Essay on Recreation, Leisure and Play

Both Play and Leisure are vital components of a child's life as a range of stimulating play and leisure opportunities will support the physical emotional sensory and spiritual and intellectual growth of the child. It helps them to form and sustain relationships and also improves communication, educational development and achievement.

Without a healthy active mind, a person has trouble deciding and reasoning on his own. Sergio Petraroja explains that, ¡§the powers issuing in the activities that are characteristically human are the powers of reason and free choice¡¨ (Sergio Petraroja, p. 129). Leisure, which is viewed as a state of mind or a way of perceiving experiences, has five major elements that require the aspects of a healthy mind and body. These include: intrinsic motivation, perceived freedom, perceived competence, flow, and playfulness. Intrinsic motivation refers to self-determined behavior that results in the satisfaction of the individual¡¦s internal needs. This point is more focused on maintaining a healthy mind. A person with a healthy mind has the ability to reason, and therefore can determine what it is that intrinsically motivates him. Perceived freedom requires both a healthy mind and body. If one does not maintain a healthy body through recreation, then that person may see himself as having poor health and not possessing certain abilities that allow him the freedom of participating in activities. Perceived competence is an element that also requires a healthy mind and body. This is evident in that, in order for a person to feel they can do something or perform a task, they must possess the appropriate mental competence and physical competence that the act requires of them. Flow is an element that requires a mental capacity. One must cognitively feel

Recreation is something that not only gives us pleasure, but also helps to renew or recreate the mind and body.

     One of the more interesting aspects that Peiss mentions about the change in the demographics of the labor force directly relates to the way leisure time is spent. Peiss mentions many statistics that show how the working woman was quickly refusing household work and moving to the factory or office position. More specifically, a study of 370 working mothers showed 70 percent of them to be employed in domestic and personal service while the vast majority of their daughters worked in stores, offices, and factories (Cheap Amusements, 39). The significance of this change lies in the resulting change in attitude about leisure time. Now, a clearer distinction between time spent at work and

One thing almost every young child looks forward to is the activity of play. Kids love nothing more than to go outside, run around with friends, and get dirty. If children are already active at a young age, why not encourage them to continue by enrolling them in an organized youth sport program? Young people will gain many positive experiences by participating in organized physical activities, but none as important and influential as the social skills, physical skills, and mental skills developed and nurtured during their time in youth sport. As a result, the young participants can continue to build upon and cultivate these skills which will ultimately be transferred into their development as successful adults. Along with the social and

When employed labor is involved, productivity in terms of time becomes important, because the employer generally pays the worker in terms of time. For many jobs, then a shift from task-orientation to timed labor occurs, as the laborer’s time becomes the employer’s money. Thus, a separation between work and leisure occurs, as

Colonial Recreation and Leisure: How did changing Anglo-American attitudes about work, labor, and leisure in the 1600s and 1700s shape the recreational practices of colonial America? What does Nancy Struna mean by the “leisure

Aristotle posits Eudaimonia, human flourishing and happiness, as the ‘chief good’ of humanity achieved through ‘reflective activity’ over a lifetime (Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, 2002). From my perspective, the reflective activity to which he alludes is the pursuit of leisure.

Leisure at the turn of the twentieth century was a new found type of freedom and entertainment, not only for the children, but for the entire family. It was a way for numerous families to spend quality time together but in a more modern and convenient way. Entertainment before the twentieth century consisted of household entertainment, such as board games, and “backyard games” like tennis, and football amongst others. When compared to leisure in the twentieth century, many of these activities were seen as “outdated”, as more and more people started to adopt the new ways of entertainment. Some examples were the openings of catalogs, sports, cinemas, amusement parks.

Almost everyone has some kind of leisure time whether it is a couple hours or a couple days. What varies is the type of recreational activities people choose to do during that time. Although leisure and recreation is chosen based on ones unique individual interests, there are many sociocultural factors that influence the type of recreational activities we do, when we do it and how often we do it. These factors include political,

There are numerous theories of play and countless theorists, from Freud and Spencer to Piaget and Vygotsky, who have studied play in relation to what it is and what it does for the child. This essay will outline the definition and value of play and the importance of how it can foster the child’s learning in regards to these theorists who studied the effects in great detail. It will discuss the how the environments constructed by educators can impact play and the theories of learning relating to the quote “play and learning are inextricably woven together ...” Ebbeck and Waniganayake, 2010, p. 5).

When planning leisure activities for disadvantaged groups it is essential to consider both the sociological and psychological factors that may influence participation. A short stay excursion to a Melbourne Cup race can be used to highlight the complexities involved in providing equitable leisure opportunities that combat both low social class and disability. As this excursion will highlight, despite the psychological benefits of leisure, young people with a disability face multiple sociological barriers to leisure choices and participation. When looking at leisure from a sociological perspective it is apparent that poverty restricts involvement in leisure choice and participation, which goes beyond the impacts of disability alone. The high

Raising children in today’s society is not for the faint of heart. Raising children has never been easy, but it is especially difficult in youth sports today. Coaches and parents are putting a lot of pressure on our young sons and daughters. The pressure to succeed in sports at

          As we can see from my personal examples and views, workers spend their leisure time more productively that a laborer. Since

At the beginning of this course leisure was a topic I did not give much thought to and I felt like I did not have the time to spare to put much thought into. To me, all leisure meant was having free time to do whatever it is that I wanted to do. But after analyzing my life I noticed that I had surrounded my life with solely work and school and my “free time” was anytime I spent watching television and anytime I slept. However, after taking this course I learned that leisure meant more much than that. Now leisure to me means, as Richard Kraus states, leisure is “time which is not devoted to work or work-connected responsibilities or to other forms of discretionary or unobligated time,” (Olson et al., 2003, 12). The “time” in which Kraus