Thanks to increasing population and globalisation the modern world becomes more competitive every year, and the demands for academic excellence only increase. In order to be successful in the job market a young person must compete not only with those in his or her country, but others from around the world too. As a result, children need to be extremely focused on their school work and studies. Without excellent grades in their finals, and a degree from a top-flight university, they will find it extremely difficult to find a well-paid job and develop a successful career. A strong focus on academic studies during childhood therefore makes a lot of sense.

To conclude, in today’s ultra-competitive world, children need to be very diligent in their studies, and it’s understandable that they spend more time on schoolwork than they perhaps did in the past. Nonetheless, it’s important that they be given some time to have fun, both for their health and so that they can develop into well-rounded adults.

To begin with, lack of leisure activities is a factor in the worsening physical and mental health of young people. Many children now live extremely sedentary lives, spending all day at school in a chair, and then all evening sitting down with tutors or doing homework. This is clearly not good for their physical health as they don’t spend enough time doing physical activities such as playing outdoors, or doing sports. Furthermore, children need to spend time having fun in order to have good mental health. Recreation time is a chance for children to relax and be carefree, which is increasingly important in today’s high pressure academic world.

It is becoming increasingly common to hear people argue that school children don’t have enough opportunities for leisure activities and spend too much time on academic pursuits. In my opinion, although children should spend the majority of their time on school activities, they must still have enough free time for recreation.

In addition, play and leisure activities help children to socialise and build friendships as well as develop important life skills. While a strong focus on school subjects allows children to become very proficient in academic subjects, if all their time is spent in this way, they may miss out on building the deep lifelong friendships that are often only made during childhood. Moreover, playtime offers many opportunities to practise soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and interpersonal skills. Depriving children of this time could result in them lacking the competencies they need to work effectively with other people and foster good relationships when they are adults.

In conclusion, it’s very important that children be given more time to play and have fun. Having enough time for leisure and recreation is crucial in childhood, and will allow children to develop into healthy, well adjusted and successful adults.

However, a child can also benefit greatly from unstructured play and should not be denied this opportunity. Interacting with other children in a free and fun way is crucial in the development of soft skills. Interpersonal skills like negotiation, leadership and teamwork are just some of these skills that can be learnt during playtime. Furthermore, children need an opportunity to relax and unwind. If they are constantly put under pressure to work harder and do better in their academic activities, they may burn out or suffer from excessive stress or anxiety. While a clear focus on academic pursuits is clearly necessary, children should be given some time every day to relax and just have fun.

In recent years some people have started to complain that children are spending too much time focused on academic schoolwork and not enough time doing leisure activities. From my point of view, children these days often don’t have enough recreational time, which is both bad for their physical and mental health, and deprives them of opportunities to socialise and practise important soft skills.