I'm Bored, said the Mom

This past weekend was a perfect taste of the summer to come. (Three and a half more days of school here in the Upper Midwest.) There was sunshine, swimming, s’mores. We grilled and lazed and smelled like sunscreen and sweat. We colored and played with Little People and grumped and got frustrated when siblings didn’t want to play kick ball and I cleaned the high chair at least ten times. Before dinner.

And we were (dare I say it?) bored.

And it wasn’t just the kids. It was me.

I didn’t have a plan or a purpose for my time. Certainly, being unscheduled is a grace. But it can also feel like a long stretch of monotony when I bounce from breaking up fights to checking email on my phone to cleaning the crumbs off the high chair (again) to surfing through Facebook.

I can’t tackle any of my projects because, well, have you met Kieran? It’s difficult to write or sort pictures while chasing a toddler. I can’t play a game with any one child without the other three wanting to “help,” which always ruins the game and frustrates everyone involved. I can’t even cook dinner, something I normally love, with this many bodies underfoot. I have to wait for Corey to be done with his work. (This weekend, it was burning the branches from the many trees he’s cut down the past few weeks. And it took him the better part of both days.)

Blech.

Boredom makes me cranky. I feel lethargic, unimaginative, stifled and irritated. It’s the opposite of fun, the opposite of loving well.

So. How to fight the mom boredom?

I have a few ideas, a few tricks that help me counter the tedium that can sometimes encroach on a SAHM’s territory.

I’ll share my thoughts tomorrow. But now? It’s your turn. What do you do when you're bored and you have your kids at home?