Family psychologist John Roseman has spent years researching the perennial problem of children complaining that they are bored. He reported that parents in less affluent countries tend to look at him with disbelief when he asks if their kids complain of being bored; whereas in affluent countries like ours, the opposite is true. Roseman’s research has revealed that the typical five year old here has accumulated two hundred and fifty toys; or almost one for every week they’ve been alive. But it’s these kids who complain of boredom.
It highlights a truth that most adults have still to learn; that boredom doesn’t come because of how much we don’t have, just as contentment doesn’t come from how much we do. The problem is actually a spiritual one – do we have a meaning to our lives?