Is your child’s boredom a bid for connection?
The University of Kentucky Public Relations and Strategic Communications Office provides a weekly health column available for use and reprint by news media. This week’s column is by Matt Ladwig, a licensed professional clinical counselor at Golisano Children’s at UK.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 13, 2026) — If you’ve encountered boredom in your school-aged child this summer, congratulations. You’ve created space for it by limiting screen time and bringing structure and intentionality into your home. Few things create the kind of creative pressure that boredom does. The grunts, sighs and open-ended questions are signs of the culture you’re building. Hang in there. Welcome them with a smile and respond calmly with phrases like, “The yard is your oyster!” “Make it happen, Captain!” or the classic, “Create something!”
But what if your child’s boredom is really a desire for connection?
Not rushed time between activities. Not time spent consuming entertainment together. Real time — where you’re fully present and engaged at their level. Time spent building, coloring, imagining or creating together. Simple moments that allow you to look into their face, enjoy who they are and experience their wonderfully developing personality.
Your child may not always be able to express what they need, but they often are more aware of it than we realize. Sometimes boredom is an invitation.
As parents, we can’t respond on demand the way technology does — and that’s OK. Boredom serves an important purpose. It helps children develop creativity, resilience and emotional growth. Make room for it. Allow it. But don’t miss the opportunity hidden within it.
Summer is full of activities, adventures and distractions. Yet time spent playing with you provides something deeper. It fulfills and sustains them. It nurtures attachment, strengthens emotional security and reminds them that your presence is one of the greatest gifts you can give.
UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more. It is more than 10,000 dedicated healthcare professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns and the region’s only Level 1 trauma center.
As an academic research institution, we are continuously pursuing the next generation of cures, treatments, protocols and policies. Our discoveries have the potential to change what’s medically possible within our lifetimes. Our educators and thought leaders are transforming the healthcare landscape as our six health professions colleges teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, spreading the highest standards of care. UK HealthCare is the power of advanced medicine committed to creating a healthier Kentucky, now and for generations to come.