Memorial Day weekend always feels like the starting gate to summer. It’s the time of year when I used to head out and buy bubbles, sidewalk chalk, hula hoops, and jump ropes for those long summer days with the kids at home. As both an educator and a parent, summer always felt a little like a tag team — the teachers were tagging out, and now it was my turn to step in and help create the days.
At least that’s how it looks through rose-colored glasses.
Because any parent knows summer also brings plenty of:
“I’m bored.”
“There’s nothing to do.”
“We have no food.”
“I’m hungry.”
And our responses?
“You’ll figure something out.”
“You just ate.”
“We have plenty of food.”
The reality is that parenting during the summer can feel both magical and exhausting at the same time.
One thing I’ve noticed over the years, both personally and professionally, is that our children rarely experience true boredom anymore. Their days are often filled with camps, sports, activities, screens, and constant entertainment. And honestly, it makes sense. We live in a different world than the one many of us grew up in. The days of “go outside and come home when the streetlights turn on” look very different now.
There are plenty of reasons for that. Technology is designed to grab attention, and screens offer quick entertainment that’s hard to compete with. But this isn’t about blaming technology or parents. We are all doing the best we can in a world that constantly pushes busyness and stimulation.
At the same time, it may be worth asking ourselves if our kids are getting enough opportunities to simply be bored.
Because boredom is not necessarily a bad thing.
In fact, boredom is often where creativity begins. It’s where kids start inventing games, building forts, drawing, exploring outside, creating stories, or learning how to sit with discomfort and work through it. Those moments help build imagination, confidence, independence, and problem-solving skills.
So this summer, maybe the challenge for all of us is to remind ourselves that it is not our job to fill every minute of our children’s time. They are capable of finding their own fun, rediscovering imagination, and learning how to navigate those moments of “there’s nothing to do.”
Of course, that’s easier said than done. The complaints are real, and boredom can feel uncomfortable for kids who are used to constant stimulation. But maybe that discomfort is not something we always have to fix immediately.
Because in the long run, do we want our children to rely on others to constantly fill their time, or do we want them to become self-motivated, creative, curious, and confident in themselves?
Maybe summer can still be a little bit magical ,not because every moment is planned, but because there’s finally room for exploration, imagination, and even a little boredom.