Some people believe that children's leisure activities must be educational, otherwise they are a complete waste of time.Do you agree or disagree?

It is true that more and more pastimes of the young are becoming educational. Whilst I accept that this kind of activity has numerous benefits to children, I strongly oppose the point of view that other spare time habits are a waste of time. I agree that educational pastimes benefit children significantly. When their hobbies are related to their chosen subjects, students are able to practise and revise their knowledge, and this leads them to remember the concepts of their studies adequately. Moreover, children generally learn new things by doing their hobbies, therefore they expand their knowledge on their particular field. To illustrate, a student learning English can visit a chatroom as his/her pastime, and improve his/her level of English by speaking, as well as chatting with native speakers of this language. Consequently, the young are capable of making progress with their studies, which leads to better understanding, and higher results. Nonetheless, I do not believe that non-educational leisure activities are unnecessary. A student who is always surrounded by the academic environment is highly likely to become tired of his/her studies, therefore other pastimes are needed to rest and recharge his/her batteries. Furthermore, many non-educational hobbies can benefit youngsters in terms of their health. For example, children, who have a game of football in their spare time, are generally healthy, and this helps them them to keep the balance between life and study. Thus, hobbies related to enjoyment and sports, rather than education, also play a part in children's learning. On balance, although I agree that the hobbies of young individuals should be more educational, it seems to me that other free-time habits are not a waste of time.