Ethnographic Reflections on children's leisure

Abstract

This paper reviews and extends some of the results of a completed study on children's entertainment in the Community of Madrid (Spain) (Gaitán, Dominguez, Bárcenas and Leyra, 2011), trying to analyze the concept of leisure, as an educational process, that links across different elements of everyday life of boys and girls. Also, through these pages will examine the various discourses, behaviors and perceptions regarding leisure that both children and the adults who participated in this research, have. It will be a tour through the own concept of children's entertainment and leisure time, and the customs and practices differentiated into different groups of children, exploring how leisure is part of the formal and informal education, bringing crosscutting elements of gender and age. A “junior team” was involved in the research, that was composed of boys and girls who made reflections and contributions throughout the ethnographic process as on the results, strengthening the own approach of “Child leadership” and “Co-research of children”.