Feeling pressure to keep the kids busy all summer? ‘A bit of boredom can be good’
By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture
July 21, 2023
Fast Facts:
- Insufficient downtime can negatively impact children’s ability to think creatively, learn independence
- Social media contributes to parents’ perception that summer schedules should be packed full
- Cost of day and sleepaway summer camps not affordable option for many families
(748 words)
(Newsrooms: with At Home Summer Camp graphic)
LITTLE ROCK — During the summer months, parents are especially familiar with hearing the refrain, “I’m bored!” While many parents feel the need to pack children’s schedules full of activities, a bit of boredom can be a good thing — without it, children’s ability to think creatively and develop autonomy can be hindered.
Brittney Schrick, extension family life specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said today’s parents are burdened by extra pressure to keep children constantly entertained or busy during the summer. It’s a pressure that in part stems from content presented by other parents on social media, she said.
“Culturally, we’ve raised the stakes and raised the expectation for what parents are responsible for,” Schrick said. “Back in the day, I wouldn’t have known that my friends went to Disney World until school started back. My parents didn’t know what my friends’ parents were doing, and we certainly didn’t know what a random influencer online was doing.”
Schrick said boredom, for both kids and adults, can be positive because it allows for creativity.
“If you’re never bored, and someone else or a screen is always entertaining you, your brain never has the opportunity to shut down and just be, or creatively solve a problem,” she said. “Parents who take it upon themselves when their kids are bored to immediately provide a solution are kind of robbing their kid of being able to come up with their own things to do.”
Schrick said giving children age-appropriate freedom to choose how they fill their time helps them develop important skills as teenagers and young adults.
“When kids are not allowed to do anything unattended, including playing, it stunts their growth and autonomy,” she said. “For a kid who grows up with a parent who’s constantly over their shoulder, when they don’t have that, they don’t know what to do, because adults have always told them what to do.”
Why summer can be challenging for parents
Ultimately, boredom is simply an inevitable part of the summer months for school-age children. Schrick said this season can be a difficult time for families, as it usually involves a disruption from day-to-day routines.
“Summer is so challenging because everyone is out of their routine,” Schrick said. “There are trips and travel, and parents are likely still working a regular schedule. But kids are not in their routine, so you have to come up with childcare and ways to keep them engaged so they’re not on screens all the time.”
Hot temperatures also involve more inside time, creating hours that can be difficult to fill. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many day camps and sleepaway camps raised their fees to recoup financial losses, making them too expensive for many families, Schrick said.
“This generation of parents is expected to be so much more hands-on and present,” Schrick said. “And it’s almost viewed as bad parenting if you don’t put your kids in all these activities. I would argue that it’s cost prohibitive for most families, especially to have a child enrolled in something all the time.”
For families with preschool aged children or younger, they can continue to attend their regular childcare during the summer. But for school age children, there is an added cost of childcare that isn’t required during the school year.
“There are great free or low-cost programs available, but those fill up quickly, and then what do you do?” Schrick said. “You have to find babysitters, or ask grandma, or find someone to keep up with your kids so you’re not constantly worried they’re making poor choices.”
To help parents and caregivers find creative solutions to long summer days, Schrick developed an “At Home Summer Camp” resource with five days of free and low-cost activities. Each day has a theme — such as Camp Out, Growing Things, and Let’s Cook — and corresponding suggestions for activities, crafts, snacks and media to watch or read.
“With At Home Summer Camp, I want to make it very clear that you can do as many or as few of these things as you want,” Schrick said. “My thought process was to give people ideas that are not expensive.
“It’s such a fraught subject,” she said. “You want to give your kids memories, but the thing is, they’re going to have memories either way. It doesn’t have to be stressful.”
For more resources on Family Life, visit the Cooperative Extension Service’s Personal & Family Well-Being page, or check out Schrick's Family Life Fridays Blog.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media Contact:
Rebekah Hall
rkhall@uada.edu
@RKHall_
501-671-2061