Children staying indoors and not knowing what to do with themselves is a new phenomenon. It's new because parents no longer establish expectations of their children based on what children and adults need.
What do adults need? They need peace and quiet, and time away from their children, so they can get their daily tasks done and take a break now and then.
It's a perfectly reasonable need.
What do children need? Children need to learn how to entertain themselves outdoors, rain or shine, without adult supervision. They need fresh air and sunshine too.
“Why do so many Americans say they want their children to watch less TV, yet continue to expand the opportunities for them to watch it? ”
If your children are inside giving you a hard time, why don't you send them outside? They'll survive. Tell them to get dressed and go outside until you call them back indoors.
If they insist on coming back in without permission, then lock the doors so they can't return until you say they can.
The first week will be hellish. Your children may whine, cry, wail, and God knows what else. But soon they'll start to play. They'll invent games on their own, they'll climb trees, they'll make mud pies, and they'll do all sorts of things they wouldn't do if you let them stay indoors.
You'll call them in at the regular hour, and they'll want to continue playing.
It sounds divine, doesn't it?
It's called having a normal childhood. Living outdoors in their free time is what children have always done. The indoor obsession with technology and the lazy behavior that follows is unhealthy and abnormal.
It's against everything that childhood stands for: adventure, joy, laughter, exploration, fun, learning, and socializing.
As your children use their imaginations to figure out what to do with their time, they're learning how to become resourceful too.
For example. one of my favorite things is to go into my kitchen, find absolutely nothing to cook and invent a new meal that I've never made before. It's not my favorite thing to do, really. But I do love it when my children think they will have nothing good to eat for dinner, and then they come to the table with disbelief.
"Where did you get this?" said they.
"In the cupboard, said I."
"But there was nothing to eat," said they.
"You didn't look hard enough, said I."
I learned how to be a resourceful cook when I was a young woman, because there was a time when I was living overseas and money wasn't plentiful. The cupboards often seemed bare, so I had to learn how to make something out of nothing.
Your children need to learn how to be resourceful because there will be times when life’s cupboards seem bare, so to speak.
If they don't know how to figure a way out of a difficult situation, they'll be lost.
Learning to become resourceful happens when you have nothing—or you think you have nothing. You have to wrack your brains to figure out how to make something out of nothing.
“There’s nothing to do; I’m so bored.”
Like when you put your children outdoors with nothing but some water and a snack. At first, they won't know what to do with themselves. That's when the moaning and groaning will set in. They'll call you a mean mother and all sorts of awful things.
You'll be inside warm and cozy, and you'll feel guilty as can be. But don't. What you're doing for them is in their best interest.
Once they realize you mean business, they'll begin to find things to do outdoors. And this is one way they will learn how to become resourceful and to engage in life.
Another option would be to set a kitchen timer outdoors. You can give your children a trial run by setting the timer for 20 minutes. When it goes off, they can come inside. You will slowly work your way up to two hours per day.
At some point, you won't even need it anymore because they'll be having so much fun.
This plan of ours will work much better if you get rid of the technology in the home. By the way, it's a given they are not allowed to take any technology outdoors, right?!
“The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.”
Unplug them inside, and they'll play a lot better outside. Keep them plugged in, and you'll have whiney kids forever. Technology interferes with your child's ability to learn how to entertain himself, which is why you want to get it out of your children's sight.
Lastly, once you get past the two-week point, you should find life has suddenly become very blissful. Your children will know how to occupy themselves indoors and outdoors, and you'll have some peace and quiet in your home.
Grab a cup of tea and enjoy it. No guilt allowed.
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