Boredom Busters

Our family recently conquered another weekend of cooking at the local Fall Festival. It's an intense marathon of preparation and then coordinating at the actual event so that people can Eat Good Beef and stuff.

One thing I'm constantly aware of is how our family business affects our family. One huge goal of using this means to support our family is that, in theory, we get to be with our kids more. In reality, with young children,  it's hard to make that the reality. 

So the best part of this year's Fall Festival for me was, after Fall Festival,  asking our boys what their favorite part of Fall Festival was, and hearing them say, each in their own way, that the best part of Fall Festival was being near their family. 

This year, we had a nice spot behind our booth where they could have some space to play and be creative.  I stocked up on some economical STEM kits for them to assemble, and they played games, listened to Adventures in Odyssey and fashioned games out of cardboard boxes. 

I sat back there to catch my breath for a bit, and admired a very large cardboard dice that they had made. "What inspired this?" I asked.  Another mom was relaxing back there, and she quickly responded with "Boredom."

Boredom is such a great opportunity. 

Thursday,  they were firefighters. Which was fine, until it involved a second floor rescue.

Friday,  finding themselves banished from the house for an hour (or they would face Torture By Nap) they quickly became electrical engineers and designed a porch light from miscellaneous items they found in the shop attic.

It's really very little wonder that I'm always in a subconscious state of near-worry. My hair turns more gray by the hour, as I attempt to keep up with the extreme levels of mental and physical energy on constant display around here. Craig's dad just grins and tells me it has only just begun.

One day this week,  we had a friend come at 7:00 a.m. to provide childcare so we could go to an appointment. She was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she sat, in awe-struck wonder, watching the buzz of energy surging through our house as the boys did their laundry and dishwasher responsibilities and hurried through their math, so they could get on with the Important Things. Like firefighting and stuff. "Are they always this wide awake at this time of the day?" Yup. Actually,  they're not allowed to come down before 6:00. That's when it starts. 

I try to provide them with productive things for their brains and bodies to stretch and strengthen and grow. 

And then, I give them the gift of Boredom. 

And from thence flows all the entertainment I could ever desire.