There’s a line in my book that says this:
Here is yesterday’s proof.
My kids were bored.
They complained; I ignored them.
They found an elastic on the floor.
This is what they created:
Yup.
They spent ninety minutes using the elastic as a sling shot and zinging various toys, boxes, and food items across the kitchen floor.
I drank a full cup of tea, without microwaving it once.
I’ve finally mastered this parenting thing.
For today.
~
In contest news, here are the winners of two recent giveaways:
- $75 to spend at Novica.com: Kelly Kinsman
- $250 to spend at Print123.com is ChesNut House (please email me at IronicMom(at)gmail(d0t)com)
~
Your turn:
How do your kids occupy themselves magically so that you can drink?
Or, what did you do as a kid that kept you absorbed so your parents could drink?
You are my new hero.
So true about the lazy parenting thing. I absolutely believe it makes kids have to figure things out for themselves. My BIL and SIL are smart people, but SIL is always on the phone and BIL is always watching cartoons. Meanwhile, the kids? ALl three of them? Major scholar athletes — all of them. Raised by wolves, I tell ya. And I’m trying to follow suit with TechSupport. 😉
So bummed about that Novica win. If Kelly doesn’t contact you, please know I am your #2 girl. But I might have to buy that bracelet anyway. Seriously. I don’t think we will run into each other or anything. Probably.
I can only dream that my kids will turn out to be problem solvers.
I think we need to have matching bracelets. They can be our power writing bracelets. Or something.
I love this as a parenting technique, and I can’t wait until Monkey is old enough that I can start implementing it! At the ripe old age of 18 months, if left to his own devices he would bungee jump off the dining table or get eaten by the dogs or something.
I remember once as a kid my sister and I peeled carrots into big piles of thin strips, and put them on a turn table thing like a lazy Susan. Then we would spin it around and eat one strip of carrot at a time. I have NO IDEA what that was about, but it kept us occupied for hours!
Awesome description of the lazy susan eating machine. I can see it in action!
My 11 yr old knows what my answer will ALWAYS be when he says “I’m bored.”
ONLY BORING PEOPLE ARE BORED.
‘nuf said.
I am stealing that answer, Aimee. Brilliant.
My son pushes a car around or goes down his tiny slide for whole minutes at a time.
Then he comes over and says “Stinky yucky”, and I go change his diaper. All. Day. Long.
So worth it, though.
Ha ha. That stage passes. Then before long, you’ll be the one in the diaper.
“Tea”.
Yeah, sure.
😀
Ha. It was. It’s wine now though.
AWESOME!
And might I add that i’m super impressed at how clean your floor is.
The irony is that there was this huge maple syrup spot under the blue box. I think it was cemented there.
Yes, typically Canadian…
This comment made me laugh.
kids are very creative and they’ll do just about anything to entertain themselves, especially when it’s close to bedtime – my ten-year old is very clever at creating games or distractions when it is well past time to go to bed!
Yes, delay tactics. I think I still do that…
Why didn’t I think of elastic???
I may have mentioned a while ago that my daughter became Spider Woman for a week. She wound black thread around every leg in the house including mine!
It helps if you leave the elastic from the morning paper on the floor.
I’m getting out the black thread tomorrow.
Have fun with that! Just don’t forget and then run to the phone…
Who phones anymore? 😉
When my oldest was still an “only” and I ignored her she would find the Sharpie and decorate a wall for me. Now my youngest is an “only” during the school day and he hardly knows how to function because he’s so used to having other kids to entertain him.
I’ve microwaved my coffee twice already this morning. I’m getting out the elastic… 😉
Having twins, I don’t really have a youngest/only/oldest thingie. But I can imagine it.
How did parents survive before microwaves? Oh, I know. They sent their kids out to work in the field or garden. Also brilliant.
Reblogged this on DeborahBidwell's Blog.
OMG I can’t wait for this book.
🙂
My kids are ‘alright’ but my brother and I were awesome kids. We would take a globe, close our eyes and point to a country. Then we’d have to act out like we lived there. We’d also take a large cardboard box, label it with all the titles of our 45s and the person inside the box would retrieve a scrap through the cut out slit and play it. Yes, the human jukebox. We’d take couch cushions and form forts (yeah, kids still think of that), but then we’d pretend to be in a ‘junk yard’. Sure we’d play Atari and watch tons of TV, and complain that we were bored, but we made due. Sometimes I sit at a ‘play tunnel’, bouncy place and try to imagine my great grandma doing crap like this…unlikely.
Can you come over and we’ll play human jukebox? That is seriously awesome.
I think you’re onto something here, Leanne! With necessity being the mother of invention and all, a parent would be wrong to continue to be the official Entertainment Director for their kids! Score one for Ironic Mom!
Justin
Writing Pad Dad Blog
Writing Pad Dad on Facebook
I may have scored one here, Justin, but I think I’m still in negative numbers…
I love it! I’m quoting you and linking back to this!
Aww, thanks, DRP!
I swear that my kids’ best inventions derived from total and complete boredom. Eventually, they realized that no one was there to entertain them, and they had to figure something out for themselves. 🙂
It used to be a lifetime skill for all of us. Then came the internet. 🙂
Reblogged this on cjanelaugh and commented:
lol love this!
Thanks!
I’m trying to figure out how to be just the right kind of negligent parent to drive my daughter to greatness. I’m hoping it involves naps.
It does tend to take a few years. You’ll get there. Bribing kids so you can sleep longer is a great strategy.
Awesome. My kids have resorted to riding their bikes outside.
I first read “inside.” Outside is good.
This is so going to bite you in the rear when they hit their teen years.
I suspect you’re right. I’m hoping they’re so busy with sports by then (which presents its own problems…)
I used to tell my kids when they were bored:”You have a great opportunity to use your imaginations. Go for it!”
I can’t say they always liked hearing that, but they got the point.
Yes. We are not event planners. I can’t even plan a meal.
You are a patenting mastermind. I am now making my kids reenact over watched tv shows when they are bored. Dog with a Blog has been a good one.
That’s a great one. I am borrowing that…
High five girl! Amazing how inanimate objects that are free are the ones the kids really get the most enjoyment out of!! Who needs Toys R Us!?
Certainly not our VISA cards…
My youngest niece taught herself to read at a pretty young age because no one would read as many books to her as she wanted them to! Such a smart one!
Ha. Necessity is the mother of invention…even for preschoolers!
Move ahead 10 years… Vivian convinces William to allow her to hurl him from the trebuchet they’ve engineered after scrapping out what’s left of your minivan. Video goes viral. Cha-ching!
That looks pretty fun. Please ask the dynamic duo if I can come play next time they’re launching things.
Your comment originally made me think, “Thank goodness we don’t live on a farm/acreage. They could really do some harm.” Then I rethought that. “Oh no. We live in the suburbs. They can do some real harm. And our neighbours would know.”
So, um, thanks for that thought process, Chase.
This weekend I had a major writing bug, and I was determined to craft something by the end of the day on Saturday. My oldest uttered those lovely words by mid-afternoon . . . I’m bored. He then asked if I would play a game with him. Being mother of the year, I declined. Yes, I am a stellar parent. So what did he do? He figured out something else to do with his time. I believe it involved lifting weights.
So, while normally I would jump at the chance to do something with my kids that doesn’t involve the TV or video games, I felt like a big failure when I had to say no in order to finish my own stuff. But it all worked out in the end. Those children will be self-sufficient if I have to ignore the hell out of them!!
Yay for writing! Plus, I think it’s our generation who are raising kids to believe the world revolves around them. When I was young, I knew the world didn’t revolve around me. I still know it!
Here’s to lifting weights….or pens.
I love your kids. Not putting on the tv and coming up with some weird ass game that we would have when we were kids. Resourcefulness. Ottawa love it!!
There are no words….
Okay, you are a master. But get this, today my kids, on their own, decided to organized and label the playroom. Really not my idea. So I might THE master! (And I was ignoring them too and had forbidden the tv.) All for ignoring . . .
My brother and I found a pile of linoleum stick tiles in the basement. We stuck them to our bare feet and walked around crushing things with our feet, pretending we were Transformers. It was really fun……until we tried to remove the linoleum tiles from our feet and removed several layers of epidermis in the process. And then we realised that the tiles were for the upcoming kitchen ‘renovation’ my parents had planned. The second fun activity was trying to find ways to hide all the broken tiles, so we wouldn’t get in trouble.
We have 5 kids so keeping the occupied is a big deal in my house. We download a lot of audiobooks. There are lots of great sites to get them, but we use this site a lot because all the stories are free and original. http://www.twirlygirlshop.com/moral-stories-for-kids