Let kids get bored. It’s good for them.

I have some particularly vivid memories of my childhood summers: the smell of the grill, the chatter of the crickets—and feeling bored to death.

Although I had a relatively tight schedule and spent long periods of camp each summer, there were weeks when my parents, who both worked, hadn’t filled my schedule with anything and everything, and they didn’t care if I felt adequate involved or amused.

I’ve been thinking about that as my own sons work their way through the summer with a hodgepodge of camps, babysitters, and grandparent time that is breathtakingly expensive yet feels inadequate in terms of actual childcare or stimulation.

I’m hardly the only one who feels it’s my parental duty to cram their days with activities and learning opportunities. A study cited in a 2018 New York Times article lamenting the brutality of modern parenting found that parents, regardless of education, income, or race, believed children who are bored should be enrolled in extracurricular activities. As Erin Westgate, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Florida, explained to me, there’s a kind of cultural stigma associated with boredom, especially in the United States.

Only boring people get bored, goes the saying.

But the reality is that boredom is “normal, natural and healthy,” said Dr. Westgate, whose research focuses on what boredom is, why people experience it and what happens when they do it. While she cautioned that there is little empirical research on childhood boredom, Dr. Westgate that boredom in moderate doses can provide a valuable learning opportunity, encourage creativity and problem solving, and motivate children to seek out activities that are meaningful to them.

“Protecting children from boredom is just as wrong as protecting children from ever feeling sad, frustrated or angry,” she said.

Here’s what you and your kids can learn from feelings of boredom.

Boredom is informative.

Boredom is an emotion, said Dr. Westgate, who likened it to an indicator light on a car’s dashboard: “Boredom is telling you that what you’re doing right now isn’t working.” Usually that means the task you’re doing is too easy or too hard, she said, or it doesn’t make sense.

One way parents can help children, especially younger children, cope with boredom is by working with them to develop what Dr. Westgate mentioned greater emotional granularity. For example, you can help them differentiate between being sad or bored. “Call it to tame it,” a phrase coined by psychiatrist Dan Siegel, is a technique many child development experts use to help children identify their feelings.

Kids will often say, “I’m bored” when they’re lonely or want attention, says Katie Hurley, who has a doctorate in social work and is the author of “The Happy Kid Handbook.” So it might help to ask if they’re looking for comfort or companionship, she said.

Also, do what you can to normalize the feeling. “We tend to treat boredom as a sign of distress, or some sort of cry for help,” said Dr. Hurley. “It’s uncomfortable, but it’s not necessarily negative.”

Boredom can lead to fulfillment.

Boredom offers children the chance to experiment with the kinds of pursuits that are satisfying and interesting to them, said Dr. Westgate.

For example, letting your kids loose in the backyard may make them bored at first, she said. But they can learn to avoid or resolve that feeling by seeking out activities that are meaningful to them, whether that be counting bugs, playing with a ball, or drawing with sidewalk chalk. If parents don’t allow free, imaginative play, children may never discover their innate love of nature, sports, or the arts, or even the pleasure they can find in simply relaxing or playing.

“Being able to identify and develop those resources of significance is a really critical skill to have for life,” said Dr. Westgate.

Boredom busters can break the spell.

Parents sometimes fear boredom and the havoc it can wreak in the home, said Dr. Hurley. But leisure makes room for discovery. Dr. Hurley recommends looking at your child’s weekly schedule and asking, “Is there anything we can take away from and just call it ‘quiet downtime’?”

But parents should not expect children to know instinctively what might be meaningful to them. Instead, parents should remind their children of things they are interested in or care about, said Dr. Westgate.

“It’s the difference between leaving the child in a room where they have absolutely nothing to do,” she said, versus “putting them in a room where you know there are books and puzzles — things that are meaningful to your child — and that would suit them well.” (She noticed that too research has shown that people without a positive outlet may be more likely to engage in harmful behavior.)

Dr. Hurley said kids ages 5 and under need a specific menu of “boredom busters,” or questions like, Do you want to play with Lego? Want to play with Play-Doh? Do you want to go outside? Parents often feel the pressure to get down on the floor and play with young children every time the kids get bored, she said, but that can keep kids from learning how capable they are of stepping into their imaginations.

With slightly older children, Dr. Hurley said she might say something like, “Take a walk around the house and think of three ideas, then get back to me.” Once kids move from a state of boredom to positive action, “it opens up creativity, problem solving, and all sorts of academic learning skills.”

Phones and devices require little effort, Dr. Westgate noted, so children and adults often turn to them as a way to calm feelings of boredom.

“With kids, it makes perfect sense for them to ask for screens when they’re bored, but of course that doesn’t mean it’s best for them in that situation,” she said.