No one really seems to talk about this side of parenting. Parenting gets boring!
Not sure why because it’s very much part and parcel of being a parent whatever the age of your child. As lovely as being a parent is there are times for all of us….yes I dare to say it……..where it is mind numbingly boring! Boring, boring boring!
We all get bored sometimes. Whatever the age of our child. Whether they are preschoolers, nursery attenders, go to school or are home educated, most children will have parents who at times just feel BORED by the parenting role in a particular moment.
Problem is it’s not just a moment is it? The reason we are bored is it’s the 40th time of doing ‘this little piggy went to market’. We’ve been buying the same pretend food over and over and over again as they bleep it through the cash register for the 100th time. Yes, that cash register that I thought would be so educational, encouraging them to learn their numbers, add up and learn about commerce. Yea, well now I’m wondering if they will notice if it discreetly gets removed from the house during the night because I’m so bleep, bleep, bleeep bleeping bored of it!
I have a friend whose eight year old’s favourite game is hiding Shopkins in balls of play dough and then talking whilst opening up the balls to see the ‘surprise’ whilst pretending to be on YouTube. This game involves talking in either the most drawled of monotone voices you can or in a breathless over excited squeaky Disney princess voice. I’d offer her a cup of tea but I’ve had to drink 50 pretend cups of tea, ‘Mmmm yummmy, thank you honey’ in the last twenty minutes.
Maybe your child’s choice of pastime is dinosaurs? My five year old can not only remember what they are called but can pronounce them all. No mummy it’s a ………….not a …………….. Not only do I get bored but I get to feel thick too!!
I think all parents experience boredom whether we have birth children or children through adoption.
Except because we had to go through a ‘journey’, and let’s admit it probably moaned a bit about the whole process, it may feel even harder to admit that we get BORED. We fear pointed fingers saying, ‘well you chose to adopt in the first place. Stop whingeing!’ As if somehow parents who have their children through birth didn’t also at some point make a decision to, er yea, have children.
Stop being so hard on yourself. Admitting you get bored does not mean you don’t love your child or don’t enjoy being with your child. Give yourself a break. It happens to us all. Yes, playing with our children is important. At times it is great fun and we can be rolling around in laughter. We can be real too though, say at times it’s boring and still be a great parent. Now going to find me a black rubbish bag, I have a date with a certain little bleeper.
Footnote. Don’t worry no cash register will be harmed or thrown away. Just put aside for awhile until I can hear a bleep without my face twitching.