Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Page 87

SAMLEIKAGERÐ í NÝTSLUMENTANINI HJÁ BØRNUM
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that for children, becoming taller has great
stgnifícance because of the natural link with
getting older and therefore, becoming more
•ndependent. In the following example
^lark, one of the younger preschool chil-
dren, was due to get his turn to go swimming
Ihefollowing school term:
Mark was unhappy that he could not go
swimming with the nursery. Janice, the teacher,
said that when he is a little bigger he’d get to
go, but for now he could go swimming witli his
mummy and daddy.
Mark: But I am as big as my Star Wars sword.
Fieldnotes, SN, Male, 26/8/02
As the extract shows, children do not always
measure their height in comparison to other
children but may use material objects - in
this case a large Star Wars sword - to meas-
Ure how much they have grown. Older chil-
^ren too (both P2/P3 and P6), were preoc-
eupied with height and compared them-
Selves to each other. However, at the P2/P3
age the children started to become more pre-
°ecupied with other aspects of physical ap-
Pearance. By P6 the children paid much at-
tention to body shape and facial features. For
•nstance, during conversations P2/P3 chil-
^'en, girls in particular, described othergirls
as having “nice hair” and a “nice face”. Fur-
thermore, body shape had already bccome
an 'ssue for some girls at P2/P3 age as the
t°Uowing example demonstrates:
hvrlotte: Yes but sometimes when you see, you
know at the Treader (shopping centre) and you
Scc 'hese people, these model people wearing
'hese clothes in that big shop thing?
Charlotte: They always look ehmm, very not fat
when you see them and if you’re quite fat then
you think: Oh I’ll look the same as that and when
you get them (the clothes) then you don’t look
anything like it.
lnterview, WPS, P2, Female, 19/5/03
ln the above extract Charlotte is referring
to how thin models look and how other bod-
ies may look entirely different upon wear-
ing the same clothing. This means that al-
ready at a young age children come to rec-
ognize that people can look very different
despite wearing the same clothing. Further-
more the importance placed on being tliin
in many consumer societies is heavily mar-
keted and which the children soon learn.
Extra-physical appearance (e.g. clothing
and grooming) were highly significant for
children in the P6 age group, and to some
extent in the P2/P3 and nursery age group.
Younger children had preferences for what
they liked to wear. They often wanted to
wear clothing with symbols that were mean-
ingful to them. These symbols very often re-
inforced gender identities. Similarly, the
boys in P6 at both schools were greatly con-
cerned with appearance. This was especially
manifested in their use of hair grooming
products and deodorants. They displayed no
shyness about discussing hair grooming etc.
with statements such as the following:
Ricltard: Normally we spike hair up.
Matthew: Yeah put gel in.
Interview, NPS, P6, Male, 19/12/03
Andrew: l’ve not had my hair down in school
for like four years or something so I’m not gonna
put it down now. I just hate it down.
Interviewer: So what is it that you like about