The Importance Of Entertainment In Your Child's Life And Why You Must Take It Seriously

Many school-going children are subjected to an endless gospel of cutting down on entertainment and focussing more on schoolwork. Parents are known to fastidiously maintain a somber environment at home, especially during their children's examinations - sometimes even disconnecting the TV. However, research has proved how counter-productive this move is. Even brief diversions from your main task can dramatically improve your attention span.

In this vein, let's explore how important entertainment is in our daily life.

Learning Life Skills

Recreational activities like sports and arts add value to your personality as well as sharpen your skills. Susmita Pathak Mishra, a media representative says, "Without entertainment, one can just get stuck to mainstream work and miss out on life."

Also, according to an interesting study by Clemson University, sponsored by National Science Foundation, the USA in 2014, blending dance choreographic movement with computer programming supports girls in building computational thinking skills.

Understanding different people, viewpoints, and cultures

Taking trips to exotic places or heritage sites gives us a chance to learn more about our own as well as other cultures. By watching movies, plays, and dramas, listening to music, reading storybooks, and attending storytelling sessions we learn to appreciate another person's perspective on life and get a better insight into a story we know already.

Bonding with loved ones

Sometimes, entertainment is beneficial in helping you bond with people who are also participating in it. Arun Kumar, an entrepreneur, took a resolution of not watching TV at all when he was young. "There were awkward moments when my family would watch TV during dinner, whereas I'd just watch their faces and my plate. After a year and a half, I realized upon introspection that I was craving for sharing, smiles, and doses of laughter, just because I was deprived of entertainment."

Maintaining physical health

Physical activities like dance, sports, or even hiking not only provide a much-needed break from the humdrum of work but also keep us physically fit and healthy. Most children wouldn't enjoy doing strict physical exercise just for its sake. Activities such as salsa, football, and aerobics have the fun element too. So, kids enjoy practicing them and, therefore, fitness is thrown in as an excellent by-product.

Beating stress

Everyone knows that entertainment helps beat stress. It has been recommended by physicians and psychologists the world over as a cure for stress and associated disorders. Of course, this has to be largely healthy entertainment rather than watching TV for hours while snacking on the bag after bag of potato chips. However, even an hour of sensible TV watching could help you refresh your mind.

While entertainment is an indisputable part of our lives, it is important for everyone to maintain a good balance between recreation and work. Rather than disputing whether entertainment is even necessary for our life, the need of the hour is to improve on the quality of entertainment and how we can make the most of our leisure time.