"It's like I'm trapped in a dungeon of knowledge!"
This is how one of our Wonderful Students (8 year old) described his experience of a “bored brain” in the class room. Asides from the cutest analogy ever, it’s quite accurate in describing what we all experience when it comes to boredom, isn’t it? According to this little whiz, when his brain is bored, he:
can’t think of anything
only hears ‘blah blah blah” - things don’t make sense
feels stuck
can also start to feel angry or sad
He described how frustrating it can be - he knows he’s bored, he knows he can learn and is currently disconnected from what’s happening, but he doesn’t have the tools to reconnect and reengage. The bored brain is just too powerful sometimes! (Hence the dungeon of knowledge!)
When we are bored, we make a few mistakes at the start which can lead to us dealing with this state incorrectly. One of the biggest mistakes we make with boredom, is mistaking it for an emotion. Boredom is not like anger or frustration or sadness, it’s a state of mind. It requires action, reconnection and reengagement. Basically, boredom just doesn’t go away on its own like emotions do.
The first step of shifting any obstacle, is realising it’s an obstacle in the first place. We have much proof that even in year 3, defining an obstacle can be done! Here are 4 steps to shifting a bored brain back to an active one! Feel free to share these with your little ones today - trust us - they REALLY don’t like the bored brains! Well, you probably already knew that! :)
