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>> Let kids be kids, let them play, let them screw up, and let them figure it out themselves.

I don't think that is what the author is promoting.

"Of course, it’s not really the boredom itself that’s important; it’s what we do with it. When you reach your breaking point, boredom teaches you to respond constructively, to make something happen for yourself. But unless we are faced with a steady diet of stultifying boredom, we never learn how."

I think they are arguing for actual boredom. Not an activity book, not an open acre on which to roam. Not a puzzle game. They are saying that being locked in the back seat of a car on a long trip with literally nothing to do, can be good. They are not saying that parents should allow unstructured play. They are saying that letting kids get actually bored, without any sort of play options, is not an evil to be avoided at all costs.

Isn’t that exactly what parent comment’s promoting? His kids were bored with a relatively unstimulating toy, but they reached their breaking point and learned how to have fun with it.

Nope. I think the article is about not finding fun on your own. It is not about overcoming boredom but instead actually letting them be bored.

Quote from the lede: "More important, it spawns creativity and self-sufficiency."

Is it possible to not overcome boredom? Eventually you start imagining something entertaining or you fall asleep.

Children are only bored for so long before their imagination and natural instinct for curiosity and play takes over. Supervising and forcing boredom onto them at all cost as they find ways around it is not something I believe is the intention of the article.

I think the point is addressing the urge to endlessly entertain and busy up children constantly instead of letting them just sit and figure it out on their own.

Parent of a toddler here, and always looking for best practices.

Can you give any more detail about how this works? At what age did you start doing it, what's in the boxes, and how did you introduce the idea to your kids?

2 and 4 year old.

The activity boxes can be whatever you wish honestly. I have 6 I rotate currently.

My two year old is sensory and loves tactile things to play with. My 4 year old is highly imaginative and I can give him sticks and he builds a hockey rink and plays the game out in his mind with sound effects and everything.

I don’t think there is a wrong way to do it, I just avoid technology and putting too much in them.

A nice side effect is I buy them less toys because by the time they get to the last box, it feels brand new to them even if they played with those toys 20 times prior.

That bit of it shocked me, we spoil kids too much with new stuff, just make them use what they have in a way that feels new.

How much do you monitor them? If I tried to leave my twin 2 year olds alone for an hour, one would probably strip naked and play with whatever is in his diaper, and the other would do her best to destroy whatever she could find in the room. She especially loves to dismantle books.

The first couple times are tough, like toilet training. Sometimes to learn you gotta pee on the rug. And when you (the parent) aren't there to react, the novelty of their disaster-play goes away - surprisingly fast. Little brains work faster than I think we give them credit for. Their bodies are not strong but that brain is some kind of magic sponge.

He's never done this while we're there. Only in the middle of the night. He wakes up, doesn't cry, and plays. Sometimes when we come in in the morning it's a literal shit show.

With the two year old I stay nearby in the other room working and have a monitor. The 4 year old does whatever. My two year old verbalizes before things get destructive, but I only had to deal with it a few times before he settled into it.

You can honestly find a ton of good resources with local or national home schooling organizations or parents.

I intend to homeschool my kids, and I’ve never met a more intense group of parents when it comes to their childrens upbringing and development than when I went to the Arizona homeschooling conference the last couple of years.

Even if you have no intent to homeschool your toddlers, the resources and ideas for activities and at home development is pure gold in my opinion.

Can you share a picture of a box or two? Do you fill them up with new stuff or mix them every time?

I haven't changed the stuff in the boxes in a while.

One box is literally the bottom of a wooden puzzle board, missing the puzzle pieces naturally, because God knows where they went a year ago, about 8 small wood blocks, and a matchbox car.

Currently my 4 year old makes that a hockey rink and the blocks are players. The car is the zamboni. Last month it was a destruction derby with towers.

Use whatever is at hand, many of the boxes don't have much else than some cotton balls, sticks, and rocks, and others are more involved.

The point is to rotate them through every once in awhile and it becomes new again. They invent new things to do with it each time it comes through.

On the occasion I've looked in on the play, you can see them fight it initially, my two year old will shuffle around the room for a while or take a quick nap, my 4 year old will lay on the bed or fuss for a bit, and within 30 minutes they'll gravitate to the box and start working it out.

This sounds amazing, but (conjecturing here) only works if you have more than one child. Ours will stay in a setting like this for an hour or two, but usually reading, being alone is not that fun.

have you considered not being so worried about their fun levels? I feel like the point is to allow them to grow beyond instant gratification.

My children are each alone during quiet time, so I wouldn’t worry.

I do two hours typically, sometimes one hour, there really isn’t a set rule, you simply feel it out with your own children.

We do quiet time too, but each by themselves. Putting them together is a recipe for yelling and conflict.

> Putting them together is a recipe for yelling and conflict.

Unfortunately that reflects more on the parents than it does on the children.

I disagree with this. Put any two toddlers together with "one of something" and there will be fights.

Only if you accept them. Sharing, and cooperative play are best learned early.

Siblings fight, it's part of their play and social development.

I don't know if you have kids, and if you do and have the one in a million golden children, congratulations, but in my experience, conflict exists.

If you believe that, then we have three in a million. I don't believe it's a coincidence.

Awesome!

This is cool I guess, but why not send the outside instead?

I do, all the time. I live on an acre and they roam it. Quiet time is a supplement to everything else.

Saw the ages. Makes more sense. My point was just that nature is an "activity box" all to itself.

I'm taking a guess that you don't have kids. Yes, nature is a great activity, but no matter how free-range you are, at GP's kids ages it means supervision is required. There's times in the day where you need to do dishes, laundry etc. or even just getting a quick break. There's ways to deal with that, but getting a bit of time each day where supervision isn't constant is a great luxury to have.

Bingo