Playground Observation Paper

Have you ever realized that playgrounds help shape us into the people we become and they are the first place we experience socialization? Playgrounds aren’t just a place for children but for every age, ethnic background and so forth. They are the place where we go to hang out with friends, watch our children, play games, have birthday parties, listen to music, and just to observe others. The paper I am going to write consists of a few things I observed while watching my daughter.
Socialization is the term we refer back to when describing how we learned how to become who we are, what our culture is, learned the basic skills of survival, what a norm is, and so forth. When my daughter and I got to the playground, I just did what most parents do, observe everything and anything within site. As my daughter played, I could point out that the primary

gender associated with watching kids were women; however, I’m not surprised that it’s still a norm that women are responsible for tending to children. Children learn to socialize with other children according to the norms that their parents taught them; learning to share is a norm when at the playground.

When a child holds out a hand(s) can stand as a symbol that the child wants something that another child has and pouting or throwing a fit is a symbol of anger. Although the playground is a secondary socialization spot, I think of it as a primary because sometimes kids aren’t taught what it means to share, and going back to sharing being a big thing at a playground, it could be huge deal for the child at the playground. For example, my daughter was heading to play on this thing that spins around a little boy saw her heading towards it, pushed her out of the way and jumped on it. Mind you, I quickly reacted to see if she was ok, but I had a role strain because the playground is where a child also needs to learns to stand on their own and that when you fall down, you just get right back up and keep going. I also noticed at the moment of tending to my daughter that I looked to see if the child’s parent happened to see what he had done, but no; some parents tend to “drop” their child off at the playground and not supervise. Norms of behavior at the playground are

parents talking amongst each other without watching their child, parents that do watch their child closely, kids bullying one another, kids playing together, and teenagers hanging out. With children there tends to not be any attention towards body/physical space because there is no such thing amongst kids and it’s just a natural thing; it’s an odd thing because as we get older, say middle school, that’s when we realize our own personal space and let others know when they invade it. There was a moment when I saw this mom, get together her kids and play red light green light. She didn’t discriminate the game to just her kids because once other kids realized how much fun it was, they too wanted in and were allowed.
Children do not discriminate by color, race, and ethnic background but learn what they are eventually in their primary socialization at home and at school. The playground is a primary socialization for children because though they may not remember it now, plays an important social role. I learned that children also show what type of person they will grow into with the behaviors they show towards others. Every child should be brought to playgrounds at early ages because it an important part of their social life.