Boredom

When I say "I'm Bored" it can mean any number of different things. Sometimes it means whatever I was doing previously is not longer managing to hold my interest and I really do just want some suggestions of things to do now. Or maybe I finished a project and I'm looking for a new one to start. Sometimes it means I've been sitting too long and I need to move around - or it means I'm physically tired and looking for something calm and still to do.

For me it is very often one of these two things: either I'm lonely or I need to get out of the house. My loneliness can be for different people. Maybe I'm missing my mom and need her attention for a while. Maybe I'm missing my friends and need to make some plans to see them. Or I could need to get up, get dressed and get out of the house, even for just a trip to the store. Sometime even the simple act of getting out of my PJs and brushing my teeth will be enough for me, and then I can happily go back to whatever I was doing before.

Your job is to find out what "I'm bored" means to you, your children, and your family.

A blog of things to blog about

The Story of My Most Serious Injury
The Person I Admire Most
This Will Be My Epitaph
Why I Love My Hometown
Why I Hate My Hometown
Why I Was a Childhood Bully
How I Shop
How I Choose to Spend My Money
I Wish I Spent Less Money on This
Why I’m in My Current Job
My Ideal Job
My High School Clique
My Worst Subject in School
If I Had a Super Power
Here’s Where My Opinion Differs From the Majority
Why I Voted the Way I Did in the Last Election
Why I Don’t Vote
The Cause I Really Believe In
Why I Came To Religion
Why I Don’t Believe Anymore
Where I Find Spirituality
My First Kiss
My Worst Kiss
The First Time I Had My Heart Broken
Why I Travel
Why I Don’t Travel
My Philosophy on Raising Children
Why I Chose My University Degree
My Favourite Place on the Planet
My Greatest Sin Against the Environment
Why I Married My Spouse
My Most Hated Movie
The Book That Changed My Life
My Unexpected Mentor
I Couldn’t Live Without This Song
If I Hear This Song Again, Radio Personalities Will Suffer
I Have the Craziest Uncle Ever
Why I Believe in Luck
Why I Don’t Believe in Luck
How I Earned My Worst Karma
Where I Volunteer
Why I Don’t Volunteer
My Favourite Item of Clothing Growing Up
If This Celebrity Knocked On My Door, I’d Run Away With Them
Why I Care About Celebrities
Why I Love This Sport
Why I Hate Sports
When I’m at My Most Self-Indulgent
How To Be Selfless
My Childhood Dreams, and How I’ve Fulfilled Them
How I Learned Patience
How My Hard Work Paid Off
I’ve Never Been More Surprised in My Life
What Scares the Shit Out of Me
The Only Thing I Can Teach You

A quote that I especially liked

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. -- Neil Gaiman

My notes about a stupid parenting book

Well, right off the bat this book makes a terrible impression. The title is "Get out of my life but first could you take me and Cheryl to the mall?" And of course, the proper grammar would be, "Get out of my life but first could you take Cheryl and me to the mall?" Now, I'm not saying I always use perfect grammar, but I'm not writing a real, published book, a book people are going to pick up off the shelves in a real bookstore. Doesn't this author have an editor?

It only gets worse from there. One of their examples of a teenager talking back:

"Cynthia, would you please take out the litter box?"
"Why are you always picking on me?"

The author translates the imaginary Cynthia's words into, "No, I'd raher not take out the litter box. I would rather get in a fight with you."

I don't believe, as a teenager, that that's really what Cynthia is saying. I think she's just saying that she's busy, and doesn't feel like dropping it to take out the litter box.

Another quote: "The first step is to accept a child's right to say what he or she has to say, no matter how stupid or unreasonable. You don't have to listen to all of it, you can leave whenever you want, but you respect their right to say it."

My first problem with this is the assumption that whatever the teenager has to say is going to be stupid or unreasonable, when I know for a fact that teenagers can have intelligent, reasonable things to say and usually do. Sometimes they can be unreasonable - just like adults.

My second problem is that thought that the parent can just walk away in the middle of their child speaking. While of course, this is true, it's certainly not going to endear yourself to your child and make your relationship any better. It's saying that you don't care about them enough, or value their thoughts and opinions enough to even bother listening to them. Also, if you walk away, it gives them the right to walk away when they feel like it. Why should they have to listen to you when you're being stupid and unreasonable?

Just for the record, I'm about four pages in and I could have complained about WAAAAAY way more than just these couple of things. But I'm choosing to leave it at that for the moment, so I can get back to reading it.