I agree with allowing your child to be bored sometimes, but I found it very different raising an extroverted child alone versus when I had two close together to be each other’s playmates. She needed someone to play with, and by default, that was me when we were home alone together. I would set a timer, so that I would play for 15 minutes and then I had 15 minutes to do what I needed to do!
And that is another way of achieving the same effect- you expected your child to carry her own emotion of boredom and you were willing to be part of her solution by playing with her but you didn’t think (I don’t think since I’ve known you both for some time) that you considered her boredom your responsibility to ameliorate beyond “I can play with you for a bit.” “We can have so and so over to play.” and so on. You weren't the only solution and if she was occupying herself, you didn’t jump in with ideas but let her be.
In fact, you balanced out her extrovert needs against your introvert ones and were supportive of her efforts (I can remember some projects that required multiple trips to the store for you) without being the center of those efforts or the cheerleader who was driving the project.
So true. I used to tell my daughter to just wander around until she noticed something interesting. She always did eventually, and it was never anything I would have thought of myself.
I agree with allowing your child to be bored sometimes, but I found it very different raising an extroverted child alone versus when I had two close together to be each other’s playmates. She needed someone to play with, and by default, that was me when we were home alone together. I would set a timer, so that I would play for 15 minutes and then I had 15 minutes to do what I needed to do!
And that is another way of achieving the same effect- you expected your child to carry her own emotion of boredom and you were willing to be part of her solution by playing with her but you didn’t think (I don’t think since I’ve known you both for some time) that you considered her boredom your responsibility to ameliorate beyond “I can play with you for a bit.” “We can have so and so over to play.” and so on. You weren't the only solution and if she was occupying herself, you didn’t jump in with ideas but let her be.
In fact, you balanced out her extrovert needs against your introvert ones and were supportive of her efforts (I can remember some projects that required multiple trips to the store for you) without being the center of those efforts or the cheerleader who was driving the project.
Loved this! You really named the love that undergirds believing in your child enough to not “rescue” them.
So true. I used to tell my daughter to just wander around until she noticed something interesting. She always did eventually, and it was never anything I would have thought of myself.