the boredom problem

I have told Sophie and Fynn that I am not a 3 ring circus, a dog and pony show, or a party entertainer. I am their mom. Sometimes they will have to figure out how to entertain themselves. I like what this blogger says about it: we can't expect them to stop saying "I'm bored" but we can expect them to figure out ways to entertain themselves.

We took them to Vernon today for a quick trip. Vic went in to Future Shop to pick up Sophie's birthday gift (the irony of my first paragraph) while I had him drop the 3 of us off at the Vernon branch of the Okanagan Regional Library. I wanted someplace for us to go that did not involve spending money or perpetuating Sophie's "mommy buy me-itis." The library works quite well.

When we got home they got to watch an Authur DVD that the library had. After that Sophie wanted me to construct some type of skyscraper she had seen on TV. While I love the show Art Attack I am not a freakin graphic/industrial/textile designer. I think somehow these shows are presented as easy things that parents can do with their kids when really they are shows that primarily are meant for entertainment. I told her she had a very nice sketch book that she could go draw in. That resulted in heavy pouting but eventually she realized that she better figure this one out on her own since I wasn't about to take on her skyscraper project. Later when she came downstairs in that glumpy way that bored kids do, I said, fine, we can work on some French homework. Not much to be bored about.