Boredom VS down time

[Scoutfish]

Sitting here and thinking about it, I noticed a difference between when I was a kid as compared to the thinking nowadays with our kids.

 

Specifically, things like taking gameboys, DS's, laptops, i-Pods and such to camps.

 

Personally, I do not think technology is the problem here. I love technology! This post is evidence of the fact that I have set aside a certain amount of rom in my house for a desk, chair, computer, filing cabnet and printer ...so I can takllkto all you very fine fellas. I can glance to my right and watch The NASCAR race on my tv through my digital cable box, and look to my right to see my wife on her laptop which connects by wireless signal to a box that connects to the outside world also.

 

My son is behind me on the couch, reading a book. Might be a nickelodien magazine or could be the WWII books he loves soooo much.

 

So anyways, technology isn't exactly banned at my house. But neither is boredom.

That's right! Bordeom happens at my house. Sometimes it leads to housework, landscaping, woodbuilding ideas or drawing, reading, or who knows what.

 

So here's something I have told both my son and wife many,many times: Ther's nothing wrong with being bored sometimes. You do not have to have an activity, or be busy every second of every day. It is not my job to entertain you 24/7

 

It's okay to just sit, look around, and notice the world. Matter of fact, if you put your games and toys away every now and then..You might see and notice more of the world around you.

 

Of course...I don't have to tell you guys that , now do I? You knew it and some of you lived it before I was born!

 

 

So, In my small opinion , that is the real issue or proble.

 

Scouts want to bring gameboys, i-Pods, laptops and whetever other electrinic things they play with every day so that they will not find themselves accidentally unoccupied for a few seconds.

 

They do not understand how to just sit back, unwind and chill out.

 

So, maybe as mentors and leaders, we need to tesach all the scouting stuff, but also teach them to sit back and enjoy simplethings like just staring into the fire's embers, the starry skies above us or listening to the crickets and plain old silence of the woods.

 

Mattter of fact, I'd like to point out something my son experienced: Last fall at our campout, after we laid down for the night, he asked me what that strange faint sound was. I Listened for a few minutes and told him it was the sound of leaves falling and hitting the ground. He was completely amazed! A few days later, after we got home, he said : "There should be a CD of the sound of falling leaves , that people could listen to when they go to bed!

 

So after I finished laughing, I though: 'Yeah..that would be cool!"

 

 

So anyways: It's not that electronics and technology are the problem or ruining camping, it's that we ( or our kids)are scared to be withouit! They are sooo used to everything being scheduled and having something to always keep them occupied and entertained 24/7!

 

Me? Boredom can be twice as entertaining!

[DeanRx]

Scoutfish-

 

I would tend to agree. Its not just the idea of 'boredom', but the fact that unrestricted free-play or ANY amount of unscheduled time is looked upon in our society as a WASTE of your potential. That's a very sad statement on our current value of a human - you are only worth what you can PRODUCE. But it is more true today than at any other time in history.

 

I've been told we can't have 'free time' on campouts, because the boys will just end up hitting each other with stick swords and throwing dirt clods at each other. One parent's eyes about popped out of their head when I stated, "whats so worng with that?".

 

The problem that I see with technology is that is has become the defacto babysitting service of both youth and adults in society. The fact that people hold up lines at banks and grocery stores because they are too busy texting to see its their turn at the counter. The fact we now have LAWS to tell people to hang up and drive. The kids that have to be plugged in because they know no other way to exist.

 

To me this techno-blitz does three main things: 1) hampers and in some cases destroys one's ability to communicate with others on a human face-to-face level. 2) destroys creativity and imagination, because its all been created and imagined for you - all thats left is to expirience / download it. 3) finally, it causes anxiety and stress in an artifical manner.

 

People no longer know how to sit down, have a cup of tea, cofee, soda, beer, whatever... together and discuss things. Very few know how to be creative (why learn to play a guitar when Wii can make you a guitar hero in one afternoon?). And most people (both adults and kids) will have a visceral stress response when their favorite forms of stimulation are removed from them. They can NOT relax without the stimuli.

 

The idea that a good afternoon involves swimming in a lake (or pool), then warming yourself on a rock while contemplating the universe with two to three of your best friends, followed by a lazy daze in a hammock, only to wake up in time to eat dinner is tantamount to blashme in our society. Even without the tech gadgets - look at how OVERSCHEDULED a typical week at scout camp is. It has to be - the parents DEMAND that they get their money's worth. God forbid little Johnny would acutally RELAX while at camp, swim a little and then hang with his friends and play chess / checkers or maybe take turns burning ants with a magnifying glass! yet, those are the best parts of camp from my youth and the things I remember that made it great.

 

I actually saw scouts CRYING last summer, because adult leaders were YELLING at them to move faster to get them from activity A to activity B and then on to chow so they wouldn't be late for flag ceremony before dinner - it was a shame

[eagle90]

Dean RX you are right on. One of the most difficult things for new crossover parents to comprehend after coming from Cub Scouts is that not every moment of every campout is planned to the minute. After six hours or so of planned activities on a campout, at 3:00 or so we say Free time till 5:00. Go walk in the woods with a buddy, play manhunt, play cards, sleep, read a book, dam up a little creek with sticks and mud, play football, do whatever you want to do. BE A KID!

 

I actually had one mother seriously ask me if we ever lost any scouts during free time. No, I said, they all wander back in time to cook dinner.

[Kahuna]

Great thread. I'm always amazed by the fact that 20 years ago, there were always kids roaming around the neighborhood where I live. Now, you rarely see any. Lots still live here because I see them en route to school and home again. Part of it is parental fear of letting the kids out of sight, I think. Part is due to video games, music and computers. But I suspect some of it has to do with the fact that kids just don't know what to do with themselves if they don't have some definite goal in mind.

[Eagledad]

>>But I suspect some of it has to do with the fact that kids just don't know what to do with themselves if they don't have some definite goal in mind.

[OwntheNight]

Eagledad

You're onto something! Where did the art of conversation go? Some of my best times in scouting and just growing up were the chats with my buddies about random useless knowledge. It's those conversations that led to other questions or arguments for that matter. Marvel vs DC, Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge, John or Paul, F-14 vs Mig 29,Earl Campbell vs Jim Brown, etc...I would spend hours reading books, magazines, album covers and sleeves just so I could have a spirited conversation with my buddies. We didn't have the benefit of googling a topic on our iphone to find out who was right or wrong. That's what made it so great!I learned more about life talking to my friends than anything.A typical conversation I hear while driving the boys to a campout involve finding the secret passage at level 23 which simultaneously opens the vortex to level 31 and releases the power key for this alien boss. HUH!!! Or the conversation is deathly quiet because they're all listening to the their ipods (Yes, we make them either turn them in or keep them in the cars while at camp)Hey, I love technology as much as the next person. ( having my entire music catalog on something the size of a deck of cards, AWESOME)I really enjoy listening to the boys when they do untether from the outside world and get the creative juices flowing for true Theater of the mind. I wish it would just happen more often for their sakes because this should be the time of their lives. I keep a quote in my locker at work that says "Most boys will value something they do with their Dad, and they'll have an experience they'll value for the rest of their lives. If you show them how to beat the next level on the Xbox, it won't last the rest of their lives." This sits right above my sons pictures so I'm reminded why I do what I do every day.

[evmori]

The way I see it is if it's isn't programed for them, they don't know how to do it! Let me explain.

 

Do you see kids playing pick up games of football or baseball or anything? I think kids today don't know how to create their own entertainment. If they aren't playing in an organized sports league or on their computer or gaming device they are lost. Just my couple of pennies of input.

 

Ed

[Stosh]

From Sesame Street on TV throughout their day, most kids are being entertained by outside organized activities. Schools, churches and family "time" all contribute to this process. Self-entertainment is not on the schedule..... Seriously, I don't think there are many kids today that can play solitary with a deck of cards. They only can do it if it's on the computer. If you don't believe me, hand them a deck of cards and ask them to shuffle them. Most can't.

 

Parents today have, themselves, grown up in the be-entertained era and know what tricks to use to keep their kids from being bored. All the way from plopping them down in front of the TV to handing them a few bucks and send them off to the mall to hang out with their friends. They probably don't know any more about dealing with boredom than their kids do.

 

Periodically I "plan out" time to be bored for my boys. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Last summer camp, I had an evening of boredom planned out that worked really well. I trumped up some kind of "punishment" for the boys and they were all told we were going to go out in the field next to camp and discuss the problem with a little "time out". We went out and just sat...being bored. Eventually the boys noticed the stars and began to look for satellites, planets, constellations, etc. It eventually took on a conversation as to why we hadn't done the astrology MB, etc. Then the conversation rambled on about a whole lot of things in the troop that they could be doing instead of being "bored" and/or wasting troop/patrol time.

 

We never did get to the discussion on the "punishment".

 

Sometimes being bored is the best thing in the world for everyone concerned.

 

Stosh

 

 

[shortridge]

"But I suspect some of it has to do with the fact that kids just don't know what to do with themselves if they don't have some definite goal in mind."

 

I dunno about that. I found out last week that when my daughter (age: "I'm almost 6") is bored, she'll decide to fill up her Halloween candy bucket with water, take it into her bedroom, place it on her bed and attempt to give her dolls a bath. With the results you might expect.

 

Kids are naturally hard-wired to explore, adventure, try new things and have fun. I put a large part of the blame on adults. When we overschedule our kids and don't give them any free time, and when teachers have to spend most of the year teaching to the test and can't get into any of the fun sideline stuff, we send a very clear message that just playing around isn't important.

[Gwaihir]

"Parents today have, themselves, grown up in the be-entertained era and know what tricks to use to keep their kids from being bored. All the way from plopping them down in front of the TV to handing them a few bucks and send them off to the mall to hang out with their friends. They probably don't know any more about dealing with boredom than their kids do"

 

You all make some very very valid points, and I agree with a lot of what you're all saying. Food for thought though... as a 32 year old man who falls into the "parents today" demo, while it's true from a lot of what I've seen from my peers, if parents my age don't know how

to deal with boredom, its most likely because their parents didn't teach them, or allow them to learn how. When we were children, video games were just starting to become popular, cable television was just hitting its stride, computers were becoming more than just mainframes,

sensationalized news was becoming more and more the norm while reports of child molesters and satan worshipers stealing kids off the street were the panic news hitting parents ears. Women were going into the work force more than ever as well and having a parent home raising the

child practically vanished. It just became "easier" for the baby boom generation to leave their kids in front of the tube where it was safe, that mentality passed on even worse to the kids who are now parents today.

 

I'm thankful I had a full time mom at home with the 5 of us and a dad who took all his remaining free time he had outside of work and home maintenance to teach us, to be involved in scouting with his 3 boys (all of whom I can proudly say, earned the rank of Eagle) as well as tons of family vacations to historical sites, camping trips, etc. I like to think I'm one of the people of my generation who knows how to put the blackberry down, turn off the computer and go outside and just sit. I remember those nights during a campout sitting around just staring into the fire embers completely content or laying on a hill watching clouds, and I want to instill those same values and ideals in my children because if left to their surrounding environment for instruction, it'll just be more of the same in an endless cycle (of course, that's what being a parent actually is). It's also why I made a decision to reconnect with Scouting. So that I could be involved in shaping America's youth and maybe bringing back a lot of these lost values and concepts as well as helping teach boys about the great adventure that is outside their doors and past their neighborhoods.

 

Now I'm not knocking technology, my career is in computers and it puts a roof over my family's head and food on the table. I'm talking to you all via a computer! But like that great line in Shane...

 

"A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that. "

 

I feel that technology is no different, it's all about us, the human beings who teach our children. I own a Nintendo Wii, Gamecube, Playstation, etc and I fully admit, video games are fun and can be challenging and more and more they can be educational too with the medical simulations, historically themed games, etc. The key, which I'm pretty sure we're all aware of, is balance. I'd just as soon go outside and play catch or walk in the park as turn on the Playstation and shoot zombies. I think part of what we as adults need to do to help Scouting is to be aware of video games and the internet. The best way to defeat your enemy is to know your enemy. We need to help today's boys realize that while shooting aliens in Halo is fun, going down to the range and shooting bow and arrow or rifle is much more fun. While it's fun to sneaking around corners to get the drop on unsuspecting enemies like Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, it's more fun to learn how to stalk in the wild and play games that involve stalking with other boys. (Yeah, I know, shocking that stalking can be acceptable and fun in video games, but with Scouting it's some kind of taboo), so on and so forth. I think a lot of BP's concepts still will hold true today, and boys will be boys. We just need to unplug them from "the Matrix" and show them there's a real world out there while slowly re-adjusting our societal view on things like outdoors.

 

Sorry for preaching, just wanted to share my .02 for what it's worth.