Last Child in the Woods: On (not) being bored

One chapter left, and so much still to discuss and ponder.  I can't wait until a few of you out there have read this too and we can discuss it.

The idea of boredom was brought up in one chapter, and I found myself asking the question, "When was the last time I was bored?"  The last time I can think of was in the summer of 2004, while waiting for my first semester at EPFL to begin here in Switzerland, with Frederic at work all day and me home with nothing to do.

I have not been bored in SIX YEARS.  Sweet!  I mean, I literally have not passed ten minutes of the last six years in a state I would describe as boredom.  In fact, I find the very IDEA of boredom to be almost absurd.  How could anyone possibly have free time on their hands and not either:
a. Appreciate it for what it is, or
b. Do something that they've been wanting to do for a while and haven't gotten around to.
???

Anyway, the book discusses the idea of boredom being a novel concept, a "sign of the times" for the modern day teenagers of the western world.  Mostly, it seems that self-entertainment is becoming a lost skill, in a world designed to entertain (loudly, and obnoxiously in my opinion) every second of our life.  Kids can't fathom playing outside because they don't understand "being", only doing, and they can't find anything to do outdoors because they've had that creativity stifled.  For many reasons, TV being my big pet peeve, but also the fear we parents feel about allowing our kids to be outdoors.  Either fear of nature itself, or fear of those humans who might be lurking at the end of our block and just out of sight.  And while I don't have a fear of nature, I do have, like almost all parents, a disproportionate (to the threat) fear of human predators.

Frederic and I have been talking about how to handle this fear and the small but real danger of other human beings, and still have a lot to talk about before either kid is old enough to be set loose outside anyway.

But I was talking about boredom.

According to the book, there are two types for youngsters- good and bad.  Bad boredom is the kind that results in whole days in front of the TV, drug use, and teenage pregnancy.  Good boredom is the kind that results in creative play, invention, and constructive occupation.  What is less clear is how to foster one over the other, thought the author would like us to believe that exposure to nature fosters good choices when a child finds himself bored, and a policy of fear-based parenting decisions leads to bad boredom.  But still, tough to figure out where the line is.

As I said before, this book has been keeping my mind pretty busy over the last couple of weeks.