I do want my son to be able to tolerate a certain amound of boredom. I do want him to learn how to have a rich inner life and not count on the world to entertain him 24/7. I do want him to appreciate that life is about more than being productive and entertained. I worry that in our high tech, high stimulus, busy world that there is a genuine risk that a child will never have a chance to learn to genuinely entertain himself in his own mind.
Yes! Some of my best memories and, I think creative growth, are from hanging around on the weekends and summer afternoons with friends bored out of our skull, bored with our toys, no structured activities. Out of that lull time, we started a "3 street Newsletter" publication, wrote plays and puppet shows, etc. (Luckily, with caller ID, my children won't get creative with the telephone like we did...
).
However, I'm pretty certain that no creative growth came out of having to sit through lessons where I already knew the material. If anything, that was stunting. I believe boredom is fine *if* you're given the freedom to go where your mind wants, KWIM?
