The Opportunities of Contemporary Society in the Organization and Use of Childrens’ Leisure Time

Abstract

The rapid development undertaken in science, technique and technology, has strongly influenced the radical change of the pace of human existence, and therefore as a very important part in the everyday life of society along with mandatory time is regarded leisure time, also.Given the fact that free time as a pedagogical and sociological issue is of interest to pupils or children, it requires planning, organization and meaningful use. Therefore, special attention should be taken regarding the content, purpose and duties of leisure time activities. For the organization and quality use of leisure time, of great importance are the conditions or opportunities offered to children by society and the environment where they live, grow and develop. The organization and use of leisure time has different, diverse forms, but we should be careful that children rationally and in a positive manner use leisure time, in order to acquire and develop their talent and cultural trends. The management of pupils’ leisure time is a serious pedagogical, sociological and social problem, because the same pupils that are now found in school desks are those pupils that in the near future will be the protagonists of society, so accordingly to how pupils are today, is their reflection of the future. Therefore, I regard as reasonable to observe, analyze and infer how elementary school children today spend their leisure time. In order to achieve the expected results and to further compare the organization and leisure time spent between children / pupils (urban and rural ones) in the research we have included both urban and rural primary schools.The subject of our research was to study the organization and use of leisure time by children and also the opportunities made available to children from the social circle for the organization of leisure time. The aim of our research was to verify how children, particularly primary school pupils organize and use leisure time. Do they have special and adequate places, offered to them by the environment where they live, grow and develop in order to perfect their talents and abilities or not? Therefore, we posed the hypothesis: "Children, pupils do not organize and properly use their free time". Our research has a theoretical and empirical character and the following instruments were used: survey and evaluation scale. The research included parents, children and teachers of the both city and village.The results obtained from the research clearly indicate that parents, schools and municipalities as state institutions should pay even more attention to this issue. This will enable children / pupils to organize and more rationally use their leisure time.

Keywords: leisure time, children/pupils, organization, usage, opportunities, contemporary society.