To facilitate discussions, if you’d like, you may

choose to sit at a table with one of these labels:

• Español
• Only Child
• Lower Elementary (K-2nd)
• Upper Elementary (3-5th)
• Secondary (6-12th)

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Website: https://www.a12gifted.org Email: info@a12gifted.org

Facebook: Adams 12 Gifted & Talented Parents Group

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Thank you for joining us!

Adams 12 GT Parents Group

An Affiliate of the Colorado Assoc. for Gifted and Talented (CAGT)

• CAGT - www.coloradogifted.org

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• Student & Family Events - Nature Walk with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, K-5th graders on Saturday, April 26th 10am-12pm, Registration open NOW

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• Parent Information Meetings - This is our last one for the school year, but Jenny Hecht is speaking at Stargate* on Monday, April 14th 6-7:30pm

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• Parent Socials (day/time varies) - At the next one we’d love to discuss plans for next school year: Ca Phe in Thornton, Thursday, April 10th 11am-1pm

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• Planning Meetings - We are made up of parents just like you! Come get more involved. Next meeting: Tuesday, April 22nd 6:30-8pm at Broomfield Library

Website: www.a12gifted.org Email: info@a12gifted.org

Facebook: Adams 12 Gifted & Talented Parents Group

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I’m Bored! Strategies for GT Kids at Home and School

Agenda

• Dealing with boredom at home
• What the research says
• Putting research into practice
• Dealing with boredom at school
• Sharing experiences and ideas
• Build your own boredom buster menu

Little Research on Parenting Gifted Kids

The Bad News:

• Most research is focused on supporting gifted children educationally
• Almost no empirical evidence on how to “parent” gifted children
• There is some evidence parenting gifted children presents additional challenges
• Parents often feel greater sense of responsibility to ensure child reaches potential

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The Good News:

• Building a community of adults who also have gifted children can help share best practices
• Your gifted child can help you solve the boredom problem
• Dealing with boredom effectively helps build lifelong skills

Research Indicates Boredom is Important

Creativity: Research in 2014 showed that participants who had a boring task to complete were able to generate more creative ideas afterwards than participants who had not been bored.

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Build Executive Functioning: Research shows that executive functioning helps children recognize and resolve boredom, which suggests building those skills will help children be bored less often.

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Discover Sense of Self: Research in 2023 showed that giving people undistracted time to be bored allowed them to discover their true passions and sense of self.

Children need to sit in their own boredom for the world to become quiet enough that they can hear themselves’ -Dr Vanessa Lapointe

Two Types of Boredom at Home

Want you to give them something to distract them (stimulation seeking):

Asking you to solve the problem

Want something more exciting

Indirectly (or directly!) asking for screens

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Want your attention/time (attention seeking):

Asking for your time, not necessarily an engaging activity

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How We Use Screens is Key to Outcomes

• Using your smartphone to manage boredom could leave you feeling increasingly bored and even more fatigued. (2021 Study)
• Active vs passive screen time leads to different mental health outcomes
• Passive screen time as an antidote to boredom fails to build executive skills, which will become more difficult to acquire over time.

Boredom Menus Can Work at Any Age

Elementary Requires More Prep Time

A lot of times, this is them asking for your attention and adults will have to do more up front work at this age.

• Libraries (pick themes for each week, allow the child to pick the theme and find a certain number of books/videos that fit the theme before they are allowed to come find you)
• Art ideas through Instagram or Pinterest (I allow my six year old to flip through one creators’ projects to identify one he wants to try)
• Boredom Box
• Allow child to research themed snacks for family movie night (and, if they are older, make grocery list for items you need)
• Ask child to find a hike for the family. Put more requirements depending on age (how long, elevation change, distance from house, type of terrain)
• Trade time for screen (they entertain themselves for 20 minutes, they get screen for 20 minutes)
• Offer them chores to entertain them (They will usually quickly find ways to entertain themselves)

Middle/High School Have Skills To Solve Their Own Boredom

• Have child research a local non-profit that works on a cause the child cares about, find a time for family to volunteer or organize a drive
• Pick up a craft or skill (musical instrument, knitting, wood working, dancing, etc)
• Have student brainstorm gifts within a budget for aunts/uncles/grandparents and keep a running google note (could save tons of time at birthdays/holidays)
• Ask child to meal plan for the next week, put requirements (at least one vegetable each meal, certain amounts of protein, all vegetarian, etc)
• Plan part of your next family trip, including budget
• Ask them to plan part of a family garden
• Board Games (with friends, siblings, or family. Online or off!)
• Boredom/activity “Menu”

Key Points to Remember

• Use screens judiciously as solution to boredom (inhibits development of executive skills, creativity, and self-discovery)
• Foster decision making, give your child options and allow them to choose
• Keep running list of mental load you have that you could potentially hand to older kids (Great for building executive skills and feeling contribution to family)
• You do not need to avoid all boredom, boredom can be good!

Boredom is the feeling of under-stimulation when a task is too easy or unrewarding.

It's a mismatch between perceived ability and task, or effort and reward.

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Task doesn’t match interest.

• In subject matter
• Who to do it for
• Who to do it with

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Task is too hard.

• Lack of success or positive feedback perceived as boring
• Better descriptors may be frustrating, embarrassing, anxiety-provoking

Task is too simple.

• Being asked to perform skills or demonstrate understanding that has been mastered.

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Task is intrinsically boring.

• Some tasks aren’t interesting or enjoyable to do.

Task is reasonable and we have skills to fully understand the demand, but think it’s too hard.

• Performance expectations are higher than reasonable.

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Task is just right but have to “work at it” to learn.

• Limited experience with this
• Unpleasant feeling characterized as boring.
• Better descriptors may be frustrating, embarrassing, anxiety-provoking

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Task is reasonable, but we lack skills to fully understand the demand.

• Underdeveloped metacognitive skills - think it’s easy, but actually missing it.

Name

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Strength

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Need

Root Cause

• Is it the activity itself or something else?
• Is there something else you’d rather be doing?
• Am I understanding what the teacher is saying?
• Is this lesson too hard, too easy or not interesting?

Self-reflection & Problem-solving

• Am I feeling frustrated, sad, or anxious instead of bored?
• What is one thing I can do to make it more interesting for myself?
• If I could change one thing about the lesson, what would it be?
• What questions can I ask to make the learning more interesting?
• What’s one small thing you could do to make it better?
• What helps you feel less bored at home?

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The goal is not to rescue them from discomfort or to make them just tough it out, but to understand the situation and themselves more fully to make strategic decisions.

Explore Deeper

• How did this learning connect to other things I know?
• What does this make me want to learn more about?

Metacognitive Thinking

• What can you learn about yourself when you are bored?
• Are you paying attention to how you are learning or just what you are learning?
• What strategies have you tried to stay focused?

Support & Guidance

• Would you like help to brainstorm ideas?
• Is there anything I can do to help you communicate with the teacher?
• How will you deal with feeling bored next time?
• What strategies can you use next time you feel bored?

Discussion Question 1

What collaborative strategies have worked well for your child in the classroom?

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Discussion Question 2

What are your family’s rules around screen time?

What has been a struggle? What has worked well?

Discussion Question 3

What are some potential interest areas you would like to develop on a “boredom menu”?

Book Giveaway Time

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Get out your tickets!

References

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The kids are bored: Trait boredom in early childhood and links to self-regulation, coping strategies, and parent–child interactions,

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,

Volume 243,2024

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Mundane emotions: Losing yourself in boredom, time and technology

Stephen Murphy, Tim Hill, Pierre McDonagh, and Amanda Flaherty

Marketing Theory 2023 23:2, 275-293

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Fatigue, boredom and objectively measured smartphone use at work.

Dora J, van Hooff M, Geurts S, Kompier M, Bijleveld E.

R Soc Open Sci. 2021 Jul 7;8(7):201915. doi: 10.1098/rsos.201915. PMID: 34295513; PMCID: PMC8261226.

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