This week we were asked to observe
at a public location. I am at the baseball/softball fields at least two times a
week and chose to observe there. It was funny to watch young athletes interact
with their parents because I remember doing that when I was younger. My first
observation was between a father and son. They were on the baseball field practicing
pitching. I was watching from a distance and everything seemed to be going
well. Based off their body language, they were having fun. I loved to watch
them because I remember pitching in the park with my dad! Things started to get
rocky when the little boy started to struggle. The ball he threw started to get
wilder and wilder. The tension in the dad’s body was getting stiffer as he had
to chase the ball. He didn’t have that calm, collected attitude anymore. Impatience
and annoyance flooded his body language. Sadness and frustration overwhelmed
the little boy's facial expressions. Let’s just say they didn’t leave the park in the mood they
showed up there with.
The next observation was on the
playground between two children. They had to be around four years old and
related in some way. They were running around nonstop screaming and enjoying
each others company. I didn’t see any parents that seemed to be theirs. The
little girl tripped as she was running towards the slide. There was no severe
injury or bleeding but she was crying. The little boy walked over to her, put
his arm around her, and tried to console her. Then he left to continue playing. A couple minutes later, he would return with the same comfort pattern. He is sending mixed signals such as I care and I'd rather play. She didn’t stop crying
immediately but the crying slowly died down each time he came bak. The little boy definitely used the
power of haptics to comfort the little girl.
Comment from Angela: I liked how you and I observed a similar location but found different results. Mine had more to do with going against the social norm where you were observing more of how close and how far away people interacted. I still can't believe not one little girl cried when they lost their game. The Pitcher came close, but she didn't start crying because every other girl shook off the loss.
ReplyDeleteAs a person who cries a lot I find that most people don't know what to do with a crying woman. My son even came home from school one day and said the girl next to him was crying and he didn't know what to do. So I would like to know what that parent is teaching that little boy. Proximity makes a difference.