From the author: Many loving parents try their best to please their children, pampering them excessively, trying to fulfill all their requests, doing for them what they could easily do themselves. Is it any wonder that children suffer madly from Boredom, and the latter gives rise to a constant thirst for entertainment, new and new experiences!? To correct this problem, I suggest a fairy tale. Two swats, three swats When children start to get bored, complain that they can’t communicate with friends because they quickly get tired of them? When you are only interested in more and more new toys, new activities to replace old, unfinished ones, a change of impressions? Why is this happening? Why is it not interesting for a child to do something on his own, without waiting to be entertained, as the mass entertainers used to do in sanatoriums, saying: “two stomps, three slams”? Alas, I am afraid that parents are most often to blame for this. Children, especially desirable, long-awaited children, from early childhood are able to incredibly touchingly, sincerely and touchingly ask their parents for any smallest favor - either to bring some water, or to help undress, or to put them to bed, or to sing a song, to buy a toy, etc.. And now parents drop everything and rush to fulfill any request, any whim of their dear child, and then it’s more like an order. They give up all their important affairs and problems, and actually why - don’t they have the right to their own lives? Why do the child’s requests become more important? A modern psychologist would say that children in such cases become brilliant manipulators, knowing perfectly which buttons to press to obtain the desired effect. Loving parents often make another mistake - they think that the child is asking for help because they are afraid that they cannot cope on their own. May be. At first. But those who don’t try will never learn. It would be worth giving the child a try - let him make a mistake, but gain valuable experience. No, we rush to do everything for the child, saving him from mistakes and disappointments, blowing away all the specks of dust, all the obstacles in his path. But then the children grow up and could do a lot themselves, but, alas, over the years a huge child has grown up next to them. Aunt Lenya, who constantly comes up with a lot of excuses to do less of something yourself: my head hurts, my tummy hurts, my finger hurts, I want to sleep, eat, etc. So do this and that for me. And when a person stops doing a lot himself , he has a lot of time freed up, which he doesn’t know what to spend on. And then Leni’s own sister, Aunt Boredom, comes into his life. And then the children tell us, their parents or friends: “Sit with me, play with me, tell me something, I’m bored alone.” Because they get bored of communicating with themselves! Perhaps this is why both parents and friends sometimes get very tired of such a demanding society, of the need to entertain all the time or spend all their free time on bored friends. But each of us has our own life - sometimes we want to relax, chat with someone else, or just be silent and be alone in silence with our thoughts. Bored children are very sincerely indignant at their parents, tired of such demands: “But I’m bored! How long can you talk on the phone with Aunt Veronica? Then you’ll talk - you need to pay more attention to your own child, you’ve completely abandoned me, you never have time for me!” Remember Marshak’s wonderful fairy tale “The Twelve Months”, in which the young queen, out of boredom, almost froze half of her subjects, trying to find them in the winter I’m chilling the snowdrops because her “left leg” wanted it that way, or as they also say, “the reins got under her tail!” Doesn’t it remind you of anything? And I decided to write a fairy tale for parents and their bored children, so that my article would not look like annoying lectures or notations that everyone hates! Although it is more suitable for spoiled girls, I think that boys will also find something to learn from it. So listen up. The Tale of Princess SkuchandaOnce upon a time there lived a princess named Skuchanda. Br! Just the name makes your cheekbones cringe. No, of course, her name was once different. But although the princess was very pretty - thin, graceful, with a long neck, wonderful ashen hair and blue-gray eyes, she had a bad character. Almost from birth, she gave heat to her dad and mom - the king and queen. They, along with the servants, simply ran off their feet to entertain the young princess. But everything seemed unlovable and uninteresting to her, and her favorite word was: “Boring, how boring!” So her subjects called her Princess Skuchanda behind her back. Time passed. The princess grew up, but remained just as capricious, demanding constant attention, the fulfillment of all desires, and most importantly, constant entertainment, thanks to which those present could take a break from her constant moans for at least one day: “It’s boring, how boring!” At the same time, the princess herself did practically nothing - not because she didn’t know how, by no means, but she was simply lazy. And why? After all, the castle was full of servants whom it was so sweet to command! And they carried out her instructions unquestioningly. Finally, the king and queen decided to resort to a drastic means - to marry her off, thereby killing two birds with one stone - to live at least a little in silence and at the same time entertain the princess, you won’t deny the fact that at first marriage can be a very interesting thing? Because the princess She was, as you remember, very pretty, the kingdom was not poor, and the father-king and mother-queen gave her half a kingdom in addition, at first there was no end to suitors. But no matter how they fought, the princess didn’t like any of them, she was bored with everyone, one was too thin, the other was too fat, one was too tall, the other was a runt, one was too abstruse, the other was a complete fool, etc. Finally, when the parents had already lost all patience, another suitor for her hand appeared. True, he didn’t look like a prince at all: shaggy, freckled, tightly built, with a smile from ear to ear, in a simple shirt and linen trousers, with a bucket in his hands in which he was swimming - yes, you read that right, a pike! Of course, this was the same Emelya who once commanded the pike: “at the pike’s command, at my will.” Only the pike was like that, more for the entourage, to remind the father-king and mother-queen from which fairy tale he came, and so that they would believe in his desire to really entertain their daughter. Emelya was a modern, quite advanced guy. The pike could, of course, fulfill his requests, but Emelya tried not to bother her over trifles, and he, of course, considered entertaining a bored girl to be a trifle. To begin with, he taught her to play on the tablet, which he took with him (just so you know, in the country of Skuchanda no one has ever seen a computer!). Then he taught her to communicate on social networks with other princesses. An hour later, the princess, using Emelya’s iPhone, was able to chat to her heart’s content with princesses from other countries (what do you want - princesses are the same girls, and they worry about the same problems as ordinary girls!). When she found out all the court gossip (it’s so fascinating to find out who loves or hates whom and for what!), to find out what is being worn at court balls this season, or what is being prepared in royal houses on holidays - for the first time since Skuchanda’s face the expression of dull, constant boredom disappeared. Then Emelya showed Princess Skuchanda a working music player - and it turned out that Skuchanda really loves to sing and dance. But the court musicians played only minuets and polonaises, which bored her to death with their solemnity and slowness. Emelya taught Skuchanda how to rap, after which they had a blast, as they say. The father-king and the mother-queen looked at all this entertainment with their mouths open - they had never seen their daughter so interested and satisfied, and most importantly, the word “Boring!” had not been heard in the castle for several hours. Then Emelya asked Skuchanda if she knew what decoupage, quilling or, at worst, crackleur was. She replied that she had no idea what it was. Then Emelya quicklyshowed her what was what. It turned out that using napkins, then treating them with glue, and then painting them - decoupage - is a very interesting thing. And the artificial aging of any thing (craquelure technique) and paper cutting (quilling) are so captivating that you can’t put it down! I must say that Skuchanda had dexterous hands, and therefore she learned these things very quickly. And having achieved the first successes in a new business, I became bored again. She was not used to working for a long time, delving into something for a long time, figuring it out, improving, learning - long work quickly became boring to her. I made one picture from quilling and discarded the rest of the blanks. Mom and dad are depressed here, and again their daughter will start whining and demanding new entertainment. And Emelya - not at all. He noticed that Skuchanda was looking at him with obvious interest and even more than that, clearly showing him that she was not averse to marrying him. He himself liked her outwardly, but he was surprised that during several hours of studying together it did not occur to her to offer him a rest or dinner. And when he directly asked her about this, Skuchanda said that she would now give orders, and everything would be brought to them and arranged. She clapped her hands - efficient servants came running and brought all sorts of unusual dishes. During dinner, the Queen Mother's spoon fell on the floor, and Princess Skuchanda did not even think about helping her mother pick it up. To the silent question that appeared in Emelya’s eyes, she replied: “I believe that whoever dropped it should pick it up.” - And I think as I was taught as a child - elders must be respected and revered, and not count every time whose turn it is to do this or that. Emelya realized that his daughter-in-law was not particularly kind to people, that’s why she didn’t know how to greet guests, she wasn’t trained in hospitality, and she wasn’t much of a hostess, she couldn’t treat him or please him with anything. And she couldn’t tell him anything new, she couldn’t surprise him with anything - where could this come from, because Skuchanda didn’t like to read (it’s boring, it takes effort!), so she always fell asleep five minutes after the court reader opened book. And Emelya was not too interested in royal gossip. He then bowed to the ground to Skuchanda, her parents, picked up a bucket with his trusty pike and headed towards the exit from the palace. Skuchanda did not expect this - she believed that her company was simply a gift for everyone. - Where are you going, Emelyushka? – she squeaked pitifully. “Home, princess.” I’ve been late here with you, it’s time to know the honor. - And what about me? I will be bored without you! - But I’m not a clown in the circus to entertain you all the time, I want to be entertained somehow, sometimes asked how I’m doing. And I’m pretty hungry - I’ll go to my mother - I’ve never tasted cabbage soup like hers anywhere! - I want to be with you! - Why did you surrender to me at home? You don’t really know how to do anything, you’ll only give orders to my mother. And she is no longer young, it’s time for her to retire. Why do I need such a bride in the house, so that my mother can be sent to her. No, this is not the kind of bride I dream of. - Which one? Emelyushka? - Yes, about a wife like that, so that everything in her hands would burn and argue. So that every day I would be drawn to her like a magnet. And so that it would always be interesting for me to be with her! And I would be proud of my wife, all her skills. So that guests could be kicked out of our house and from the table only with kicks, she would feed them so deliciously! So that our home would be clean and beautiful, the linen would be freshly ironed, flowers would bloom on the windows, and the birds would sing joyfully in their cages. And so that our children would look well-groomed, happy and contented. - But I can’t do any of this, Emelyushka! I wasn’t taught this - and why should we, our servants do all this. - Well, if so - why do you need me - you will find yourself a prince, whose house will also be full of servants, a white-handed woman just like you, and you will be bored together. - But I don’t want to be bored, I’m interested in being with you. - But I’m not with you. I'm used to doing things myself, and not having everything done for me.!