Bored at the pool should not be an option.

I've been trying to squeeze in as much swimming pool time as possible lately.  Seven days is all we have until school starts.  I spent a good majority of my childhood at the swimming pool (hence the sunspots scattered across my face) and it sort of made the rest of my life dull.  There was no place I'd rather be as a kid. 

But yesterday, something terrible happened.  Ten minutes before closing time, Kyler pulled himself out of the pool, walked slowly over to me and moaned, "I'm bored."  I have only ever heard of one type of 'bored' used as such in this type of sentence and it is defined as follows:

bored/bôrd/

Adjective:

Feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity.

I immediately assumed that Kyler mistook this word for something else so I stayed momentarily calm and asked, "What do you think the word bored means?"  He rolled his eyes and said, "It means I'm ready to go home."  I choked on my own gasp and stuck my fist in my mouth to avoid saying something inappropriate. 

 

Just then, Mae mosied over to us to see what was going on.  Mae: the child who is always on my side and wants to make me happy.  She said, "What's going on?"  With a quivering lip, I said, "Kyler's BORED.  At the POOL.  The POOL!!!"  I expected her to immediately tell him off while hugging me and shielding me from anymore bad talk.  Instead, she looked sympathetic and said, "Yeah, I'm bored, too."  Without further ado, we packed up and headed home.  It was a very quiet ride.

 

It occurred to me that they did the same thing at the fair last weekend.  After the rides, as we were touring the exhibits and animal barns, they complained of boredom. 

 

I hate to start any sentence with the words, "Kids these days..." but really, what has changed?  The only thing I can think of is that we are such an on-the-go family.  When I was little, we were always home. ALWAYS.  To go anywhere was a great thrill; even just to ride along to the gas station.  After returning home from the pool, I announced to the kids that we will be staying home for the remainder of their summer break.  This was meant to be a threat, but they both threw their arms in the air and said, "Yay!!  I love home!!"  And it hit me: they do love home.  So the saying is true:  Don't spend so much time trying to give your kids the things you never had or you might miss out on giving them the things you did have.  Except I did have the pool and I would never choose home over water, but to each their own, I suppose. 

 

So...who wants to come babysit my kids so I can go to the pool?