Part Nine · 8 of 11

Time to Be Bored

When I felt bored as a kid, I played outside with other kids and made sure to come home by sunset, or my mom would shout from our balcony. I packed a box of chess pieces into a bag and went out to see if any strangers wanted to play. I watched the clouds and guessed how soon my dad would come home from his morning run. I caught grasshoppers and dragonflies. I hunted through our bookshelf and once found a martial arts novel that I read for days.

Sometimes children need the time and space to be bored. That’s when they start to explore on their own terms.