For the first time in over a decade, this summer, I did not sign my kids up for a single damned thing. No sports clinics. No camps. No lessons. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nuthin’. And let me tell you, the first day of summer break this year was one of the most terrifying days I’ve ever experienced as a parent. What was I thinking? What in the heck was I going to do with them all summer? How many days left until school starts?

Well, today is their first day back to school, and somehow, we survived. How’d it go? Well, I think now, with (of course) perfect hindsight, this may well have been one of the best summers we’ve ever had, because boredom, as it turns out, is a very good thing:

• It motivates: My daughter cleaned out her closet voluntarily, which was inconceivable; until this summer, we all thought Kids Choosing to Clean Closets signaled the End of Days.
• It stimulates: This is her copy of Moby Dick, her summer reading assignment. Annotated and cross-referenced. Take that, SparkNotes.
• It inspires: We started watching Jeopardy as a family this summer, leading to some amazing conversations about history, culture, books, etc. (Of course, we also started watching Family Feud with Steve Harvey, which sparked some amazing conversations with our adolescent sons about how many different words there are for boobs and sex. You can’t win ‘em all.)
• It incentivizes: All three kids now know how to use the oven and clean their own bathrooms. ‘nuff said.
• It educates: With no camps, clinics, or lessons to eat up the day (or our budget), we were free to spend time each week at different museums and zoos. We “swam” at an indoor beach; stumbled upon DC’s beautiful memorial to fallen police officers; learned about real-life spies; petted jellyfish and rays, watched sharks eat, and made the acquaintance of the astonishing mantis shrimp.
  

  Mantis Shrimp at the National Aquarium in Baltimore

  

  The Beach Exhibit at the National Building Museum

  

  National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

• It liberates: We all know how to use the DC Metro now, myself included; they no longer have to worry about Mom forgetting how to get home.
• It makes the old feel new again: Let’s just say, I am no longer the Queen of Monopoly; my eldest son, the Slum King, now rules the land (once we let him out of jail).
• It permits, among other things: sleeping in; quiet time; binge-watching and binge-gaming (Seriously: my sons both declared they were, at long last, bored of video games); conversations, both silly and deep; silliest face and grossest belching contests (judges were split on whether that last one deserved a space in the Summer Debriefing); and staying up late to watch the ends of movies we know so well we can all quote them in chorus (“No more rhymes now, I mean it. Anybody want a peanut?”).

I don’t want you to think for a minute that every day of this long, hot summer was a perfect idyll; that would be a bald-faced lie. While boredom allows for a lot of cool things to take place, it also allows for a fair share of unpleasantness (*inspired by actual events):

•  It irritates: “How many damned times are you going to watch that same episode of Modern Family before you shower?”
• It aggravates: “You’re sitting in my spot!” “I took the dog out last time!” “How do three people manage to use twenty-nine glasses in four hours?”
• It peeves: “He’s putting his feet on me.” “She threw her wrapper at me.” “He’s kicking my chair, on purpose.”

And, inevitably:

• It bores. “Oh, my God…how many days left ‘til school starts?” (*uttered by each one of us at least once during the past three months).

But the side effect of all that boredom this year, something that had been missing from all our past, scheduled-to-the-nanosecond summers without my even noticing it, is that (when it wasn’t suffocating us), boredom actually inspired a lot of creativity in my kids. It restored their interest in the world around them (they watch the news now, probably because they tired of watching everything else). It fostered a renewed camaraderie with their siblings (because when “someone” leaves the fridge open and the milk spoils, or “someone” spills crap all over the couch, United We Stand is the best defense). Boredom, in the end, can take a lot of the credit for us all feeling ready for the school year to begin again at last–because we didn’t have anything else left to do (and the fridge and pantry were just about empty, anyway).

So yeah—this first day, maybe people will ask our kids “What’d you do this summer?” and maybe they’ll say “Nuthin’.” But I already know, that along with all that “nuthin’’” we did this summer, we also found the time for a whole lot of something special, and we have boredom to thank for it.