Help Your Children Go from Being Bored to Excited

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Does your child complain that school is boring?

Do you find your child's school assignments boring?

Is your child's teacher boring to listen to?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, this blog post may help you ignite some learning excitement through your own efforts.

Having heard some variation of school-related "boring" complaints for over 30 years as I helped raise my four children, I was quickly impressed that dealing with bored children was one of my primary challenges in helping my children love learning and find out what they wanted to do with their lives.

At first, I would try to argue my children out of their perspective. That didn't work very well. Then, I tried to demonstrate how "interesting" certain material is. But none of them share my love for French or history. I just couldn't get those points across. I also tried "interesting" teachers, and that bombed. A teacher who I found fascinating was often a turn-off for my children.

I could go on with things I tried that didn't work (including being Daddy teacher on these subjects), but I don't want to bore you.

What those methods have in common is that they impose a learning agenda on children. That's where the trouble starts.

What's the solution? Children are naturally drawn to certain subjects and specific ways of studying those subjects. Turn them loose in those ways and learning becomes oh so interesting!

1. Expose your child to as many subjects as possible.

Museums and field trips are great for this.

But television viewing can also be helpful. One of my children wants to have a career in television. Her interest in learning wasn't tapped until we began to take that interest seriously and encourage her.

2. Watch for what engages their passion.

We have all seen things that didn't interest us. We look sleepy and inattentive when that's the case. When we are interested in something, we immediately personalize it and begin to ask interesting questions about it.

If you have ever seen a little boy going on about dinosaurs, that's a prototype of what I mean. They can eat, breathe and drink dinosaurs until the passion fades.

Some brilliant teachers have learned from this and teach all subjects for a year in terms of a dinosaur context. Math is about adding and subtracting dinosaurs. Art is drawing dinosaurs. Science is about dinosaur physiology.

3. Help your children meet people who work in the fields that fascinate them.

From meeting such people, children begin to reframe the subject into their own terms. They begin to realize what kind of investigations and experiences people have in the field and begin to see themselves doing some of those things.

4. Encourage your child's interest in projects to explore the discipline in the fields that fascinate them.

Although a child cannot perform at adult levels in many areas, they can begin to "play act" roles that help them understand the nature of the fields they like. For instance, a child who may want to direct films could stage a production involving friends and family with a video camera. A child who wants to be an artist can create works in different media.

5. Find mentors for your child who share their fascinations.

These mentors probably had the same interests as your child does as a child. The mentor understands the fascinations and potential frustrations of those interests. As a result, the mentor can provide advice on how to pursue your child's passions in the potentially most satisfying ways.

6. Make time and financial resources available for your child's projects.

When I was young, my parents would find a way to indulge me in my every interest. Sometimes the scale was small, but it was the encouragement that counted. I felt like I could explore anything. From those experiences I learned a lot about how to find out about new subjects at a high level. That turned out to be an essential skill for my work as a consultant and author.

7. Let your children show off their accomplishments.

This might mean demonstrating for the family at Thanksgiving, sending samples of something they have done by mail or sharing photographs by e-mail. Taking their work seriously in this way will make them feel affirmed and encouraged in their interests. It will provide them a deep sense of satisfaction and psychological comfort.

8. Encourage them to go to the next level.

Let's face it. As a parent, we often look like a stick-in-the-mud to our children when it comes to their passions. As a result, they often are reluctant to share their dreams of what they would like to do. They may want to meet a television star. They may want to play at Carnegie Hall. They may want to be a bat girl for the Red Sox.

They probably need your help to do those things. Unless you ask them what else they would like to try, they probably won't ask for help in these kinds of dream areas. They don't want to make you angry. They don't want to embarrass you into having to say that you cannot afford what they want to do.

But when you ask "what's next?" they will eventually begin to take you seriously. From there, you can find ways to work with one another to find workable solutions.

And you'll have one very "unbored" child.

9. Praise the investigations, the effort and the good behavior more than the results.

Many of these interests won't stick. As a result, it will be some new passion later in life that will stick. If you can instill an enthusiasm for checking out passions, you will have made it possible for that passion to stay alive until it finds a worthy and permanently satisfying outlet.

10. Tell your children you love them as often as possible.

After all, as someone once said, "Love is all there is." Be sure they realize that the love is independent of their passions and their accomplishments. Otherwise, you will simply create an overachiever who is really just trying to win love . . . but who will feel hollow inside.

11. Share your children's passions with their teachers and encourage your children to do the same.

Good teachers will find a way to make assignments that leave more room for your child's input.

12. Encourage your child to try helping others.

Many children will find great satisfaction from assisting others. But they won't discover that if you don't give them the chance to find out.

Please add your comments with ways that you've found to help children overcome boredom. I'm sure that other readers will be interested. Thanks!

Can any billionaire do better? I doubt it.

Billionaires have big problems with bored children. Their children are often given anything they want. Nothing bores a child faster than a sense of unlimited entitlement. Purchasing becomes a fixation as a way to buy a little attention and emotional support. Rooms full of discarded toys and games are the inevitable result.

Your children don't know how lucky they are that you care enough to read and follow this blog . . . rather than simply provide unlimited money.

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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Here are some upcoming subjects:

Tomorrow, you'll find out how to get the whole world working to help you better than a billionaire.

Thursday, we'll look at how to say it with pictures better than a billionaire.

On Friday, let's design a great second date!

Saturday, we will visit Dr. Masaru Emoto again to explore his ideas for using Hado water to improve your health and the quality of your life.

Sunday, let's sit quietly and think about how prayer can enrich your Sundays.

On Monday, join me in looking at how blog writing can enrich your life better than a billionaire.

Tuesday, we'll look at how to enjoy your next (or first) cruise more.

On Wednesday, I'll share the story with you of the "accidental mansion owner" and I promise that you'll chuckle for days over this one.

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that I posted on October 19. The table of contents will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Check out the latest index at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005/10/latest-table-of-contents-to-this-blogs.html to pick out your choice.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell