Blog 6 October 11

Blog Post 6:
Read your notes (the data you produced) from having engaged in the various research in the community observations. What are some issues that stood out for you? What surprised you? What are some new insights that resulted from the experience?

I went to Barnes&Noble in Friendship Heights to collect my observations of a local book store. I was surprised so many people were there on a Tuesday afternoon. I went to observe from 3-5, so when I first arrived there were many more younger children, and as it got later the age group shifted into high school/college students.
Many of the parents who brought their young children (elementary level)actually stayed and read to their kids for a little. I always assumed people would get in trouble for reading a book they hadn't bought yet, but the parents read 2-3 books (short with pictures) before settling on a book to actually buy. I didn't realize that bookstores could be used as tools to bond with children.
What I also noticed during my earlier observations was that not just parents would come with their kids: nanny's, babysitters, and grandparents would sometimes be the ones bringing children inside.
The Barnes&Noble where I live has an entire section (a very large one) for kids to play in, but I have never seen it used. This made me wonder why there are so many more children present during this observation here in DC than there have ever been at home in New Providence. I think there are many socioeconomic reasons for this including: there are more "yards" where I live (and they are huge), so the children have a different kid of outlet to let loose. Also, this book store may be closer to some residents than the library. My town is under 4sq miles, so everything is close. Another difference is that here many families hire help or ask a relative to watch their children whether or not both parents work, which could explain the different types of adults chaperoning the children.