THE BORED CHILD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20644, 16 February 1929, Page 16

THE BORED CHILD.

People who have nothing lo do with children very often say that the.bored,., child simply doesn’t exist.- They have ’ never met one; there cannot be one. They announce the solemn' fact^-firmly-. 1 believing it, just as they go on asserting that childhood, is always happy. > The bored"child does exist.' Happily, '< he is rare, but he is important and usual.. enough to be dealt with, in one of bur .7 big nurse training * andgoverness-train-i; ing centres. A child must hot be; bored.' A child must not, be allowed' tb become, bored. A *bild must be amused; must - be taught to amuse himself, for a bored ;, child gets into mischief, and is a nuisance v; to himself and other , peopled ’ All ; thii. these would-be guardians of young hfiil- ; dren are taught, and they are aent.ous into the nursing world with adequate v , weapons against boredom. But there is boredom that is more pi ; , less permanent, and boredom that “is."" fleeting and. temporary—a mood! of wet afternoon or a too long holiday. It. is the rare, 1 permanent boredom which is ', the hardest to combat and understand. -

There is, of course, a certs in listless* ness of mind which, goes hand in hand with ill-health, and a fluid who. is. habitually listless should certainly be examined by a doctor. On the' other, hand there are many 'listless children who are constitutionally sound. ■

In some cases one does not have to' look very far for the cause, for -some parents ar*» painfully conventional and unimaginative in their ideas of amusing their offspring .or catering for their ; spiritua. or mental welfare. ’ What may suit one child does“not suit t. another. For instance, baby .talk, so discouraged by .most moderns, may "go down ” with one child and not with driother. In the same.way all children are ': not interested in the same things, though many parents, would like them ~tb belLife is so much simpler if you can apply the same rule to everybody! And so it is that when a little girl turns away from dolls or some conventional little-; girl game her mother, instead of being ' glad that the child has isome ideas of her. own,, some .budding individuality, ..thinks -j that she is bored or not normal. •=

I have even heard it whispered of the listless child that he may.not possess the... average intelligence, that the trouble may indeed be a mental one. But if your doctor-has already reassured you - this can hardly be so, and far from the, child not possessing average intelligence,- • the mental powers may even be above the - average. ... : For it is . as. well to remember, that ' listlessness and boredom : in a child maybe an unconscious form of protest, as it is so often in a grown-up. The child is perhaps, carrying on with something he does not care for any more, has 'grown out of, ceased to like. He is listless because he has. no taste for certain things. His listlessness may he just a. mute appeal for a change. The child wlio has no taste for ordi-\ nary childish things may have some taste for other things. It is the parents* or teachers’ business to discover on what lines he is prepared to be interested. The young child who will hot eat is - hot uncommon. I have known childfeh... who could only be persuaded to take:’ food if someone told them a story at the same time. This sort of 'thing should not bo encouraged, of course, but it should be seen tha the food'ls not dull and that it suits the child. If food looks interesting and, more, tastes interesting a child is not likely to want a story as well. The latest of modem toys made with such conscientious care have a greater appeal to many children, because the children become interested in their mechanism. The dull, -nartiatic, and old-fashioned toys may have left those . children cold, but that was. no sigh that - " there was no pleasing them,” or that “ they were spoilt.” For the little carved and gaily painted. - wooden animals of modern toyland do please. ’ r hey > have some humour and - some personality, and l the child likes the cow’s head which moves on ball ' bearings, and the delightfully quaint' ' characters out of •Alice in Wonderful ”or any other favourite book. "

The bored child, far from being less intelligent than his fellows, is often" more intelligent, and is perhaps only in need of more intelligent handling. / .