In contemporary society, the pressure of education puts a burden on kids start to feel excessive. Leisure activities outside of school are vital to relieving stress. Some people believe in optimizing kids’ free time by arranging it with music classes and planned activities. Others argue that youngster need time for themself only and to relax. While there are valid arguments on both side, i firmly believe that children should have free time for themself.
On the one hand, scheduled extracurricular activities bring many benefits for children’s overall development. Firstly, kids can discover their hidden talents through such classes. Kids are like an undiscovered treasure, with many talents deep inside. That’s why a fixed schedule outside class can be a map that guides parents to they toddler real potential and helps the young know what things they are capable of. For instance, a kid who is gifted at the piano can only know they had such talent if they attend piano class. And in contrast, if they only stay at home, they will never realize it. Secondly, arranged activities can indirectly protect the younger generation from forming bad habits, as phones are becoming ubiquitous in the era of advanced technology. Most of the kid nowaday already have their own electronic device. Organized activities can alleviate kids’ screen time, on the same token reduced the proportion of developing bad habits like lazyness.
On the other hand, while scheduled activities are generally good on the surface. But diving deeper, Its directly taken away the only time when kids actually be a kid. After many hours of consecutive focusing on learning, a kid’s physical and mentally not fully developed will obviously feel tired. Therefore, children need free time to be themself, to be free with their own body and mind’s, such time like that is priceless for child. They can create valuable memories outside of the class with their peer without any supervision from anyone. It is true that unsupervised free time might expose children to screen addiction; however, this issue can be easily resolved by active parental involvement. Instead of leaving children idle with electronic devices, parents can use this free time to engage in unstructured play or casual activities with their kids, such as going for a walk or cooking together. These interactions not only keep children away from screens but also foster a strong parent-child bond. Ultimately, a child who feels emotionally connected and loved at home is less likely to seek validation from the virtual world, making this a far more sustainable solution to bad habits than simply filling their schedule with organized classes.
In conclusion, extra activities really cultivate and expand children skills in many aspects and even help them discover their own potential, but assuming that is all the child needs and replacing their free time completely with scheduled activity is not a rational move. Therefore, I believe that unstructured time, especially when accompanied by parental involvement, provides a more sustainable solution to bad habits by fulfilling children’s emotional needs, rather than merely occupying their time.