by : Deborah Shelton

Before summer vacation turns into a boredom fest, sit down as a family and make a summer anti-boredom list. Write down a mixture of long overdue chores that you’ve been meaning to get done, along with goals and dreams that you’ve always wanted to accomplish. Don’t leave out the fantastic! If you’ve always wanted to ride on a unicorn, even though there is no such animal, write it down. You may read the list one day when you’re bored, see the unicorn wish, and decide to take horseback riding lessons.

With an anti-boredom list displayed prominently on the refrigerator, fun is just around the corner. Take a look at my family’s summer anti-boredom list to get an idea. By the way, can you tell which entries belong to our five-year-old son?

• Learn karate.

• Order room service.

• Become one with a hammock.

• Start a worm farm.

• Write a new short story.

• Start a snail farm.

• Have snail races!

• Repaint the fence.

• Let’s go swimming with dolphins.

• Go fishing with Pappa.

• Actually paint pictures every week instead of just watching lessons on Channel 8.

• Landscape the backyard to resemble a jungle.

• Swing through the trees like Tarzan.

• Organize the boxes of family photos.

• Read an entire novel in one sitting.

• Decorate Mom’s car with candy and marbles and toys and broken clocks. Let me glue everything on.

• Create an entry for the Art Car Parade.

• Write an entire novel in one sitting.

• Go to Disney Land!

• Challenge Tiger Woods to a one-hole-winner-take-all match.

• Go to Disney Land!

• Open the first coffee shop/cool bookstore in the neighborhood.

• Go to Disney Land!