For the last three decades, free time has substantially declined. Children no longer have much play time at their disposal. The free time has been occupied by scheduled activities which take most of their out of school days. The scheduled activities include sporting practices and music lessons. The scenario raises the question of whether parents are doing the right thing by depriving the kids of their play time, which most of them had a chance to enjoy during their childhood days. The extreme control over the activities that children indulge in may weaken their self-esteem and end up interfering with their confidence when they grow up. However, leaving adolescents on their own for long unsupervised periods drives them into spending the entire time watching the television and playing video games.
Most of the best memories that adults have of their childhood days involve the time they spent with other kids playing different games. An adult today will mention games like hide and seek when asked to recall the best moments of their childhood. Free time enabled kids to grow mentally as they discovered different tricks to winning a game. They would learn how to become creative by designing car toys and coming up with strategies to beat an opponent team. Free time is necessary for any adolescent since it presents opportunities for enjoying their childhood as well as knowing their interests and talents as asserted by McHale, Crouter and Tucker (2001).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
On the other hand, scheduled activities have their benefits. Not all young adults are capable of choosing the right activities to indulge in during their free time. That concept has caused parents to adopt the need to make arrangements for their kids to take lessons in music classes, cooking classes and sporting activities. Some parents end up over doing it leaving their kids with no free time as stated by Dowda et al . (2004).
The overscheduled activities might save adolescents from spending their time overly on video games and other technological devices, but it also deprives them of their childhood. Keeping them busy throughout places them in a position where they can’t draw a line between their childhood days and their adult life. They have less time to interact therefore they end up not having strong friendship bonds. Rushing from one activity to the other may end up confusing them, and they may not realize what they prefer. They might also be depressed as a result of the stress built from the activities. The best way is to find a balance between the scheduled activities and free time.
References
Dowda, M., Pate, R. R., Trost, S. G., Almeida, M. J. C., & Sirard, J. R. (2004). Influences of preschool policies and practices on children's physical activity. Journal of community health , 29 (3), 183-196.
McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., & Tucker, C. J. (2001). Free‐time activities in middle childhood: Links with adjustment in early adolescence. Child development , 72 (6), 1764-1778.
