I'm bored 

What is 'being bored'?

• Maybe in school, when someone has been super quick and finished the task early.  
• Maybe at home, when someone has already seen the TV program. 
• Maybe when everyone else seems to be having a good time, and someone feels left out. 
• Maybe when someone finds a task too difficult and is pretending that it doesn't matter. 
• Maybe when someone is trying to act super cool. 
• Maybe when someone is trying to be noticed.  

Beware of boredom

• Boredom can become the boss of your personality. 
• Boredom can lead to people acting without thinking, and getting into trouble. 
• Boredom can lead to conflict with friends, family, teachers and even the police. 
• Boredom can lead to anger and stress.  
• Boredom can lead to a person having low self-esteem. 
• People who often say they're bored can be very boring to be around! 
• Feeling bored is very depressing, and people who are depressed have little energy for doing things that might be interesting. 
• Boredom makes you feel bad. 
• Boredom is a waste of time.  

How to beat boredom

Maybe you feel bored with where you live, your school work, your appearance, the jobs you have to do, the sameness of your life? 

Instead of sitting around boring everyone with how bored you are, do something about it. 

Beating boredom at home

Lots of kids nowadays have TV and video games all the time, so if you are one of these and you've played all the games and seen all the films, here are some more ideas for you to help you beat boredom. 

• Visit friends or ask them over to your place. 
• Play board games, or invent your own
• Go camping - under the dining room table is fun if you can't go anywhere else, and you can use your imagination to draw a plan of your imaginary 'campsite'. 
• Write a book and illustrate it. 
• Listen to music or join in and make your own. You don't need a musical instrument, you can make sounds with heaps of things, and it's fun. 
• Learn to dance by watching a dance video and moving with it, or just dance to the radio. 
• Clean up your room and move things around (no it isn't boring). Just think how great it will be to find your stuff again.  

Beware of boredom at school

Being in school is a kind of practice for when you go out into the world as an adult. In school you learn and practise all the skills you will need to live your life. 

You have to learn the basic skills you will need, and sometimes you can feel a bit bored if: 

• you haven't been listening properly 
• you've missed some of the work and can't understand what is happening so you 'switch off '
• you give up because you think it's too hard 
• you don't feel confident about joining in and so you feel 'left out' 
• you find the work too easy 
• you think that you've done the work before so you don't need to listen 
• you are excited about something and want to get on with that
• you 'd like to do more challenging work 
• you are trying to be part of the 'super-cool' group who feel that saying they're bored will make them look more grown up 
• you're worried about something and don't know what to do about it 
• you're in an "I can't be bothered" mood. 

Beating boredom at school

Have you thought about how long you spend in school? It's somewhere between 10 and 13 years for most people. That's a large part of your life wasted if you feel bored much of the time. 

Does your school have 'dress-up' days when you wear costumes, or all wear green or something like that? It's a lot of fun for everyone who comes dressed up isn't it? I guess it's not as much fun for those who, for whatever reason, just arrive in their ordinary clothes. Of course you have to get organised and make an effort to come dressed up, but it's worth it when you are part of the fun. 

Being bored is like not being dressed up, and feeling out of it. 

To beat boredom you have to make the effort, get organised and be determined to make every day a positive experience.

• Try your hardest to do your best at everything.  
• Ask for help if you don't understand. 
• Keep trying to improve on what you did before. 
• Stay away from people who think it's clever to say how bored they are. 
• Practise skills that you have problems with. 
• Join in a bit at a time and you will become more confident. 
• If you find the work too easy or too hard talk to the teacher about it and ask for help in setting your personal goals. 
• If you think that you've studied a topic before - think how long ago it was. It is very unlikely that you will be learning the same stuff in year 6 that you learned in year 2 - but you will be building on what you already know. 
• Look forward to anything out of the ordinary, get involved in during or after school activities at your school. 
• Hang out with positive people and be positive yourself. 
• Make your motto "I'll give it a go". You don't know what you can do until you try.