SINGAPORE — They pressed their noses against the windowpane, watching intently the onslaught of pelting rain.

“What do we do now?” my son asked.

“We were supposed to play ball downstairs,” his twin sister protested, while my youngest child ran to join in the symphony of requests.

Mental cogs turned as I considered how to occupy them, and my mind wandered to how too quickly the school holidays were descending upon us.

Listen closely, and you would probably hear the heavy collective sighs of parents (and celebratory air-punches of teachers).

“How are you going to survive the next six weeks?” several friends asked earlier. That’s the inevitable golden question as term break looms around the corner.

When my twins experienced their first major kindergarten holidays years ago, I had frantically scoured the internet and online parenting groups for ideas on how to occupy them. Free exhibits, museum visits, new places to check out, preschooler camps, play dates — I scrupulously penned in a whole array of activities to fill their time.

An oceanarium-themed half-day camp spread over five days? I signed up immediately, enthusiastically ferrying the twins daily to the programme (which on hindsight might have been a tad advanced for them), and frenetically rushing back to nurse the baby.

Four school breaks later, I am still grappling with how to make time pass — oh I mean whiz by, quickly, please.

But this time, I am a little more comfortable with the prospect of doing nothing much in particular, on certain stretches during the holidays.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING BORED

In September, I read an article by education specialist Teresa Belton, Visiting Fellow in University of East Anglia, that extolled the need for children to be bored from time to time.

In her research, boredom encourages children — in the absence of external stimulation — to daydream and listen to their inner voices. It also gives them time and space to discover their personal talents and interests.

It made perfect sense. Just before the school term ended, I got my four-year-olds to make a list of things they wanted to do during the holidays — a lineup I planned to draw them back to if they were bored.

I was relieved to see that other than visiting favourite places such as the zoo and riding the bicycle, the list included lots of simple home-based activities such as building with LEGO (the result of a recent enjoyable trip to Legoland), reading and drawing.

When we were rained in, I stopped myself from being Mother Camp Commandant, and deliberately refrained from introducing new activities.

I watched silently as the elder two transformed an outgrown playpen into a treehouse. Then a train. And a plane, where the elder two were the crew and dragged the youngest to be their only paying passenger.

The playpen morphed into a boat, from which they cast imaginary fishing rods into shark-infested waters.

As I typed away on my laptop, I saw from the corner of my eye how the twins folded a playmat to form a stage, cobbled together instruments for an impromptu ‘year-end performance’, teaching the youngest rudimentary dance steps.

They also moved from group play into their individual worlds for extended periods. One child drew vehicles, the other pretended to be a ballerina, and the third built a towering brick castle.

It was a lovely sight to behold for an often-frazzled mother — kids learning to entertain themselves, explore with siblings (beyond fighting) and enjoying their little down times.

Perhaps when there is nothing to do, necessity is really the mother of invention.

ARE “CONSTRUCTIVE ACTIVITIES” HELPFUL

I tend to feel like a lousy parent if my children are bored, or if I am not ‘sufficiently engaging’ them. I often feel the pressing need, as a parent working from home, to structure ‘constructive’ activities during their waking moments, so that they are duly occupied or at least spending their time meaningfully.

Maybe this is symptomatic of a well-educated generation becoming parents. We think that every waking moment should be spent doing something productive, rather than nothing. It is well-intended, of course.

“Last time, I left you to your own devices, and you had plenty of time to play by yourself,” my mother scoffed on the phone that day.

Strangely, I do remember being bored. I have flashbacks of myself taking a pencil and paper to doodle, and forcing my elder sister to play make believe with me.

Perhaps it really is okay — even necessary — for children today to be bored.

Boredom is a lull period for children to reflect, be themselves and explore. It forces them to think outside the box, and create.

Boredom also teaches them to be content when nothing exciting is going on, rather than expect life to be an unceasing rollercoaster of thrills.

So I shall say it — this holiday, my grand plan is for my children to be bored.

To be sure, I have signed them up for a two-day Lego robotics camp that their former school teacher is conducting. And I will certainly take them outdoors for playgrounds and play-dates. (Holed up at home for six weeks? Who am I kidding!)

But I will also leave significant pockets of time when we will be home with nothing planned. May they then discover the power of imagination, open-ended play and creation.

A laid-back, low-fuss school holiday? Hopefully, this will be one of my better — and cheaper — ideas.

Denise Lim is a freelance writer.