Why Boredom Might Be the Best Gift We Give Our Kids
I keep hearing about “boredom” like it’s a problem to solve. Parents panic when their kids say they’re bored. Schools fill every moment. Adults schedule themselves to death. But boredom, as it turns out, might be the most fertile space we have left.
Amy Daniels discovered this by accident during lockdown. Her kids were home, eyes glazed from remote learning, and she refused to hand them another screen. So she invented Kitten and Clucky, a story-driven audio world where kids could listen and do something else. Kids can draw, build with Legos, daydream.
The result? Her kids started inventing their own stories.
Boredom wasn’t the enemy. It was the spark.
When Christine joined as co-writer, she noticed something else: some kids didn’t even know how to make up voices. “They’d never tried,” she said. “They’d never had to.”
That line made my stomach drop. Because how do you raise problem-solvers, storytellers, innovators if they’ve never practiced imagination?
It’s not about demonizing screens. It’s about protecting the space between them. The gap where curiosity sneaks in.
The Kitten and Clucky team found clever ways to build on that. They added printable masks and readers’ theater scripts for classrooms, so kids can color, cut, and act out the episodes. They’re even planning embroidery patterns for parents and grandparents because learning to make something with your hands is another form of mindfulness.
It’s beautiful, really: a multi-generational reminder that creation doesn’t need pixels.
Sometimes, the best thing you can do for a child — or yourself — is to let them be bored long enough to remember what they love.
Watch our full discussion here:
This week, give yourself (or your kids) a little boredom. No screens. No multitasking. Just let the stillness fidget until creativity returns. And if you’d like more reflections on attention, imagination, and connection, subscribe to Safe Passages — where boredom is not a problem, it’s a portal.