Nat Locke: Why boredom can be the best gift to give your kids these school holidays

Welcome to week two of the school holidays where parents are expected to find something for the kids to do in a post-Royal Show world.

I know that in these times of need, you look to me, a childless woman, for comfort and sage advice. Well, I’m here for you.

You see, I have the ultimate school holiday hack. It’s free which is a bonus after all of those showbags. And it requires no skill or commitment on the parents’ part. I know. Doesn’t it sound magical?

So here it is. The quintessential school holiday activity for kids of all ages is . . . nothing.

That’s right. Nothing. I told you it was easy.

It turns out that letting your kids get bored is actually really good for them. And that’s not just my opinion. Proper experts have weighed in on this and they asserted that boredom helps kids to build a tolerance for less than optimal situations. A bit of hardship hardens them, apparently, and because life is not always Adventure World, this can be a handy skill. Bored kids develop the resilience to sit through stultifying meetings or wait at the licensing centre for the term of their natural lives.

As proof, I can survive the dullest of meetings — and I’ve sat through a few — because my school holidays were mostly interminable.

They genuinely seemed to last forever because we rarely did anything. If we expressed our boredom the traditional way: by whining “I’m boooooooooored” we were inevitably given an unpleasant job to do like weeding or stacking wood or shovelling chicken manure.

We were living on a farm, obviously, and being fast learners, we soon realised it was beneficial to keep our mouths shut and make our own fun.

Mostly that meant fighting with one another, but occasionally we did things like play French cricket or badminton together. How bucolic. Most of the time, though, we did our own thing.

During one long summer holiday, I taught myself to touch type from a secondhand typing book my dad brought home from a mate’s house. It’s a skill I’m using as I write this now, so I think we can all agree it’s lucky I was bored that year.

I did a lot of crafting too. Sewing and knitting and crocheting. Are these also skills that I still use today? No, not really. Although I think the process of learning them was beneficial. It turns out that having the time and space to nut things out and to try and fail and try again is actually a luxury.

A psychology expert also reckons that boredom helps kids to develop planning strategies, problem solving skills and organisational abilities, because they have to figure out what to do with their time. Heaps of kids these days are heavily scheduled with school and after-school activities and all of the thinking and planning around these is done for them. Which is nice, but at some point you have to figure this stuff out yourself, and it turns out boredom can be a great starting point.

I can attest to the effectiveness of this as well. I am very good at planning things. I love a good to-do list. I’m not that great at ticking things off it, but I am good at writing it. I really relish the planning phase of travelling, too. Is this the product of long boring holidays flicking through a very large atlas? Maybe.

Boredom is also a great catalyst for creativity, because it gives your brain a quiet moment to let ideas formulate. Sure, your kids will probably use these powers to film TikTok dances, but hey, at least there’s some creative output. And is that a grand departure from the “concerts” small bands of cousins would present on holidays gone by?

So this week, parents, don’t worry if you haven’t organised a fun activity for every remaining day of the holidays. Don’t spend hours googling “things to do in Perth” or enrolling your darlings in ice carving workshops or native floristry for beginners. When they ask “What are we doing today?” answer joyfully “NOTHING” and follow it up with a “You’re welcome”.

And if they fail to show the gratitude that you deserve, give them a job to do. Ten minutes of sweeping the driveway can be very effective at reminding your kids that they’re not that bored after all.