BOREDOM. Kids know it and complain about it nonstop.
Boredom is the end of the world for children, at least according to them.
Here's the Harvard Business Review article by Dr. Arthur C. Brooks discussed in the video: https://hbr.org/2025/08/you-need-to-be-bored-heres-why
Hear why this is actually not the case. How boredom is AN ANSWER to the concerns that we have today about children's eating habits and use of electronics.
We have been learning to "fix" boredom with highly palatable activities that give big hits of dopamine: food, scrolling, even overwork (guilty).
And yet, boredom is not a problem. It is an experience of switching brain networks from the task-focused network (spot a problem, fix it, sounds remarkably similar to the chronic stress that we experience each and every day) --- and switching instead to the default mode network.
The DMN is the SPACE of blank slates, creativity, exploration, and asking wonderfully open-ended questions:
What is possible?
What else?
What am I experiencing now?
The DMN is also a lovely brain network that has hormones to benefit us all -- oxytocin, serotonin (ah, how instrumental in our mood states and recovering from trauma) as well as progesterone and estrogen (and anyone who is peri-menopausal or in menopause knows about the impact that these hormones have upon our focus and well-being).
Geek out with me.
And for those who are ready to join me to dive in more, come to www.WendySchoferMD.com
You can also book a consult directly to work together to create healthy, lifelong relationships with food, body, self and yes - each other. These are the habits we WANT our families to share, at every age, every weight.
https://WendySchoferMDScheduling.as.me/consult
Finally, help without harm.
#familyinfocus #pediatrician #boredombuster #boredom #relationships #haes #eatingdisorderprevention #stressrelief #familyhealth