The article “The Case against Overparenting” appeared in Time Magazine in Nov 2009. But I got around to reading it only now. A quote from that article appealed to me. Here it is:
“With children they need that space not to be entertained or distracted. What boredom does is take away the noise … and leave them with space to think deeply, invent their own game, create their own distraction. It’s a useful trampoline for children to learn how to get by.”
What they are saying here is that its ok to let kids be bored sometimes. That will encourage them to think creatively about how to entertain themselves.
You can read the full article here: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395,00.html