Early this summer my whole family went on vacation to a lake house. There was no WIFI and limited television but unlimited sun, fun, and water. There were cousins, junk food, late nights, fireworks, and fishing. What more could you ask for?
I spent many summer days in a cottage by a lake. There were two bedrooms and 11 cousins. There was no TV to speak of as cable was non-existent at the time and we were in the middle of nowhere Indiana. There were card games and board games for raining days, there was a ton of water skiing, fishing, and playmates.
As we drove home from vacation the kids talked about all the best parts of the week: learning to water ski, sparklers, tubing, shoving each other off the swim platform, fishing, hanging out with cousins, eating lots of junk food. It brought back a flood of memories from my summers at the cottage.
How did we pass the time - unplugged? And how do I teach my children how to just - be? This is something I struggle with as a mom. Am I doing enough to show them how not to be "bored". I made a simple poster for our kitchen this summer and it hangs right under their chore chart. It's titled THE BORED BOARD. My kids know at this point not to say the "B" word in front of me or they'll get a few extra chores.
The Bored Board has 100 ideas of things you could do with your time. Very few include an electronic device. Don't get me wrong, I know that my kids will need to be skilled at technology and plugged in to survive in the Twenty First Century. I am going to have to figure out Instagram and follow them on their YouTube channel. I just hope that when they have children they will take them to a Lake House for vacation and show them how to caught minnows with a net and fireflies with their hands.
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