The Cheetah Girls Must Be Antiques By Now

posted by Momo Fali on July 9, 2008

Despite the four computers in our house, old-school Atari, an abundance of books, toys, puzzles, games, and a Wii, my nine year old daughter still complains of being bored. Really? Because when I was a kid, all we had to play with was dirt.

“Mom, I’m boooooooored!”

“Well, why don’t you go watch a movie? We have all those Pixar DVD’s, or why don’t you watch High School Musical II?”

“High School Musical II? Mom, that is SO last summer.”

    Comments

  • Kate


    Are you hiding in my house? Cuz my 12 and 8 yr olds say the same thing. We have a house FULL of nothing to do…argh!

  • Natalie


    i am with you! when my kids say they’re bored (which is a daily occurrence) they basically are told one of two things.

    1. go read a book
    2. go write your grandparents a letter.

    or we threaten them with homework. that works wonders in the summer!

  • Kori


    Snicker snicker…my kids know better than to complain about being bored because there are ALWAYS chores to do!

  • Stella


    Can you imagine what she would say if you told her to go listen to the Backstreet Boys or even worse…John DenveR?!?!?! GAH!

    I remember those bored summer days…

  • Misty


    well… maybe you could suggest the dirt. you never know? could work…

  • Hottdog


    Shoot. At least you had dirt.
    I had diddley squat!

  • Twenty Four At Heart


    Would your daughter like a 13 year old boy to play with? (and I mean that in the most innocent way!) Because my kids didn’t get out of school until June 18th and he is already BORED and driving me crazy!

  • holly


    your daughter must be much more hip than mine. mine never STOPS watching that damned movie. or wearing the bling, or listening to the bloody songs 24-fricken-7. how many times can you listen to that crap! half the reason i got her an mp3 player was for the fricken EARphones!!! keep it to yourself, love!!!

    she won’t.

  • wheremytruthlives


    Oh man, when Bart says he’s bored I get all excited. I let it show visibly how happy I am to hear it because do you know what that means? That means he is fully available and I have every right to make him do chores. I keep a special list on hand just for the occasion. If he’s with a friend well then I enlist them too.

    – Sweep/wash the deck
    – Wash the car
    – Wash the dog snot off the sliding glass door
    – Pull weeds
    – Reorganize the tupperware cupboard (it’s always a huge mess)
    – Carry things to and from the crawlspace
    – Empty the vacuum
    – Change the cat box

    When I whip out the list it’s incredible just how fast hecan come up with something to stave off boredom. It’s gottern to the point where my child is amazingly self-occupied 99.5% of the time.

  • Pendullum


    I was just by chance at the venue where the Jonas Brothers were at…
    (With my daughter) it was so interesting to watch the mahem the insued with all these teens and tweens screaming their love and adoration for this summer’s heart throbs…
    And watching my daughter as she was in total disbelief of how bonkers these girls were… andsaid’I suppose that is how girls felt when they saw Elvis or the Beatles..’
    I am sooooo last summer….

  • The Mom


    Haha, I wrote about this yesterday..and you were so close…Go watch Camp Rock would have been more “hip” and HSM 3 is coming in October, they finally graduate! (thank god)

  • Maureen


    Hahahahaha! Yeah, Mom. Get with it. Isn’t this year the Jonas’ brother’s with Camp Rock?

    Oh, gad… I can’t believe I knew that, without a tween in the house…

  • Meg


    I wish my kids were bored.

    All they want to do is make videos for You Tube (“Idiot Singing Barbie Girl”–that’s my son) which requires my supervision. It’s a pain in the you know what.

  • MamaMo


    If it gets too intense, you can always sit them down in front of this:
    http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/show.aspx?id=715

  • Tom


    Just think how attention-deficit their offspring will be: “Mooooom! I’m boooooored!” “Why don’t you go watch High School Musical XXI?” “Mo-ooom! That is soooo fifteen minutes ago!” Then listen to them complain about how hard they had it when they were kids.

  • asecrettobluebamboo


    Mine know not to tell me that they are bored, because my response is always, “You’re bored? Really? Well, there’s a ton of chores to do.”

    It’s amazing how fast they scatter.

  • the planet of janet


    i always offer toilets that need scrubbing when my kids are bored.

    followed by a list a mile long.

    of course, then i heard another good line: “you’re bored? then you must be boring. only boring people are bored…”

    i’m waiting to use this on the teenager. coming very soon……..

  • Melisa


    I’m with wheremytruthlives on the chore list, for sure, for sure!

    A comment like that would send me running from the room (to make my list), shrieking, “TO THE MOON WITH YOU!!!!”

  • Ms Picket To You


    dang. didn’t HSM2 just come out? i am so lame. no wonder my kids snicker at me when I excitedly holler, “arthur’s on!!!”

  • Jaina


    Actually it’s more last winter I think. I’m pretty sure it came out in like, December or January or something. We weren’t allowed to say bored. In my grandparents’ house (and subsequently my parents’ house) using the “b” word earned you a list of chores.

  • Jenna Consolo


    So true! My answer is always, “Only stupid people get bored and I didn’t have any stupid children.”

  • Heather


    One year, I can’t remember if it was between 8th and 9th or 9th and 10th, I got up early every single morning to watch the Wil Shriner show. =D And we played Monopoly every single day for weeks. My mom even let us leave the board set up in the living room. One summer it was legos. I’m sure she can find something to be addicted to for a couple months.

  • Suze


    And it doesn’t get any better. My teenage sons are bored and they have a computer each, and in the games room, an Xbox 360, PS2, fusball table, stacks of books, DVD;s everywhere, sporting goods galore, and yes, they are bored too. *sigh*

  • wornoutwoman


    Seriously? I’d be tempted to say….Whatever! IN a big valley girl voice and push up three fingers. Of course my son would have no idea what that meant, as that was soooo back in the 90’s! I’m ancient!

  • meleah rebeccah


    Yeah Mom. You need to get High School Musical III. What is wrong with you?

  • Nukedad


    Is the rabbit stew ready yet, Glen?

  • Jamie E


    I’ve heard that mention of the b word during summer hours requires housework…..

  • O My Blog!


    It’s true, I just saw HS II toys on clearance at Target, very last summer!! Funny!

  • Bec


    You didn’t think to tell her to pretend it *is* last summer?

    OH OH! You could tell her that if she’s sick of all her toys and games etc she should get busy packing them all up for charity!! Of course you wouldn’t give them away but it might make her not bored for a while.

  • BusyDad


    Momo, just go make a mud pie or something. You are SO out of the loop! (I have a cool sandcastle pail, can I come over?)

  • Lisa@verybusymomwith4


    My answer…
    “Bored? Oh I can fix that. We have plenty to do. Let’s clean the kitchen floor, work on our sumer book report, organize our closets, etc”

  • Dette


    lol – I can actually hear her saying it!

    I tell my boys the same thing – entertaining themselves is their job, but if they want me to do it, it just might not be as fun. 😉

  • Jo Beaufoix


    Heh, heh, Miss E is almost eight and she has started the ‘I’m bored thing.’ She’s still into High School Musical though, and H2O. Do you get that there? Both my kids want to be mermaids now.

  • LiteralDan


    Kids have this way of making you think you’re crazy or they must be joking.

    The world is such a small place for people who should find it so large.

  • sybil law


    I can sooo relate.
    That’s when I start talking about how she needs to clean her room.
    That usually gets her “unbored” pretty quick.

  • Aunt Debbi/kurts mom


    Okay, boys are easier.

  • Kimmylyn


    My three year old complains of being bored.. WTH? I won’t be able to handle it when he is nine..because now I can give him the sillest of things to do and it keeps him busy for hours.

  • Sogeshirtsguy


    lol people should be hating the jonas brothers in 3, 2, 1…