizarre. And rarely is it inspired by Fortnite or Minecraft, but often from the most banal and boring situations.
“I was sitting in a train station…”
“Yes and….”

* Am I Being Unreasonable (abbreviation popularised by Mumsnet)

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Let our kids be bored! Boredom Busters for a Stress-Free Summer AESG Art Star Wins ISA National Art Competition! Eureka? No, it’s a Ping! Recipe for Staycation