Kids today, not all of course, but probably most have their schedules prepared for them. Parents make playdates, sign them up for various sports, church, or other after-school activities, and usually drive them there and pick them up. There was no such thing when I was a child, at least not in my family. Oh, there were some scheduled things that we might take part in, such as Little League and Boy Scouts, but we were allowed to decide for ourselves whether we wanted to do that, the only (unwritten) rule being that we had to at least try something before deciding that we didn't like it. Thus, I was in Boy Scouts but I left Little League after one (maybe two) seasons, and two of my four brothers weren't in Boy Scouts for more than a year or so. Church and church-related activities were pretty much a given, though. I think my parents might have been flexible on some of that stuff, but I had plenty of aunts and uncles who wouldn't be. During the summers, after school, and on weekends, there were some chores that had to be done, to be sure, and there were other things that were offered to us in promise of payment, that we might opt to do, but mostly we decided what we were going to do with our time. Some things required permission, but permission for anything reasonable, and even a few things that some families might not have found reasonable, was fairly easy to come by. Not all of my friends (cousins) had it so easy, though. With a couple of them, I had to make arrangements on the sly because if I just showed up at their houses, my uncles were likely to put me to work doing stuff that I didn't want to do. I'd actually sneak around my cousin Calvin's farm, hoping to get his attention without being seen by his father, because not only would he put me to work, but he'd be yelling at me while I was working. Still, there were four (sometimes five) of us who could usually get off to do whatever we wanted to do, and we made that decision for ourselves. I lived in the country, outside of a very small town, so there were no town or county recreation departments, or youth clubs, or anything of that sort. Most often, whatever we were going to do would take place either in the woods, one of the rivers, or in a lake, and there would be no adult supervision whatsoever. In a sense though, I would have to answer that I was not allowed to be bored because if I ever told either of my parents that I was bored, they'd find something for me to do and it wasn't likely to be anything that I wanted to do. When a child tells a parent that he's bored, that means he is expecting the parent to take care of the problem. That generally doesn't go well.
One summer, my mom organized a birthday party for me. I'm thinking I was maybe seven or so. I know she meant well but she invited kids from school who I didn't normally hang around with, including some who I didn't even like very much, and a couple of my cousins who I did normally hang out with weren't there. I don't know if they weren't invited or if they knew that it was a bad idea, and so didn't come. My cousin, Calvin, who lived across the field from me, was there though. His birthday was the day before mine. Other than getting presents from people who wouldn't ordinarily have given me any presents, I was pretty uncomfortable with it. After the food and the presents were out of the way, my cousin and I went somewhere by ourselves, leaving all the other kids behind. I guess it was pretty rude. They were all gone when we got back and my mom was mad.
I was a city boy, living barely inside the city limits of our town, about fifty yards north of a dirt road named River Road. It was like being in the country. We moved there when I was six years old. A hundred yards or so behind our house was a creek, Holiday Creek, which wound around and through our town and flooded almost every year. The creek ran into a river some three hundred yard north of us which also flooded almost annually and in springtime it was like a jungle. All I had to do was get my lessons and then did pretty much what I wanted. There were no or very little restrictions on me. My time was more or less my own. I loved that place. It was the first home I really remember. When I was five my uncle gave me a three bladed pocket knife. When I was twelve my dad gave me a .22 rifle, single shot. I was taught how to use it and my instructions were to get good enough to to bring home cottontail rabbits and squirrels for our meals when needed and I was able to do that. It was there we first had a milk cow, a Jersey and from time to time, several goats.
Some of the best times I can remember are lazy afternoons layin' on a hilltop, riverbank, beachside, boats on the water, swimming in waterfalls, bouncing balls on city walls, building snow caves after a blizzard, floating on ocean currents far from shore. Whiling away the afternoons napping on porches in hammocks, watching daylight streaming through the canopy while layin' on a bed of thick moss on the forest floor... how I love being 'bored'.
It was downright dangerous to be "bored" at my house. Just *think* "I'm bored....there's nothing to dooooooo!" and my mother would be johnny-on-the-spot with something to do and it was guaranteed to be much less attractive than being bored, lemme tell ya. It was fairly hard to be bored unless you really worked at it.
I was rarely bored or even understood the meaning of the word during my childhood. My younger sister by one year was always into something and I was her sidekick. She was a daredevil but one thing though I was never first to try any of her ideas. Lucky me, but that didn't stop me from getting into trouble along with her.
If you said you were bored in my house, you were pointed to the room we called a library and told to get unbored.
You couldn't dare say you were bored in our house when I was a kid, we'd be made to clean the house from top to bottom...
Boredom may be the wrong angle to approach the conundrum of inactivity. One can be made to be busy with doing things and still have that empty feeling of angst. When I'm with my young son I like to think that I provide some moments of creative contemplation. He's always busy trying new things and I want there to be room for that so he can think for himself and hopefully grow from his own experiences whatever they may be. Given enough room Möbius may even turn the tables and try his hands at numbers or letters in an attempt to get me even more involved with his thoughts. A plant can't spread its roots if they are bound in a small container. So yes, those quiet moments, if you are patient will surge the inspiration for living your life and loving what you are doing.
I don't recall ever being bored as a kid, though I certainly would have been allowed to be. My parents were lenient since I was "the baby." (And my father called me that until he died; I was almost 50 then.) @Bill Boggs -- I also was given a gun at 11 or 12 years old. We lived on a farm, and my dad gave me my own bolt-action 22 rifle. I have kept it all these years, and only recently gave it to my son for my little granddaughter to have one day.
My mom was the same way. If she even got the idea we were bored, she found something for us to do like raking or scrubbing our stone steps. This also happened if my brother and I argued. So, we would hide behind a hedge and argue in whispers so she wouldn't hear us and put us to work.
If you leave kids alone they will always find something to do. Some of it innocent and some not so much. I lived two blocks from the river then it was over the bridge and into the woods to play war, swim bare butt in an abandoned stripping hole, shoot the .22 and pick berries. We climbed the mountain to fish the reservoirs which was not allowed. Just had a role of line with a hook wrapped on a stick, then would select a suitable tree branch for a pole, and caught grasshoppers for bait when we got there Huck Finn style. We played base ball of course and football in season. We once had 13 on one side and 12 on the other during a football game. Thing was, when the kids organized it, everybody played, good or bad. Organized sports for kids these days I think thwarts creativity in those kids.