10 Things to Do with Children in a Boring Environment While on Vacation

Photo by Charlein Gracia on Unsplash

Whether you and children are visiting a low-energy relative’s home with nothing to entertain young guests or visiting a public building with long lines, plan in advance to keep children busy.  The following are tips to help you as well maintain your sanity while with them!

1)  Ask the host or person responsible for the dwelling or public area if they have anything to entertain children.

2)  Bring children’s favorite items (quiet toys) from home or those that they haven’t seen in awhile.

3)  Make up games that involve movement like Charades or Musical Chairs.

4)  Use your voice and guide them in song or reciting something fun if the place doesn't require you to be quiet.

5)  Show them around the area if it is big enough and point out details.

6)  If you are able to walk or run in a large open space, you can set up races with the children.

7)  Craft projects are also a good way to past the time.  Look up fun and easy crafts that require minimal tools.

8)  Traditional children card games like Go Fish and Old Maid are fun to play with little ones.

9)  Check phone apps that are multi-player and pass the phone around.

10)  Play cool Bingo games there are many educational ones like learning shapes, letters, numbers and foreign languages.

11) Tell children funny stories about your youth.

12)  Create a drawing using pens, pencils and other writing tools to pass the time away.  Tic Tac Toe and Hangman are fun activities.

When the children are quiet and busy, this makes everyone content and traveling to new places aren't so overwhelming.  Also, please remember to bring headphones along when carrying gaming devices!

Have a great time!

Nicholl McGuire is the author of What Else Can I Do on the Internet?

Children are Rarely Ever Bored - Interesting Stuff They Do

Recreate a scene from Jurassic Park using their Legos and other toys.

Play some ball.

Visit the library, sightsee around town and pose with statues.

Stare at inspiring things and be motivated to build once at home.

Visit City Hall, take a tour, meet representatives, and voice concerns.

Part of getting over boredom is teaching children how to snap out of it

especially during school breaks and weekends.

Bored Children - Move Them Away from their Screens

The longer you sit before any screen, the more likely you won't do anything you should be doing.  People who often feel bored usually procrastinate.  They don't tend to the business at hand or they are so involved with whatever is boring them to tears that they avoid doing anything else that needs to get done.

When it comes to children, the more structured their time, the better.  Well the same is true for adults.  If you know what is expected of you each day, you don't have to worry too much about being bored.  During school breaks, personal days, and vacations, I have planned my days as well as my children's and we got a lot of stuff done.  I also utilized free time to introduce them to new things instead of letting them play games all day. 

Below are a couple of my children doing something other than video game playing.  At times we can forget about the things we introduced them to, but simply reminding yourself of your schedule and posting it for all to see will get you back on track!  

Remember to limit the amount of time you permit them to learn something new so they won't get bored with the activity.  Also, be positive about it and hopefully they will appreciate what you are teaching them.

Nicholl McGuire, Author/Speaker/Writer http://parentsbabieschildren.blogspot.com
http://whenmotherscry.blogspot.com

 

When the kids are busy, everyone is happy.

ADD - Got The Day-to-Day Boredom Blues?

ADD people are bored very easily, as you well know if you have ADD. People call us lazy, but it's not that. We'll put tremendous effort into things that matter to us, and that we enjoy. But how exciting is washing dishes or cleaning up a mess of stuff? Not very and it just doesn't happen. We learn to live with our messes.

Am I right? The dishes could be overflowing the sink, and the dust in the house might be forming little clumps that are starting to resemble small animals. They're scaring your cat. Oh, and then, there's the floor, littered with all matter of elements--rock, paper, hedge clippers, whatever. It's just a mess! And you look at that stuff, and say to yourself, "I'll get to that later," and you never do. Your ADD never allows it.

Nobody has to live that way, of course. And you can't allow it to go on indefinitely or the health department will come by and tack a "condemned" sign on your door. The stuff has to be done, no matter how much your ADD brain doesn't want to do it. But there's a way to do it painlessly. And it's so simple that you'll laugh when you read it, but it works. Really.

Here's what you can do...

Maybe you're going to pick up that stuff on the floor and actually put the hedge clippers in the garage. You really didn't need them to open that wireless mouse package, but they make it so hard! Well, OK... Get out your iPod or your CD player or turn on the Sirius, whatever, and then, crank it up. Really hear it. Then, get your nose involved. Light some incense or a scented candle that you like. And now, your sense of taste. Try some sugarless gum or hard candy while you're cleaning up. Your eyes and hands are already involved, so that will have all your senses involved and your ADD brain is less likely to balk.

You can get some added benefit by wearing something you like. What do you enjoy doing when you aren't working? Whatever that is, if it's playing football, put on the gear while you're straightening up around the house. You'll be amazed at how well this stuff works.

And you're set. You'll be dancing around, smelling good smells instead of last week's laundry, wearing something that makes you feel good, and just generally getting things done. ADD brains do get bored pretty easily, so it's important to keep it occupied. If you get really good at this, you might start to enjoy the chores you hate to do. You never know... ADD brains just need to be involved all the time. Give every sense something to do and your place will be clean and orderly. Or, if this doesn't work... hire someone to do these things for you, if you can afford it. One way or another, the stuff has to be done. Make it as easy for yourself as possible.

Tellman Knudson is a certified hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner. Subscribe to his Free weekly ADD Success Tips newsletter and take the ADD test when you visit Instant ADD Success at http://www.instantaddsuccess.com/

If Your Child is Doing Any of These Things, Then He/She is Definitely Bored!

I hate it when children say their bored!

After spending hundreds of dollars around the Christmas holiday on toys how dare a child come to me and say, "I'm bored!" That is a damn insult! Children really don't have a concept on true boredom!

Bored, back in the day, for me was when my grandmother told us to sit down and watch television and it wasn't even a children's show to watch! Bored was when my dad would make us sit at the foot of his bed and watch the news to keep from listening to us talk about our school days. Bored was when you were expected to do chores without payment and then when you were ready to spend some time playing with your toys, your parents would call you to do something else like dust! Bored was having to sit at any waiting room or stand in any line from the doctor's office to the grocery store. The bus rides were the worse, I would look at people like, "What the f*ck are you looking at?"

When my children come to me with this dumb stuff about being bored, I tell them, "There is nothing wrong with "doing nothing" sometimes." That's right I repeat "nothing" twice for emphasis. So I tell them, "Go have some do nothing time!" Do nothing time is laying on your bed looking up at the ceiling, remember those days? Now that is true boredom!

Nicholl McGuire