--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: That's what children are for—that their…" description: "\"That's what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.\" — Ivan Turgenev" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bd/ivan-turgenev-2671_bored_that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their_3225617.jpg" --- # That's what children are for—that their parents may not be… ![“That's what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.” quote by Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bd/ivan-turgenev-2671_bored_that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their_3225617.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bd/ivan-turgenev-2671_bored_that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their_3225617.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bd/ivan-turgenev-2671_bored_that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their_3225617.jpg) > “That's what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.” [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Children provide parents with fresh perspective and relief from monotony, reminding adults of wonder. **In simple terms:** Kids keep life interesting. Key Takeaway Enjoy the spontaneity children bring. Themes family joy perspective Mood humorous observational Type satirical reflective When to use this quote - parenting - family gatherings - creative brainstorming - stress relief Key Concepts literature social dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance fun and responsibility with kids? - What does “bored” mean for adults? A Different Perspective Children also demand responsibility and can be challenging. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bored](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bored/) [Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/child/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Children Parents](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children-parents/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Parent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parent/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Parents](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parents/) [Parents Bored](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parents-bored-1476220/) ## Related quotes > [And I not only inherited an aversion to the nine-to-five routine, but the sense from my parents that being bored and boring is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-bale/and-i-not-only-inherited-an-aversion-to-the-nine-to-five-routine-but/) [Christian Bale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-bale/) > [The only people who seem to have nothing to do with the education of the children are the parents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-only-people-who-seem-to-have-nothing-to-do-with-the-education-of/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Some children do what they’re told to do; some children do what they’re told not to do; all children do what they’re parents have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iyanla-vanzant/some-children-do-what-they-re-told-to-do-some-children-do-what-they/) [Iyanla Vanzant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iyanla-vanzant/) > [We had to give each other permission to be different as parents. That's why there's a mom and a dad with two different approaches,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridgette-wilson/we-had-to-give-each-other-permission-to-be-different-as-parents-that/) [Bridgette Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridgette-wilson/) > [Parents. . . are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don't fulfil the promise of their early years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-powell/parents-are-sometimes-a-bit-of-a-disappointment-to-their-children/) [Anthony Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-powell/) > [Unhappy parents teach you a lesson that lasts a lifetime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/unhappy-parents-teach-you-a-lesson-that-lasts-a-lifetime/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Lifestyles and sex roles are passed from parents to children as inexorably as blue eyes or small feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/letty-cottin-pogrebin/lifestyles-and-sex-roles-are-passed-from-parents-to-children-as/) [Letty Cottin Pogrebin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/letty-cottin-pogrebin/) > [Of course, the ideal scenario for parenting is obviously two parents of a mature age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-aniston/of-course-the-ideal-scenario-for-parenting-is-obviously-two-parents/) [Jennifer Aniston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-aniston/) > [What I have most learned from my son is to respect him and to love him unconditionally. I believe that if parents respect their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-angel-ruiz/what-i-have-most-learned-from-my-son-is-to-respect-him-and-to-love/) [Miguel Angel Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-angel-ruiz/) > [Your parents are your projection-nothing more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/byron-katie/your-parents-are-your-projection-nothing-more/) [Byron Katie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/byron-katie/) > [The parents exist to teach the child, but also they must learn what the child has to teach them; and the child has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-bennett/the-parents-exist-to-teach-the-child-but-also-they-must-learn-what/) [Arnold Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-bennett/) > [It is something that most parents hope for in life: That their children will be moderately successful, polite, decent human beings. Anything on top…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-kramer/it-is-something-that-most-parents-hope-for-in-life-that-their/) [Jerry Kramer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-kramer/) > [A parent does not do everything for their kid. A parent that does everything for their kid produces a kid with no self-confidence. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-sinek/a-parent-does-not-do-everything-for-their-kid-a-parent-that-does/) [Simon Sinek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-sinek/) > [We're living in a time when parenting is not at all mirroring the way I was parented. For me, I just followed my parents…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edie-falco/we-re-living-in-a-time-when-parenting-is-not-at-all-mirroring-the-way/) [Edie Falco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edie-falco/) > [Parents who are stressed or disturbed will have more difficulty in meeting their children's needs. Parents who have little support--from friends, relatives, neighbors, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-kamerman/parents-who-are-stressed-or-disturbed-will-have-more-difficulty-in/) [Sheila Kamerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-kamerman/) ## More by Ivan Turgenev > [What a magnificent body, how I should like to see it on the dissecting table.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/what-a-magnificent-body-how-i-should-like-to-see-it-on-the-dissecting/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [“I think; here I lie under a haystack… The tiny space I occupy is so infinitely small in comparison with the rest of space,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/i-think-here-i-lie-under-a-haystack-the-tiny-space-i-occupy-is-so/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [That is what poetry can do. It speaks to us of what does not exist, which is not only better than what exists, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/that-is-what-poetry-can-do-it-speaks-to-us-of-what-does-not-exist/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [So long as one's just dreaming about what to do, one can soar like an eagle and move mountains, it seems, but as soon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/so-long-as-one-s-just-dreaming-about-what-to-do-one-can-soar-like-an/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [Most people can't understand how others can blow their noses differently than they do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/most-people-can-t-understand-how-others-can-blow-their-noses/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [The past was a dream wasn't it? And who ever remembers dreams?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/the-past-was-a-dream-wasn-t-it-and-who-ever-remembers-dreams/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [“But I think that I have already been moving too long in a sphere which is not my own. Flying fishes can hold out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/but-i-think-that-i-have-already-been-moving-too-long-in-a-sphere/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [“There was nothing ugly in the small, unprepossessing figure of this emancipated woman, but the expression on her face made a bad impression on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/there-was-nothing-ugly-in-the-small-unprepossessing-figure-of-this/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [“In his funeral oration the spokesman of the most artistic and critical of European nations, Ernest Renan, hailed him as one of the greatest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/in-his-funeral-oration-the-spokesman-of-the-most-artistic-and/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [Love isn't actually a feeling at all--it's an illness, a certain condition of body and soul… Usually it takes possession of someone without his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/love-isn-t-actually-a-feeling-at-all-it-s-an-illness-a-certain/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [There's something tragic in the fate of almost every person--it's just that the tragic is often concealed from a person by the banal surface…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/there-s-something-tragic-in-the-fate-of-almost-every-person-it-s-just/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [“But I had absolutely lost all sense of personal dignity, and could not tear myself away from the spectacle of my own misery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/but-i-had-absolutely-lost-all-sense-of-personal-dignity-and-could-not/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [“My son,' he wrote to me, 'fear the love of woman; fear that bliss, that poison…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/my-son-he-wrote-to-me-fear-the-love-of-woman-fear-that-bliss-that/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [Great God, grant that twice two be not four.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/great-god-grant-that-twice-two-be-not-four/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [What's terrible is that there's nothing terrible, that the very essence of life is petty, uninteresting, and degradingly trite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/what-s-terrible-is-that-there-s-nothing-terrible-that-the-very/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) [Explore all 146 Ivan Turgenev quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) ## More Bored quotes > [Normal is so Boring!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/normal-is-so-boring/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If you're focused, you can't get bored.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alin-sav/if-you-re-focused-you-can-t-get-bored/) [Alin Sav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alin-sav/) > [I am fairly tired--bored beyond endurance--by the world we live in, and its ideals, and am ready to say so, not violently, but kindly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/i-am-fairly-tired-bored-beyond-endurance-by-the-world-we-live-in-and/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [Being blonde, for me, means never having to say: 'I'll have the honey-striped half-head of highlights for £200,' to a bored colourist in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-johnson/being-blonde-for-me-means-never-having-to-say-i-ll-have-the-honey/) [Rachel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-johnson/) > [Someone else who liked what I did might turn around and say, "She's reworking and rethinking everything. She could just be making blankets now,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-emin/someone-else-who-liked-what-i-did-might-turn-around-and-say-she-s/) [Tracey Emin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-emin/) > [ There was another reason \[she\] took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange. They were familiar… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornelia-funke/there-was-another-reason-she-took-her-books-whenever-they-went-away/) [Cornelia Funke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornelia-funke/) > [I'm bored of being bored because being bored is very boring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sachithra/i-m-bored-of-being-bored-because-being-bored-is-very-boring/) [Sachithra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sachithra/) > [When I get bored I say fck the police](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-i-get-bored-i-say-fck-the-police/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I always knew that I was kind of bored; the regular life of a child didn't fit me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-ricci/i-always-knew-that-i-was-kind-of-bored-the-regular-life-of-a-child/) [Christina Ricci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-ricci/) > [The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/the-only-activity-a-cynic-will-find-contagious-is-yawning-that-is/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [When people look in the mirror, sometimes they see are their shells in the mirror, nothing else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-people-look-in-the-mirror-sometimes-they-see-are-their-shells-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I was taking all prints and I brought them to the Magnum meetings, trying the old Josef Koudelka trick: Give them to photographers, who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-van-agtmael/i-was-taking-all-prints-and-i-brought-them-to-the-magnum-meetings/) [Peter van Agtmael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-van-agtmael/) > [“She wouldn't pick up a fight him just because she was bored.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainbow-rowell/she-wouldn-t-pick-up-a-fight-him-just-because-she-was-bored/) [Rainbow Rowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainbow-rowell/) > [...sometimes I get tired. Sometimes I get bored. And sometimes all I want, more than anything else in the world, is to go on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiersten-white/sometimes-i-get-tired-sometimes-i-get-bored-and-sometimes-all-i-want/) [Kiersten White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiersten-white/) > [I was sober for five years a long time ago and was just bored out of my tree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-sheen/i-was-sober-for-five-years-a-long-time-ago-and-was-just-bored-out-of/) [Charlie Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-sheen/) [Browse all 2,067 Bored quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bored/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "That's what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ivan Turgenev" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their-parents-may-not-be-bored/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bored" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their-parents-may-not-be-bored/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bd/ivan-turgenev-2671_bored_that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their_3225617.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bd/ivan-turgenev-2671_bored_that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their_3225617.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bd/ivan-turgenev-2671_bored_that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their_3225617.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“That's what children are for—that their parents may not be bored.” — Ivan Turgenev", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ivan Turgenev", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "That's what children are for—that their...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their-parents-may-not-be-bored/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/that-s-what-children-are-for-that-their-parents-may-not-be-bored/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```