Success with boredom

Owen has been bored a lot lately. At first, I offered dozens of things to do, all of which were rejected. I went to the boards and searched the archives for boredom. Everything I read said that boredom was the child's responsibility. You cannot 'fix' it for them. Especially since we are still transitioning to unschooling (we frequently fall back into old patterns and have to correct ourselves) anything I suggest will be seen as learning or forced upon him.

So, I tried to explain to him that it was his responsibility to solve his boredom problem. I offered to help him compile his ideas and ask him questions to help him brainstorm. (What kinds of things do you play outside? What do you play alone? Are there any craft things you like to do? Is there anything you are interested in that I need to get you some props?) He was not interested. He just wanted me to give him the answer to all his problems. He began blaming all of the problems in our house on his boredom. He told E that all the problems in our house were because he was bored. He fought with Bridget, made huge messes, watched too much TV, etc. E agreed. He had figured out that his boredom was causing him to do other things that he didn't really want to do. We knew that, but he had to figure it out on his own.

Today, he said he was bored... again. I said, "What if you made a different choice?" He was confused. I told him that he was bored because the choice he was making was not making him happy. He said he felt like he didn't have any choices. I asked, "Really? None?" He said, "Well, I guess I could....." and off he went. He got out the stickers and put them all over his pokemon binder