FEELING bored? Please spare me the details unless you really want to make my hackles rise...

Recently I co-entertained a couple of charming children. We spent a long morning on the beach, doing exactly what they chose, and returned to the house just as it began to rain.

After lunch I scuttled off to bed with a book, revelling at the prospect of a few peaceful hours while the children watched videos.

In actual fact I hadn't turned three pages before the pounding of little feet warned me of their imminent arrival. They were 'bored' so what could they do next?

Straight off the cuff I could have made several suggestions, but their mother was lurking nearby.

Then, 'This can't be happening', I thought grimly when, 10 minutes later, we had bundled ourselves into the car and were heading for a shopping mall where some enterprising auntie had set up craft lessons for bored children.

Surely everyone should be able to amuse themselves for an hour or two or, when all else fails, switch their brains out of neutral and think? After a little practise some people even get to like doing that and even resent being interrupted.

Many adults dread the thought of living alone and if forced to often become depressed and self-pitying. On the other hand, self-sufficient types learn to make the most of every 'lonely' moment. These people are too busy sorting out their thoughts and arranging their lives to their own satisfaction to worry about a lack of company.

Rather than constantly instructing their followers to love themselves, I believe self-help gurus would do better to suggest that we first learn to live with ourselves and, if necessary, by ourselves.

So, next time your child or teenager tires of the many distractions you have laid on for his or her amusement, don't exhaust yourself trying to fill the entertainment gap. A little quiet time, for reflection, never hurt anyone.

Of course being bored is not a modern phenomenom. Commenting during the 1800's the poet, Lord Byron, said, 'Society is now one polished horde - formed of two mighty tribes, the Bores and the Bored.'

What's new?

Absolutely nothing, but we can still hope.

Copyright 2002 Sheldene Chant