Boredom Watch 2010

Hello, folks, and welcome back to the most anticipated event of the school year, the Last Day of School!  That day where the pain and torture of sitting at a desk all day and learning stuff can finally come to a blessed end.  That day where all of the dreams and goals and plans that would have been getting done all year, if not for school, can finally be accomplished.  That day that has been circled in red on every kid's calendar since way back in August.

And thus we begin Boredom Watch 2010.  How long will the glorious release of summer last until the first child says those magic words, "I'm bored!"  For those of you just catching up, our current record holder is Brad from 2008, when he crossed the whining finish line a mere one hour and eight minutes after the school day ended.  2009 was a disappointment - the kids finally, finally dragged their tired, limp bodies, already worn out from literally MINUTES of playing, into the Boredom record books at four hours after school.  I know we can do better than that.

Brad walked in the door at 9:25 a.m.  While we wait for the first update, I'm going to re-post a part of last years' Boredom Watch entry which I thought was particularly amusing.

We are on Boredom Watch 2009 - the clock is ticking and we are counting down to the first "I'm bored" of the season.  I know in some families this concept would be foreign, what with all their happily-spending-time-together, playing-board-games-and-singing-songs, who-needs-a-tv-when-we-have-each-other moments.  Maybe some families have children that know how to entertain themselves, but I don't.  Weird, because you'd think with all the neglecting of them that I do, they would have figured it out by now.

Sometimes I wish we lived on a farm, the romantic kind of farm in my mind where the boys help Pa with the chores without complaining, and Darcey and I spend our time keeping house.  We'd make huge meals from scratch, all organic and free-range and whatnot, and because we had to thresh the wheat and churn the butter, the homemade bread would be the best thing you ever tasted.  It's the sacrifice that gives it it's flavor.  The boys would come home all tuckered out, but they'd still have time to meet up with their friends to play kick the can, or hit a hoop with a stick.  Or maybe they'd be too tired from all that hard work to do much more than talk about that cute girl down at the five-and-dime and make plans for repairing the fence on the back forty.  But that's just a pipe dream from a woman who would be personally unwilling to give up her laptop, ipod, washer and dryer, etc etc etc.  Yes, that lifestyle would be the true survival of the fittest, and we'd prove ourselves to be lazy, fat, sloth-like couch dwellers ready to be picked off.

For kids who have every conceivable entertainment at their disposal, summer can be a really boring time,apparently.

So the countdown begins.  Will this be another record-breaking year or will 2010 go down in history as the first time since school was invented that children find non-boring things to do all summer?  Stay tuned to find out.

Update #1 - 11:15 and no sign of boredom yet.  In fact, no sign of my kids - the boys are all off with their friends.   It seems that boredom will be held in abeyance until the friends get bored of my kids.

Update #2 - 2:35 and still, everyone is occupied.  I left Ryan as the Boredom Monitor while I was at school and he reported zero incidents of boredom so far.  We've now passed the five hour mark - already an hour longer than last year!  Can we keep this going?  Does anyone have a contact at Guinness so we can register this?

Update #3 - 9 p.m.  Zack is in bed, the other boys are on their way, and not a peep about being bored.  We lasted the entire last day of school with no boredom!  Can this be?  Is it possible we are turning over a new, self-entertaining leaf?  No, I dare not say that out loud.  I'll just think it...and keep you posted tomorrow.