Ethnography Essay Draft

I am planning on developing these groups of observations into paragraphs and some sort of structure. Also, I am going to add to them. If you have any ideas on what you think is missing or how I could organize my essay that would be great. Thanks :)

I am outside with five kids, my brother Austin 11, Anndreana 10, Kevin 7, Victoria 6, and Kenzygntin 5. They are all playing a scavenger hunt game. The younger kids Kevin, Vicky and Kenzi are impatient when it comes to the actual set up of the game but are eager to help. They also can't wait to start the game and are extremely excited. After playing this game for a little bit a girl from across the street called over saying "hi kevin" and waving. Kevin acted like he didn't know who she was and was very taken aback. "I dont know who that is ...who is she? Im not saying hi back...she is weird," he said. Then I asked him if he knew her from school maybe and he then recognized that it was a girl Angelina from school. He asked me if I could walk him over acroos the street so I walked him, Kenzi, and Victoria over with Austin and Anndreana following suit soon after. "Hi angelina," he said as she introduced him to her grandmother, who is my neighbor, "do you want to come over and play?" She did, so she came over and played. I soon realized a change in Kevin's behavior. Ever since Angelina had come over he was being very rambunkscious, climbing trees, climbing on the porches, jumping off the stone walls and being very show offish. He began to boast about what he could do and how even if he fell "it didn't even hurt." I thought that this was very interesting because Kevin has said in the past that girls are gross and that he never wants to get married. He is very much still in the girls have cooties stage, and still enjoys running around rolling in the mud type of stuff. So for him to display this change shows that dispite this he is still interested on some level in impressing girls or atleast this one.

One day Kenzi got hurt because she fell down the porch steps and scrapping her back and she started to cry. I then picked her up and checked her back and comforted her asking her if she wanted to go inside and see grandma so we could put something on the scrape and clean it. She said yes so I brought her in. When I came back out I was approached by Andreanna (her sister) who told me that as soon as I had brought Kenzi in Victoria had said "Oh she is such a big baby" and that Angelina said in return "yeah i know what a big baby..like ugh." This reinforces an idea that kids this age are very possessive, and are group oriented despite their youth. Victoria was upset because of the attention I was giving Kenzi at the time and Angelina was just trying to fit in and went along with it. They were both being pretty creul considering how young they are.

Kids age 5-6 (kindergarten and first grade) are in a stage where they are trying to be independent wanting to do everything themselves. Also they like to have things their way most of the time. For example, one day when my neice Emma was over she wanted me to paint her nails. Emma wanted every single color nailpolish I had and wanted her nails painted her way. She let me know if I was not following the pattern right saying "no not yellow I wanted pink next ughhhh see follow the colors like this...in a row." Also, she loves to do my nails and wants them to be the same exact as hers, "ohh look we match".

Also, on this day while I was painting her nails Emma overheard a conversation between my mom and her mom (my sister in law). Her mom was saying something about her girlfriend and so Emma suddenly looks up at me and rolls her eyes. To my surprise she then says in an annoyed tone "ughhh...she doesnt mean it like that..she means like her friend whos a girl ughhh..mommm," I smile and laugh a little to myself. I then tell her "I know, I understand don't worry. "Yeah," she says and laughs "she doesnt mean like her girlfriend hahaha." Her idea of relationships and the fact that she thought that this was something she had to correct and make clear I thought was very interesting.

Emma is also very interested in makeup and puts layers upon layers of all the lipgloss she can find and if she gets ahold of blush or anything else watch out. I left her in my room alone for a minute and she went through my makeup. She thought that a cover up stick was lipstick so she came out of my room and into the living room with white lips. "Look" she said proudly. I responded "ohh baby girl what did you put on your lips?" "Your lipstick"she replied, "I don't have white lipstick," I said confused. I then went into my room and realized that she had used the cover up, "No baby I said thats not lipstick thats cover up." Emma then got very embarrassed and put her head down, so I reassured her and said that it was ok, no big deal, and cleaned off her face. This shows the innocence in kids her age.

One night while I was babysitting Emma my dad asked me if I could take out the dog so I asked Emma if she wanted to come outside with me. My dad told Emma that because she was helping with the dog that if Bo peed she would get fifty cents and that if he pooped she would get a dollar. So when we went outside Emma took it all very seriously. She kept on trying to clear up what pops had said "if he poops I get more money then if he pees?" She kept checking on the dog to see if he went and insisted on staying out longer to see if he had to go anymore. We even played red light green light to help pass the time. It was pretty comical, and when we got back inside she carefully reported back what the dog had done.

My dad was goofing off with Emma one night while she was eating her ABC soup. She was saying that she didn't want to eat anymore, so after I tried coaxing her into finishing it by saying "just a few more bits" my dad told her that there are some hungry people in her mouth who she needs to feed too. We all laughed, including Emma, and she believed this idea. She ended up eating the rest of the soup, but for the rest of the night she kept saying "hey pops, look at my people," opening her mouth wide. She also kept on asking him how many people were in her mouth saying "AHHHH." She thought that this was the greatest thing and loved that everyone laughed when she did this, so she laughed too and kept opening her mouth. My dad would respond to her by pretending to be shocked and scared saying things like "ohh my god I cant believe how many people are in there, look at them all." Emma was loving it all.

Emma asks me "What is your last name," and so I told her. Then she asks what aunty erica and uncle austin's last names are (my brother and sister). "Heyy, thats the same as my daddy," she says. What she came up with next I was not expecting. She says "Heyy the baby's name is going to be Lajoie too, its daddy's but the baby is stealing it" Emma made another interesting comment about her unborn baby sister. She is happy and looks forward to having a new baby sister and not being an only child anymore. She looks forward to being a big sister so much that she tells her mom "Mommy, when is this baby coming out?" Not for a while is the answer and to this Emma says "Ughhh, mommy the baby is taking too long..., she needs to hurry up." I was a little taken back by these cute, quirky comments and I think that they give great insight into how five and six year olds view the world and various concepts.

Emma also has a lot of energy, as is true with most kids her age. She loves to play around with her pops and loves when he tickles her. They often run around the house, horseing around. My dad does something he calls the claw and she loves to play this game, just as me and my siblings had. He calls his hand the claw and pretends that it comes to life and tickles and chases you. Emma gets all excited running away screeeching and laughing. But, then she always comes back for more, antagonizing it and trying to get it to come after her again. She played this for hours one night like a little energizer bunny. Eventually she began to rub her eyes however and reluctantly layed down to watch a movie. If her little body hadn't forced her to stop I don't think she would have, she was having too much fun. Emma slept extremely well that night.