Summer is a season when children can finally do what they want: interact more with their peers, play, create … but at some point of time all these activities become routine and you might hear from your child a short nevertheless a warning phrase: “I’m bored”. However there is no need to panic and better think what you can offer your kid in order to overcome summer boredom.

The first thing what comes on your mind is to encourage the child to participate in different types of activities rather than those he/she already had tried during first days of his/her summer vacations.

• Teach them practical skills.  For preschool age children it can be some simple tasks of cleaning up after art work, or even take them to the grocery shop to choose and buy goods together. Make your children self sufficient persons, as so they can always rely on themselves and their practical skills.
• Besides practically targeted activities it will be perfect if you involve your child into new to him/her interesting creative work. This can be a variety of paper crafts, scrap booking, glass and wood painting which can be applied to your child’s own room interior as decoration.
• Good books shall be a must in a home library. You can go to the bookshop with your child and choose the books he/she likes. Check out the content together; ask if he/she fancies the illustrations, the characters. You’ll surely leave the place with some colorful beautiful book in your bag.
• With some limits you can draw help of the Internet as well. There are many good sites which contain different mathematical, language, science, literature, history etc. games. This can show a child a fun way of learning useful information and enhance interest in a particular subject.

The way you respond to your child’s needs when he/she seems bored is also important for developing your kids’ internal resources for a creative, satisfying life.

• To strengthen a child’s sense of ability to generate activities will help him develop a sense of inventiveness you can say “You’re usually so good at thinking of things to do.”.
• Take a moment to recognize your child’s feelings and say: “So, you’re feeling like there’s nothing interesting to do right now?”. This will go a long way toward helping him see you as a resource rather than an adversary.
• Try to inspire your children to generate ideas for activities by asking “If you could do anything, what would you like to do?” Some of the ideas might be wiredrawn or impossible, but by sorting through their preferences, you both may get right suggestions for things to do.
• The call “Let’s do something together!” has so many opportunities you can use to bond up with your child. You can make a suggestion to create a card for a Dad/ grandmother/sister etc. Keep a stash of various art supplies handy, delving through boxes of buttons, ribbons and beads for embellishment can sometimes occupy children for long periods of time.
• Children of different ages usually enjoy helping their parents, even if their task would be only holding a jar of nails, or passing some spices to you while you are cooking. So the sentence “I sure could use some help for a while.”

At times, especially with younger children, plea of boredom is really a call for companionship, communication and attention. Assign some special times for you and your children to do simple, interesting things together, such as playing a board game, reading aloud, taking a walk, or planning your route. This will help them get in the habit of making their own choices about how they carry out their free time.