Alan & Brenda Leonard

> but I also don't want to become
> frustrated by the constant "I'm bored" like a mantra, particularly
> when a new baby will have a physical need for my attention for a
> while. This post is about wanting positive ideas to help us both in
> this transition, from parents who have been in "that boat"

Joy,

I'm only perhaps slightly helpful to you, in that I have an only child, and
he plays great by himself these days. Can I ask you to think about this,
though: what's wrong with him being bored? He will learn, eventually, that
the baby *has* to have attention, and often cannot wait. If you ignore his
boredom (when necessary! not constantly, of course.), he will either learn
to ammuse himself or learn patience waiting for you to have time to play
with him. I wouldn't consider either of those bad things!

Yes, the whining will probably be iritating at times, but if *you* decide
it's not going to bug you while you are busy with the baby, that might help.

You mentioned in an earlier post that he has all this stuff, and doesn't
play with any of it. Have you tried moving it to different rooms? Mine
will completely forget something exists in his room, and is thrilled to
rediscover it in a corner of the living room. It gets constant attention
for awhile, and then ignored. So I move it back and put something else in
the living room. Also, have you ever tried putting some of the stuff away
in a closet for awhile? Personally, I get overwhelmed by too much stuff and
don't deal with any of it. Maybe your child is the same way. I keep about
half my stuff (and my son's!) put away at any given time, and pull something
out and put something else away about once a week. It helps limit the
clutter, too. And you might check whether he has anything he's ready to
donate to the baby's future needs, that he no longer wants.

Finally, when Tim whines that he's bored, I generally figure that boredom
breeds creativity, and it's probably healthy that he be bored sometimes!
That helps me deal with the "gotta find him something to do" feeling, and
absolves some of my guilt about ignoring the whine for awhile.

for what it's worth...
brenda

rumpleteasermom

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., Alan & Brenda Leonard <abtleo@e...>
wrote:

> You mentioned in an earlier post that he has all this stuff, and
doesn't
> play with any of it. Have you tried moving it to different rooms?
Mine
> will completely forget something exists in his room, and is thrilled
to
> rediscover it in a corner of the living room.

Wyndham is like that. If he has too much stuff, he can't function.
But when we pulled just the legos out of his room and put them in the
living room, he started playing with them. That seemed to have been a
key move, because now he will go and pull something from his room
himself and play with it. (of course, he never puts it back unless
reminded to.)

Bridget