The Radical Idea: Let Kids Be Bored This Summer
Unstructured summer activities and boredom involve leaving wide stretches of time unscheduled so children can choose their own play, experiment with ideas, and solve problems without constant adult direction, which turns the long school break into a season for imagination, independence, and summer family time instead of a frantic race to keep kids constantly entertained.
We treat school holidays like a project plan: camps, classes, day trips, endless sign-ups. Then, the moment there’s a gap, the chorus begins: “I’M BORED!” The instinct is to rush in with more structure. I’d argue the opposite. A better summer for kids—and calmer parents—comes from less scheduled parenting and more open hours. One children’s author and teacher goes so far as to say that “being bored is rather brilliant” for kids. Actor Ellie Kemper echoes this, describing giving her children “plenty of unstructured time” by not signing them up for too many activities because that freedom “can be very good for kids.” The key takeaway: boredom is not a problem to fix; it’s a tool we are under-using.
Boredom Builds Better Brains and Braver Kids
When children have unscheduled hours, boredom benefits children by forcing their minds to work. Left without a ready-made activity, they turn cardboard boxes into rockets and couches into pirate ships, unlocking imagination and creativity because their brains must come up with new ideas for play. This kind of self-directed play strengthens thinking: they set goals, invent rules, choose resources, and solve conflicts within their games. Kemper likes activities she can “sort of set the kids up, and they can take it from there,” which lets them own the experience instead of waiting for adult instructions.
Crucially, boredom pushes kids to initiate their own discovery. They learn independence and self-reliance, directing their time and play rather than relying on adults to make it fun. That autonomy breeds confidence: children see that they can manage their feelings of frustration, self-soothe, and move from “nothing to do” into absorbing play. They also become more resourceful, using whatever is around them to entertain themselves, and build intrinsic motivation by choosing what they want to do without being enticed by rewards. Far from wasting time, those long, meandering afternoons are where identity, curiosity, and problem-solving quietly grow.
Less Scheduled Parenting Means Less Stress
Packing the calendar is sold as good parenting. In reality, it keeps adults on call as full-time cruise directors and leaves little room for parental stress relief. Kemper admits she does not want to “play all day, every day” and finds it helpful to have activities the kids can do on their own. When children expect adults to fix boredom, parents carry the burden of constant entertainment. When boredom is allowed, kids start to carry their own fun. That shift reduces burnout, because parents are no longer scrambling for the next outing whenever a child sighs.
Less scheduled activities also ease the pressure around screens. Kemper is trying hard to keep her kids off screens and values unstructured time as an alternative. Boredom offers “essential downtime”: constant stimulation keeps children in a state of high alert, while they need calm periods to relax mind and body. Those quiet pockets help adults too. Kemper describes learning to pause and calm down before reacting as “essential” in parenting, and she uses humor—laughing at herself and with her husband—to defuse tense moments. When the schedule loosens, parents gain mental space to reset instead of sprinting from one obligation to the next.
Unstructured Summers Deepen Everyday Family Life
A slower, less programmed summer opens room for summer family time that doesn’t hinge on expensive outings or elaborate plans. Kemper talks about visiting family where she grew up, watching her children have fun with cousins, and swimming whenever there is a pool available. Those are unstructured summer activities in the purest sense: play that unfolds from being together, not from a timetable. Without adult-led agendas, children practice social skills by negotiating rules, compromising, collaborating, and solving their own conflicts with siblings or friends.
For parents, these everyday moments are a chance to step into children’s imaginative worlds instead of hovering at the edges. Kemper is grateful that play is part of her work; dressing up and doing imaginative things helps her connect with her kids and meet them in the worlds they’ve created. In smaller doses, she finds those games relaxing, a way to enter childhood again. Meanwhile, she talks with her children about effort and process rather than only the end result, because that is what builds a sense of purpose. Unhurried days make room for these conversations, the quiet shape of a family’s values showing up in how they spend unplanned hours together.
A New Summer Script: From Managing to Mentoring
Celebrity parents are starting to say out loud what many exhausted caregivers feel: less scheduled summers make them better, calmer parents. Kemper reflects that her imaginative work does not automatically make her a better parent, but gives her tools to connect more easily with her kids. She also notes that before parenting, she lacked the skill to pause and calm down before reacting, and now sees it as essential. That shift—from instant reaction to thoughtful presence—thrives in a household where not every minute is booked.
The opinionated case for boredom is simple: if we keep treating it as a crisis, we rob children of creativity, independence, and resilience, and we rob ourselves of peace. When we treat boredom as an invitation, we move from managing every second to mentoring kids as they learn to use time, feelings, and imagination. Unstructured summer activities, less scheduled parenting, and consistent summer family time are not signs of laziness; they are strategies for raising children who can think, cope, and create without us. This year, instead of fixing boredom, let it do some of the parenting for you.
