I see: an English Couple..who I think were in the Chav category. Her in a tight fitting low cut top, and a short denim skirt, loads of makeup, hair scraped tight against her skull, about 4 ear piercings and what looked like too much fake gold. Him in a hooded sleeveless Tshirt, jeans slung low and bright red sneakers. They had a child of about 4 sitting in a push chair. Above his head with animated faces I saw him telling her how the new toy works. The toy in question was a big black plastic gun which was had been bought by him for their little one. The conversation was animated in appearance and the child looked quite involved in the whole thing.
Slighly further on I see: An Asian couple. The standard jeans and T shirt with white sneakers for both. Standing with their 4-ish year old. The child was staring at distant nothing while the parents above his head were busy discussing the new book they had bought for the little one. A book on how to improve handwriting in 4-7 year olds. It was a serious looking discussion with much frowning, shaking of the head in the horizontal 8 figure, gesticulation and finally nodding. The child did not look interested or excited in the least. He was strapped into his pushchair.
What struck me was the seriousness of the second conversation. What made me notice the two cases was the fact that these 2 couples were standing only a few feet away from one another. I do not understand the promotion of guns as toys. Do 'boys' really need them to turn into real 'men'? But what I do not get either was the need to push your child into perfect handwriting..specially with the schools on a break and the summer holiday for schools not far off.
Did I notice them because of the colour of their skin and difference in their activities based on stereotypical image of race? - perhaps yes. What made me write this was because the situation was one which appeared black and white to start with and turned out to be completely grey when analyzed.
