Submitted by Kara, Omaha, Nebraska

What are your best tips for battling summer boredom?

Answered by Jacque Grillo , Director, Lone Mountain Children's Center

Don't rescue your child from boredom! Let there be times each day and each week when there is nothing to do. If you have every minute planned and programmed then what you've taught your child is to be dependent on adults for ideas and the opportunities for creative expression. You deny him the chance to direct his own time and make his own choices -- essential skills in the movement toward autonomy and independence. Probably many of the world's most creative and innovative discoveries stemmed from someone who was bored and just looking for a way to entertain herself or to fill the time. Out of the experience of nothing -- nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to be with -- comes the possibility of discovery, imagination and creative expression. Make time to celebrate nothing!