Leisure Effect on the Child Development - Essay Example

Leisure and play Student Name: Tutor’s Name: Course: College Name: Introduction Leisure can imply different meanings depending on how it is viewed and spent. Leisure can, however, be termed as that time when one is free from work and certain obligations. During this time, one will engage in activities that are out of his or her daily schedule. Play, on the other hand, is an activity used for enjoyment and recreation, and it is not a serious purpose. Focusing on children, leisure and play has a significant role in determining how they grow up as suggested by Khanam. This is so because a large percent of their time is spent on leisure since they do not have a lot of work to catch, unlike the adults. My arguments in this essay focuses on how leisure and play impact in the lives of children at their tender and growing age. How can children spend their leisure time? Teenagers are a group that is so choosy and have got a lot of preferences. Children can spend their leisure time in various ways. However, these ways are not all safe since they can engage in dangerous activities. This, therefore, calls for close monitoring during their play time. According to the different authors I have referred to in this essay, children can spend their leisure time through the following ways; Playing activities include all the actions that involve the use of the physical body (Sallis, F. 2001 p. 12-25). Football is the most preferred game especially by boys, but this lies on the favorite game of children. In pre-schools, children are normally given distinctive types of playing materials that are safe to their health. Children normally hurt themselves unknowingly. They indulge themselves in dangerous playing games and end up getting hurt or hurting other children. This is the negative side of playing during leisure time. Local events are concerts and various annual events. Example of special events includes charity walks and national holidays. Most parents would take this time to be with their children in marking these events. Social sites are also good places to spend leisure time. Children can spend the better part of the day playing in parks and gardens alongside their parents. For the period of this time, the children get to know more about their parents and hence increasing the bond between them (Hughes, Z. 2013). This kind of activity is becoming the most and widely spent during leisure time. Some parents find it appropriate to have their children watch movies of their preference. At this time, they get to do some other work while the children are busy watching their movies and playing games. There have been a lot of controversies about this way of spending leisure time by the children. It has been criticized in the sense that it leads to wastage of time and development of harmful habits such as laziness. All in all, parents need to choose the types of movies that their children should watch so as to limit them from watching negative staffs such as pornography and extremely wild movies of all times. I personally love cooking. This is what I like doing when I am free. Household chores include cooking food, weeding the flowers and also cleaning the house. Children, when free, can engage in these chores as an activity of spending their leisure time. I believe that, from these chores, children get to know of what they are best at doing. Children also get to learn on being responsible by their own. This is the appropriate time for parents to identify the skills that the children have and help them venture into them hence utilize their inborn talents. Some of these activities requires the present of an adult so that they can monitor how the children are playing. Playing football, for example, can lead to a child being hurt during playing. In order to ensure that the children play safely, there needs to be an adult. The negative side of leisure activities is also a matter not to go by. Children consider their friends more important since they are close to them. These friendships may at times lead to bad behaviors such as getting into drug abuse. Watching movies and playing computer games can lead to a child being lazy since they spend the better part of their time only on screens. This should be checked into so as to ensure that the leisure time is spent productively. Most of the sporting has formalities that ought to be pursued to the latter. This is the best way of instilling the sense of discipline to the children. Here, the children will learn by themselves that, in all facets of life, there is order. This will go a long way in making them follow instructions whenever given. Growing physically; a child of tender age is immature and is at a growing age. When children engage in sporting activities, they develop their body structures because they get enough physical exercises. Leisure activities like playing help a child to realize their unknown talents and explore them early. This may lead to lifetime careers. “James of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida while still in middle school got his first racing bike and he went on to get employment in a bike store and today, in his mid-twenties, he manages the shop” (David, C. 2013 p. 14-33). Psychological benefits; a child tends to think abstractly about nature and the normal activities. The environment in which the child grows in will determine his or her psychological behavior. Leisure gives children confidence by providing a sense of personal achievement. If children get to learn of their talents early enough, then they will get to explore them more hence reducing their chances of engaging in drug abuse (Owen, 2002 p. 64). Spiritual growth; spiritual growth entails the religious part of life and the sentiment of being enlightened. Most children find the church as a place of spending their leisure time. Most churches organize church events for children. These include small gatherings for teaching spiritual lessons. Social growth; during leisure time, children interact with other children and other people apart from the parents. This gives the children an opportunity to learn of things that could not have otherwise learned from his or her parents. This includes the normal etiquette and how they can conduct themselves in a good manner. Through education, children develop a sense of reading and studying more. “Children when collecting rock is a good example. After collecting shells and rocks, a child will most probable want to understand more about her or his compilation will research more” (Khanam, 2013). Through this, the children will have developed their social life. As much as we analyze the importance of leisure, it has however, received a lot of criticism. According to Baranowski, they include; influence from parents; “parents play a crucial role in determining, how their children should spend their leisure time” (Baranowski, 1992, p. 37-47). Some parents view this as a waste of time and thus render it useless. This is not the case since they do not understand the importance of it (David, C. 2004 p. 14). Interpersonal constraints; these are the factors that affect someone directly. They touch mostly on their personal life and how well they relate with other people. A child who is non-talkative will never be in terms with a group of children who are talkative. Intrapersonal constraints; they are the external things that affect someone. They do not affect anyone directly but from within. Example is stress. A child that is disturbed by certain feeling or act will not engage in leisure activities since they feel unease. On a layman language, stress can be viewed as a state where something is beyond the limit of being solvable. One will be disturbed by this situation, hence leading to stress. High levels of stress may, however, lead to depression and in the end lead to un-healthy being. This, therefore, calls for a solution to this problem whenever it arises. Some of the symptoms of stress include feeling exhausted and feeling anger. Leisure activities are stress free as they do not lead to a stressful life. A leisure activity relaxes the mind and hence, reduces the level of stress. Leisure and play have an influential role in the general growth of a child. This is because a child is at a growing age and a lot of care is needed for them to mature into a responsible adult. These do not only apply to children but also to the adults since they are mostly faced with stress. A point worth considering is a type of leisure activity that children are fit to engage themselves in. Some of the activities have a lot of negative effects to the children wellbeing. Watching movies and playing computer games, for example, leads to being lazy and wastage of time (Owen N. 2002 p. 12). Children will tend to be glued into the screens all the time wasting a lot of time that could have otherwise been used productively. Most of the children behaviors go into adulthood. Leisure, however, small the subject may be considered to be, may have a significant impact in the life of a child later in his or her adulthood. Bibliography List Baranowski T., Bouchard C. & Bar-Or O. (1992). Assessment, prevalence, and cardiovascular Benefits of physical activity and fitness in youth. Med Sci Sports: Global post Press. Bauman A, Bellew B, Vita P, Brown W, & Owen N. (2002). Getting Australia active: towards Better practice for the promotion of physical activity. Melbourne: National Public Health Partnership. Cavill N, Biddle S, Sallis J. F. (2001) Health enhancing physical activity for young people: Statement of the United Kingdom expert consensus conference. Paediatric Exercise Science Hughes, Z. (2013). Children's Leisure Activities. Retrieved From http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/childrens-leisure-activities-5039.html on 24th May, Khanam, A. (2013). Importance of Hobbies and Leisure Activities for Kids. Retrieved From http://hobbies1.knoji.com/importance-of-hobbies-and-leisure-activities-for-kids/ on 23th May, 2013. Manta, Foursquare Knoji Press. Salmon, J., Telford, A. & David, C. (2004). The Children's Leisure Activities Study, Deakin: University Press. Read More

For the period of this time, the children get to know more about their parents and hence increasing the bond between them (Hughes, Z. 2013). This kind of activity is becoming the most and widely spent during leisure time. Some parents find it appropriate to have their children watch movies of their preference. At this time, they get to do some other work while the children are busy watching their movies and playing games. There have been a lot of controversies about this way of spending leisure time by the children.

It has been criticized in the sense that it leads to wastage of time and development of harmful habits such as laziness. All in all, parents need to choose the types of movies that their children should watch so as to limit them from watching negative staffs such as pornography and extremely wild movies of all times. I personally love cooking. This is what I like doing when I am free. Household chores include cooking food, weeding the flowers and also cleaning the house. Children, when free, can engage in these chores as an activity of spending their leisure time.

I believe that, from these chores, children get to know of what they are best at doing. Children also get to learn on being responsible by their own. This is the appropriate time for parents to identify the skills that the children have and help them venture into them hence utilize their inborn talents. Some of these activities requires the present of an adult so that they can monitor how the children are playing. Playing football, for example, can lead to a child being hurt during playing. In order to ensure that the children play safely, there needs to be an adult.

The negative side of leisure activities is also a matter not to go by. Children consider their friends more important since they are close to them. These friendships may at times lead to bad behaviors such as getting into drug abuse. Watching movies and playing computer games can lead to a child being lazy since they spend the better part of their time only on screens. This should be checked into so as to ensure that the leisure time is spent productively. Most of the sporting has formalities that ought to be pursued to the latter.

This is the best way of instilling the sense of discipline to the children. Here, the children will learn by themselves that, in all facets of life, there is order. This will go a long way in making them follow instructions whenever given. Growing physically; a child of tender age is immature and is at a growing age. When children engage in sporting activities, they develop their body structures because they get enough physical exercises. Leisure activities like playing help a child to realize their unknown talents and explore them early.

This may lead to lifetime careers. “James of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida while still in middle school got his first racing bike and he went on to get employment in a bike store and today, in his mid-twenties, he manages the shop” (David, C. 2013 p. 14-33). Psychological benefits; a child tends to think abstractly about nature and the normal activities. The environment in which the child grows in will determine his or her psychological behavior. Leisure gives children confidence by providing a sense of personal achievement.

If children get to learn of their talents early enough, then they will get to explore them more hence reducing their chances of engaging in drug abuse (Owen, 2002 p. 64). Spiritual growth; spiritual growth entails the religious part of life and the sentiment of being enlightened. Most children find the church as a place of spending their leisure time. Most churches organize church events for children. These include small gatherings for teaching spiritual lessons. Social growth; during leisure time, children interact with other children and other people apart from the parents.

This gives the children an opportunity to learn of things that could not have otherwise learned from his or her parents. This includes the normal etiquette and how they can conduct themselves in a good manner.

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