Some People Believe That Engaging In An Active Pastime Does More To Develop Children’s Life Skills Than Time Spent Reading | Band 7 IELTS Essay Sample

Some people believe that engaging in an active pastime does more to develop children’s life skills than time spent reading. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Here is a band 9 IELTS essay on this topic written by one of our students. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me.

Band 9 IELTS essay sample

According to some people children who engage themselves in an active pastime like playing a sport or an instrument will develop better life skills than those who spend their free time reading. I do not quite agree with this view. In my opinion, skills that we develop from reading are not the same as the skills we develop from another activity.

An active pastime can be playing a sport, going hiking or engaging in bird watching. Playing a physical sport like soccer or basketball makes children good team players. They learn to work for a common goal putting aside their individual ambitions. Likewise, strenuous activities like hiking or swimming enhances their endurance levels and enables them to push their limits. These activities help children develop that never say die spirit. When children engage in group activities their social skills improve. They develop good communication skills and become extroverts. We are now living in an age when it is extremely important to have good interpersonal skills and an outgoing personality.

Reading, on the other hand, is never a useless activity. While reading does not involve the use of our muscles, it cannot be considered as an inactive pastime. In fact, reading exercises our brain cells. It not only makes us more knowledgeable, but also improves our power of imagination and creativity. In fact, children who read a lot tend to do better in their exams and career. They are well aware of the world around them and can offer a solution to many problems.

To conclude, both active and passive pastimes are beneficial for the development of life skills in children. While active pastimes improve their social and communication skills, reading makes them more knowledgeable and imaginative. Hence, I do not agree with the argument that an active pastime is more beneficial than reading.

Some people believe that engaging in an active pastime does more to develop children’s life skills than time spent reading – Band 7 IELTS essay sample

Some people opine that to improve life skills, children should spend their leisure time in productive activities instead of reading. I agree with the notion to a great extent though I have some reservations too. This essay will discuss the benefits of engaging the children in physical activities and a few positives of reading as well.

To begin with, it is extremely important that children should spend their free time in physical activities as it helps in their holistic development. It is because; spending time with the peers enhances social skills of children by improving their communication. In addition, while playing in a team or a group, children acquire the habit of sharing and caring as well. Not only this, active past time leads to improve health of the children as they participate in games or other physical activities which ameliorate their motor skills as well as cognitive skills. On the contrary, reading during free time could make them more lethargic as it requires more sitting. Children gain more weight and become obese due to less physical activities.

However, in this contemporary world, reading play crucial role in the development of children. Reading books and novels etcetera improve language skill of children as it enhances their vocabulary as well as strengthens the writing abilities. Apart from it, reading stories of successful personalities motivate the wards to achieve their goals.

In conclusion, engaging the children in physical activities is imperative as it lead to their overall development however, the benefits of reading like improvement in their language cannot be neglected.

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Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.