When my child asks for an afternoon doing nothing, do I need to provide something to do?
Parenting"Can doing nothing be the plan?" my nine-year-old asked when I suggested a baking project for the empty Sunday afternoon.
He had finished football, homework and the jobs we'd agreed on. I had deliberately left the afternoon free, then started filling it because he was lying on the rug with a cushion over his head. I offered the baking project, a museum and a bike ride. He rejected all three.
Twenty minutes later he said he was bored. I took that as permission to organize the museum trip. He said being bored didn't mean he had changed his mind about going out.
I sometimes spend an hour on the sofa and call it a break. I find his equivalent harder to leave alone. What does a fair unplanned afternoon look like when I still need to make dinner and can't become a continuous supplier of new activities?