How do children treat each other?
Introduction
My name is Nahid Islam and I have started this research project to find out how children feel to be on the playground and in school. I want people to play nicely and even if people have different skin colours it shouldn’t matter. If you find an opportunity to be friends, you should just go for it.
I have noticed when playing football that my cousin just stands around doing nothing. He doesn’t know much English and doesn’t know many rules of games. I do help him to feel included.
I think that sometimes if people don’t have proper friends or a nice life at home they end up spreading that out to other people, by making them miserable.
Sometimes people get neglected if they can’t speak English, or sometimes if they aren’t very clever.
Sometimes children play games that others see as weird-such as shooting games or pretending to be on a horse. They have
good imagination, but they get laughed at. I think we should be allowed to be different if we want to.
Methodology
I want to find out if children get neglected. I want to interview them by themselves, so that they give honest answers and are not embarrassed in front of other children. I will draw 10 pictures, so that children will understand my questions well. They might enjoy looking at some of my pictures because some of them are quite funny because I use cartoon characters/ I will use five positive pictures and five non-positive pictures to balance the questions.
I will use pasta and a code to collect my data. If children strongly agree with the situation, they will put three pasta shells. If they agree (in the middle) they will put two pasta shells and if they agree slightly they will put one pasta shell. If they don’t agree at all they will put no pasta shells on the picture. This will tell me how many people feel neglected in certain situations.
I will do one-to-one interviews with 7 children in year 5. I chose children from my own year group because I thought it would be easier. I will also keep a notebook, where I will write down the stories that the children tell me.
The children will share personal stuff with me, and so I will reassure them that what they say will be confidential.
Analysis of data.
Picture 1: When do you feel neglected? If you try to be friends with someone and they just be completely rude and look at you with a frown on their face. They might tell you to ‘get lost’
2,3,1,3,3,0,2.
Three children put down 3 pasta shells which means that they strongly agreed with being in this situation. One child said that he got picked on in Bangladesh . Another child said that some children used to make him be piggy in the middle and then would sing rude rhymes about him. In the child’s old school, somebody neglected the child, because he asked them ‘Do you want to be my friend?’ and they said ‘Get lost’.
I think these results show that all the children have felt neglected, except for one. This could be happening now and again or often. I do not know from the results.
Picture 2: Somebody not passing in football (or no teamwork in any other sport). ‘Pass it here’‘I ain’t passing to you, you’re rubbish’
1,1,2,1,3,2,3,
Two children put down 3 pasta shells. All the children have experienced this directly. Sometimes if you are not good at something, like sport, people might neglect you, no matter how hard you try to be included.
Picture 3: Somebody is being rude. ‘Do you want to play with me?’ The other person replies ‘Get Lost’.
3,0,0/1, 0,0,1,1
A lot of children had not experienced this. One child did put 3.
Picture 4: People making fun of the stuff you wear. The boy says ‘Nice dress, NOT!’ and then the girl frowns.
3,0,0,2,2,2,2
Most of the children had experienced people laughing at the clothes they wear. It was quite strongly felt when it was felt.
Picture 5: Do people listen to you? (Two monkeys sitting on a log. One asks ‘hey can I borrow your banana tree? The other one just hums.)
2,3,3,1,2,3,2
I really wanted to find out if children got ignored. I am not sure if children understood the question like this.
POSTIVE THINGS
This is about all the opposite of being neglected. For example instead of somebody being the opposite of nice and kind, they’re mean and rude. I am doing this research to find out how many children get treated nicely.
Picture 6: Somebody complementing somebody else. One boy says ‘Hey, nice hair!’ . the other person says ‘Backatcha’ (this mean back to you)
1,3,3,3,3,3,1
Most children get complemented for the stuff they wear. I felt happy when I saw these results. I was unhappy that two children had only put one pasta shell, because I think that everyone should be complemented for the clothes they wear. This is because it makes children feel confident and proud.
Picture 7: Somebody playing football with another person. One player says ‘Nice shot’ and the other player says ‘thanks’.
2,0,3,3,2,3,2
Only one person has not been complemented in this way.
Picture 8: Are people friendly? One person asks ‘Do you need some help?’ and the other person nods his head. He is working on a ‘Save the World’ poster.
3, 3,3,1,2,2,3.
Most children have been helped out quite a lot. They usually get help from their family, friends and neighbours.
Picture 9: Somebody getting help after falling over. In the picture one person says ‘thank you’ and the other person says ‘don’t mention it’
3, 3,2,3,1,2,2.
People do experience kindness. I think if you don’t have kindness in your life, then you start acting like a bully. I was most pleased that children get help when they fall over.
Picture 10: Do people show teamwork in sport other than football? (In the picture a popular person shows encouragement and teamwork to an unpopular person)
2,3,3,0,3,2,3.
Most children put three pasta shells. This means they felt strongly that this happens around them, although one child did not experience this.
CONCLUSIONS
All children have experienced neglect. This might be because someone has ignored them or been rude to them. The good news is that all the children have been complemented by other children. A lot of them have experienced kindness from other children very strongly. Sport provides a chance for children to show good sportsmanship – which children sometimes do and sometimes don’t.
I think all children should get along together, because we share the same wild sky, clouds, rain and sun.