Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / Boredom’s Sweet Spot: When Doing Nothing Fuels Growth - and When It Backfires

Transcript

Boredom’s Sweet Spot: When Doing Nothing Fuels Growth - and When It Backfires · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Today. This is the Happy Families Podcast, Real Parenting Solutions
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: every single day. Mum, I'm bored. Dad, this is so boring.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Do your kids get bored? Is it okay for them
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to be bored? What about those blogs that say that
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: children need to be bored? Boredom is an essential part
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of creativity and it's good for their overall brains and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: their health and all those kinds of things. Today a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: doctor's Desk episode where we examine how much boredom is
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: too much? Is boredom at all? Okay? Are the blogger
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: is right or the mummy bloggers saying that we need
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to help our kids to be bored more? Have we
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: gone too far with overstimulation. We'll answer all of those
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: questions and more so that we can work out how
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: to help our children's brains function best in an overstimulated world.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: It's coming up next. Stay with us. So this is
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the Happy Family's podcast, Repairing Solutions every single day. We
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: are justin and Kylie Coulson. Kylie, I'm looking at you
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: right now and I can't help but say it. You're
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: coloring in your book. You're drawing patterns in designs. I've
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: done too long in intro and I get the feeling
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: that you're bored. It's a doctor's test, It's a doctor's
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: that's right, Okay. For anyone who's new to the podcast,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: every week or they're about sometimes every couple of weeks,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: some new research will come across my desk, or I'll
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: just decide that we're going to step into some research
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and we call it the Doctor's Desk. It's where I
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: get to geek out about what the latest science is.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: And Kylie's response, I would say in eighty percent of
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: our Doctor's Desk episodes is boring. Boring, Which is so
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: funny because when I talk to people, when I talk
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: to people, when I'm speaking at events and things, they
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: just say, oh, we love the Doctor's Desk episode.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they love it because I've make fun of you.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: No, no, actually, nobody ever says that they love the
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Doctor's Tesk episodes. I'm just but you believe me. I
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: should have just left it there, all right, So today today,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: a Doctor's Desk episode about being bored. Is it good
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: for the kids or not? I cannot count the number
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: of mummy blogs and tiktoks that I've read about how
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: important is that kids have boredom, and so I figured,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: let's just address this, let's deal with it once and
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: for all, because there's a lot of stuff out there
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: that's just plain wrong about kids being bored.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: It's not very often you sit on the fence. So
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I've got to ask, is it good or bad?
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I love the way that you said that. So the
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: answer is yes, yes to what, Yes, it is good
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: or bad depending it just it depends. And this is
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a standard psychology answer. I know I was about to say,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: but it's not a cop out. There really is nuance here.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: And this is why I get so irritated when I
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: read these blogs or see these tiktoks or reels about boredom,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: because the answer is genuinely, it depends. Let me ask
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: you this question, what would you see as an argument
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: for boredom? Like when have you seen boredom being good
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: for our children? We've got a daughter who's homeschooled, and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: there are times where she is legitimately there's nothing for
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: her to do. She's done all of her homeschool, she's
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: spent time with her friends, she's done her music stuff
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: like we're tapping out and she wants to be on
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: a screen and we're saying no, no, no, no, You've only got
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: an amount of time on a screen. So she's bored.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: So what are the benefits to her being bored in
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: those circumstances? Because it drives us up the.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Wall, because it encourages her to tap into her interests. Okay,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: because we live in a world that just everything set
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: our fingertips, we don't have to think, we don't have
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: to look very far at all to find something to
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: fill time. And yet when we allow our kids to
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: be bored, it actually helps them remember the things that
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: bring them the most joy.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay, so I mean you've just used that idea.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Bored him allows your time to think. Henry Ford said,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: thinking is one of the hardest things there is to do,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: which is why so few people engage in it. He's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: obviously putting the entire population down when he says that,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: but we actually don't like thinking very much. He is right,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and with access all of our screens, for example, that
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: that's a perfect opportunity for us to not have to think.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: So boredom does do that. However, when boredom is occasional,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: and when boredom occurs in a an enriching environment, an
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: environment where there are opportunities for children to do good things,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: that's when it's good. But if they're in an impoverished
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: environment where there are no activities, there's no opportunity. They're
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: literally just bored and there are no toys, there are
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: no puzzles, there are no games, there are no trees
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: to climb, there are no scooters to ride or bikes
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to play like. They've got nothing to do. There's no
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: park to play at. That is terribly bad for them,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: especially if it's for a long period of time. So
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: enduring boredom bad associated with depression, associated with delinquency. Like
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: when I was a teenager and I was bored and
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I didn't really look effectively at what else was in
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: my environment that I could do. I just went and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: did things that I should not have done and said,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: got my let's not talk about it was in my bedroom, Okay,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: in case someone thinks that I was lighting fires down
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: in the local public park or anything in my.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Bedroom, closing cats between screens.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I don't talk about that. I only did it once.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: It once. Gosh, we all do things that we regret.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Thank you for bringing that up, did you anyway? So yes,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: boredom can be good so long as it's occasional, so
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: long as it's reasonably short lived ish, and so long
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: as the environment offers in richmond and activity possibilities.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: So I think that that's key. It's about primers. So
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: emily being bored only works because I've worked out that
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: instead of having everything behind closed doors, because I like
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: things neat and tidy, I actually have gifted her my
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: outdoor space.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Our back deck looks I don't even know what. I
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: don't even know how to describe what it looks like.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: It looks like an art expose her part. It's her
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: paige shed. Yeah, it's not a shed. We can't close
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the doors, and we can't use the back deck because
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: but she cuts out cardboard. She's making our cardboard dragons.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: She's doing some art, and she's so creative out there.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: And she'll usually have a bit of a tantrum because
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: she's asked me to be on a screen and I've
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: said no. Within seconds of her realizing that I'm not
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: actually going to give in, she walks out that back
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: door because she can see the table through the window,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: and she walks out there and she just starts creating and.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: There are days where she'll she'll be occupied for two
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: or three hours because that creativity kicks in and then
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: we can't get her away from that. I mean, it's beautiful.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: That's the kind of bottom. That's good because it leads
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: to positive outcomes.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: But the only way it works is because there's primers. Yes,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: you talk about the enriching environment. There has to be
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: books on hand. There has to, like you said, puzzles
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: like the lego. They've actually got to be out and
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: about they can see.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, that's right. So that's that's the answer. Boorttom
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: is good and it's bad. It just depends. It depends
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: on what we're doing in the environment, how long it's
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: going for, and that kind of stuff.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: So it wouldn't be the doctor's desk without you geeking
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: out on some neuroscience stuff. So can you break it
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: down for us mums and dads who don't have a
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: psychology degree in a way that makes sense. What's actually
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: happening in the brain when our kids are bored?
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, So I'm going to make this really brief because.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Also it's not really just about kids, right, No, it's just.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: As well when we're bored as I actually kind of
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: get bored with brain stuff because it's not practical. It's
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: happening in the brain, but whether we or know it's
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: happening or not, it doesn't really change a lot of
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: what we do. I mean, anyway, there's an argument one
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: way or another. But basically, inside the brain there's what's
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: loosely called the attention network. So the attention network includes
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: executive control. It's that prefrontal cortex you zero on and
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: something you start to pay attention to it, you start
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: to think about it, you start to engage with it,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Your fronto parietal lobe kicks in, your speech and language
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: centers in your temporal lobe, and your paradal lobe also
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: kick in.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: So which part of my brain's shutting off right now?
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Right now? Yeah, the parts of the brain that I'm
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: talking about are the parts of the brain that are
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: shutting off because your attention network is starting to dip.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: As like you asked the question and then you fell asleep.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Okay, carry on.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: So when our attention is high, those parts of the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: brain are really really active. But when our attention is low,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: there's another part of the brain that takes over. So
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: let's say I am droning on about neurochemistry and neuroanatomy,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and your frontal lobe and your parietal lobe and your
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: temporal lobe, they all start to dim. They all start
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: to go, oh, yeah, this is boring. And so the
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: blood flow and the oxygenation in your brain, it all
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: starts to flow elsewhere.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: But I also feel deenergized, yeah, because it's putting that
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: part of your brain to sleep.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: And what kicks in instead is this thing called the DMN.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I love talking about the DMN. This might be my
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: favorite brain region to talk about, especially when we're talking
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: about raising children. The DMN is at hand for or
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: abbreviated form of the default mode network. So if I'm
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: talking about neurochemistry and neurinatomy and you start falling asleep,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: what's going on is your attention network becomes deactivated and
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: this internal network, this default your brain goes into default mode.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: That's why it's called the default mode network or the DMN.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: And when your brain is in default mode and the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: DMN is active, the default mode network kicks in. You're
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: not really even aware your brain's going, but you know
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: that you know when you do have time to just
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: let your brain be and you start thinking about stuff.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, you might be thinking about the washing wats
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: for dinner tonight, but you also might be thinking about
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: that conversation that you had with a friend a few
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: days ago that you haven't followed up on. Or you
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: start to do all the internal work. You're literally the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: inner work, the identity building work, the values work, the
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: thinking about things that matter work. There's the technical term
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: for it is interroception, so you know approprioception. An occupational
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: therapist or somebody like that will talk to you about
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: how children need to have good understanding of where their
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: body is in space. That's appropriate reception, so that's looking
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: at where your body is and then looking outwards into space.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: But interception, that's where your body is internal, like where
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: your mind is internally. That's stepping into this internal state.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: And so boredom basically means that the DMN kicks off
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and you start to think about stuff. This actually ties
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: in with your question about whether boredom is good or bad,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: because when boredom is good, you go internally, So you
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: activation network, your tension network switches off, your DMN switches on,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: and you go internally and you start thinking about stuff,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: and maybe you do some journaling, or you resolve a problem,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: a conflict and difficulty, you think about who you are.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: That's really productive. But enduring, ongoing, sustained boredom leads to
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: the DMN network firing up in unhelpful ways, and it
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: can become overactive and we start to ruminate. We start
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: to get into anxiety and depression. That's why people who
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: are really struggling when they go to bed, the DM
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: men kicks in. That aft mode network kicks in, and
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: that's why they start to get scared or they start
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: to get anxious at bedtime because their brain is finally
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: getting an opportunity to go quiet and the DM men
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: kicks on. So that's the brain stuff, Kylie, I know
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: meant to be a quick answer. Thanks for staying awake.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Are you awake? Hello? Oh my goodness, so sorry. I
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: believe you just did that.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: So tell me. Then. We had a conversation earlier about
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: screens are you and I yes, not being a useful
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: way to utilize your time to help shut your brain down,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: and we diffit.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, So how does screens.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: And boredom work?
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, So basically, screens are fast paced, they're stimulatory, so
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: they're really grab your attention. They fire up the cortex,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: especially the prefront of cortex, and that pardal and the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: temporal lobes, all those things that grab your attention and
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: keep you active and activated. That's what screens do. They're
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: masterfully created by the best brains in the business to
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: leverage every single psychological weakness. We have to keep us there.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: That's me.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: But I don't have to do anything. I don't have
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: to I don't have to solve a problem. I don't
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: have to work out where I have to be from
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: a to be like.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: But it's the attention. So it's costly for your nervous
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: system because it's sucking you in and it's absorbing your attention.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: But it's not productive, it's not helpful. There's no nothing.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: But I don't want to be productive.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: I'm not talking about productive as in getting more things,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: not talking about getting more things done, like let's let's
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: go and wipe down the kitchen benches and pick up
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the towels. And that's not what I'm talking about here.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the brain actually having an opportunity to
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: reset that is productive. And you may feel like your
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: brain is resetting because you're watching a movie or vegging
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: out to some Instagram reels.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: No, but that's not what I Why I watch a screen.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I literally watch a screen, so I don't have to think.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Whether you want to be thinking or not. You are thinking,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: your brain is going in store.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: But I'm not thinking about anything that I have to do.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: It's still taxing on your brain. So this is the issue.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: It's still taxing your brain. It's called alostatic overload. And
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: alostatic overload.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Sorry, I'm going to get tired again.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Is increased is associated with increased neurological arousal and increased
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: neurological and it literally makes you more anxious. Apart from that,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: here's something really fascinating. If you go in the opposite direction,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: which can happen when you're on a screen. Okay, so
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and you may be going there rather than the screen
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: stimulating you, it's actually.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Not how often have you put the TV on a
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: I fall.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Assleep, it's still not actually resetting your system. And this
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: is why, because you don't get to go into DMN activation.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: There was a study that we talked about on the
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Doctor's Desk a few months ago that showed that spending
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: more time on screens is associated with greater boredom, and
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: that I think is really talking about what you're highlighting here.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: It's still not good for you. It's not recreating you.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: I beg of you, my dear wife. Don't use the
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: screen as a I don't want to think about stuff thing.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Go out and lay on the grass, Go and touch
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the grass, Go for a walk, lay on the bed
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: and do nothing. Pick up a book analog and just read.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Do you know who I'm married to?
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I'm having an identity crisis all of a sudden. Is
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: that what's going on? All right? We need to wrap
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: this up. This is the doctor's desk is supposed to
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: be short and sweet, and we have overshot it. So
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: is there anything else you want to know before we
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: finish our conversation about boredom?
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Well, it would be nice if we kind of had
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: some take homes. Okay, So if we recognize that there's
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: goodness that comes from our kids being brought and from
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: us being bored.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: All the right way, not bored on a screen.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: How do we deal with it? Because the last thing
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: we want I know I'm speaking for every month on
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: the planet, is I'm bored I'm bored. I don't want that.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so this is the thing that I've really
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: got to emphasize here. The data shows that boredom is
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: associated with improvements and creativity. It does develop independence in thinking,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: and it supports self esteem and emotional regulation. Like this
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: is really important because that unstructured time can help us
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: to sit with our feelings. That's important for us to
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: manage anxiety. If we're doing it right, we're not using
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: a screen, then we're having this. We're breaking this loop
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: of instant gratification that contributes to the compulsive device use
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: that we go for because we're bored, and it rebalances
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: our nervous system. So it helps us again to be
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: a lot less anxious. What do we do. I'm going
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: to share three ideas with you. You can tell me
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: whether you like them or not. First one, you don't
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: have to entertain your kids. You just need to make
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: sure that they're in an environment where being bored is
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: not going to be counterproductive. Okay, so get risk screens,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: but make sure there are other things that the kids
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: can do. And then just say hey, if you're bored,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: boring people get bored a little bit of tough love here.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: I love you like crazy, but right now this is
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: boring time. So you can choose whatever you want to do,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: but you're going to have to figure this one out
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: for yourself. You can journal, you can play Lego, you
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: can build the puzzle, you can play a game, you
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: can ride a bike, you can do any of these things,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: but it's boredo time. So actually being okay with that
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: second thing, I think what we really want to do
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: is make sure that and I've kind of answered in
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the first one anyway, is make sure that the children
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: do have solid environmental enrichment opportunities. So number one, it's
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: not your job. Number two to keep them attained all
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: the time. Number two, make sure that there is stuff
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: in the environment so that they can entertain themselves. And
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: number three, I just think, embrace it, connect with other people,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: get analog, and let boredom do what it's supposed to do,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: which is to reset your nervous system, reduce that allostatic overload,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: break you out of that constant feedback loop where you're
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: constantly receiving that instant gratification and breathe, just breathe.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I feel a family meeting coming on.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Let's do it. Let's talk about bored them on Sunday.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Let's tell the kids are going to get bored. We
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: need to wrap this up. Thanks so much for listening
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: to the Doctor's Desk episode. We hope that it's answered
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a few questions giving you some inspo. The Happy Family's
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: podcast is produced by Justin Rulan from Bridge Media and
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Mimhammon's Traditional Research have me and other support. If you
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: would like to make your family happier, visit us for
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: more resources at happy families dot com dot au. We'll
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: see you tomorrow