“This is how I organized an ‘I Am Bored’ birthday party for my daughter”

“I am bored” is something that every parent hears a lot from their preteen, whether they are from Delhi, Kerala, or Ontario, Canada like us. My home is not different, as my “almost” teenage daughter finds most things boring.

We are a family of four. Recently, we celebrated my daughter Navgun’s 12th birthday. As is common with her age group, she is bored within a few minutes of every activity. Other than her occasional cries of “I am bored,” she is an active child—and a good-natured one too!

Days before her birthday, we were all brainstorming ideas for her birthday party theme. And in her typical style, after some time, she got bored with that discussion too! This is when it struck me: Why not go for a “boring” theme for her birthday and even plan all the food in line with her teen lingo? Everyone agreed to the plan. To her credit, my daughter accepted this plan good-naturedly and even promised to help me with the cooking and presentation.

As D-Day arrived, everyone chipped in, including my 4-year-old son Anhad, who helped us with decorating the house and baking the cake. Together, we prepared an array of delicious dishes. Our next task was to put taglines on all of them. As promised, my daughter joined me in naming the dishes after her signature lingo. As I was writing the taglines for each of the dishes, she suggested lines that a typical preteen like her would say after seeing or eating a particular dish.

Her birthday party was a huge hit among her friends and family. We too had a great time putting it together. When I posted the pictures online in my groups, everyone appreciated my creativity in organizing this fun birthday party. Many parents of preteens told me that they were familiar with preteen jargon and were amazed that I could turn it into a birthday theme!

I read somewhere that parents should often use humor to raise kids—this was our way to put the fun back in our parenting. Thankfully, our daughter loved her birthday party—she didn’t mind the friendly teasing and all the attention her birthday got this year because of the unique theme. Now my daughter says, “See, being bored is so cool!”

By Gunjeet Kaur

(As told to Monali Bordoloi)