Princess Idleways and Boredom

The other week I read The Princess Idleways: A Fairy Story (1879) by Mrs. W. J. Hayes. It is one of the classic stories that is available for a free Kindle download on Amazon. The story itself was entertaining enough, although I don't know that I would read the book over and over. The plot tended to meander quite a bit.

I have, though, been thinking about a point mentioned in the book. The story starts by explaining how the princess, Laura Idleways, is a selfish and lazy creature. I was particularly struck at the discussion of how the princess was "always depending upon others for entertainment, too lazy to amuse herself, and much less inclined to study or to find happiness in being useful." I had never thought about boredom as being connected to laziness before, and I appreciated this insight. When someone is bored, it is because they are too lazy to entertain or amuse themselves.

I can remember complaining to my mom at times when I was bored. She would give me suggestions of things to do, and I usually would reject each one as being too boring or unappealing. Now that I'm a mom, I am the one who offers Sam suggestions of things to do when he is bored, and he usually dismisses each idea for one reason or another. The other day, though, I was able to tell Sam about Princess Idleways and how her boredom was a result of being lazy. Sam seemed to really understand this idea; he could tell that at that moment he was depending on me to entertain him or find something to entertain him. Although, obviously, there are times when I want to play with Sam and be with him, I also want him to better cultivate the ability to entertain himself.

I'm happy to say that I never find myself bored as an adult. There are always more things to do than I have time for!