Without knowing what to expect, I wandered into the market feeling venerable with only a few guiding questions: What roles do children play in the marketplace? Are they helping their parents with small and simple tasks, are they there simply because that’s where their parents are and they don’t do anything in particular, or are there any present in the market at all? My interest comes from noticing that some children do not attend school and I was curious to see if there were many school-age kids working alongside their parents in the markets. It is also interesting to reflect of the increasing modernization in Vietnam and how that will affect these types of markets and the modern world gives way to “Self-service shopping, clean environments, price displays, and aggressive marketing” (Cadilhon et al. 2006). These children may be the last to remember what a market used to look like.
I decided to classify “children” as those who were infants to those who were around preteen age. Since we arrived at the Tân Định market during siesta hour, there really wasn’t much to observe since most shopkeepers were snoozing in chairs beside their stalls or on top of their goods. However, I hadn’t been wandering long when I passed a young girl, maybe five years old, who ran up behind me and said “Hello!” and I smiled and said “Hello” back and she grinned and ran back to her mother’s stall. Perhaps this was a business tactic to encourage Westerners to approach a shop or perhaps the girl was just friendly. I after choosing many randoms paths, I came across a toddler boy sitting at his mother’s feet and next to him was a tiny puppy asleep on a small cardboard box. I passed by them a couple of times while trying to find a good spot to stop and observe the boy and the dog for a while (there was none) and noticed that the boy and the puppy were relatively free to wander about the stalls as long as he didn’t go to far from his mother’s stall. He did so, carrying his puppy with him and crossed paths with stall neighbor who spoke sharply to him about getting in her way. I did not see any babies at the Tân Định market and I supposed that meant that they aren’t generally accepted in that environment.
By the time we had reached the Thị Nghè market, siesta time seemed to be over and most people were awake and somewhat vigilant. I immediately noticed a young man with a broad smile holding up a chubby baby who must have been his son. The man was receiving goods for his stall from some other men and it was obvious that he was very proud of this plump boy. A little ways down, I paused to observe two boys who were most likely three and five years old running back and forth in front of and behind their mother’s stall. One of them had a toy microphone and they were singing songs and enjoying themselves. In this situation, when they ran in front of a woman who was working, she thought they were funny and smiled. It was an interesting contrast to see between the two markets.
I also realized very quickly that it is difficult to be a passive observer in a marketplace because there are not any nooks in which I could stand and watch the boy with the puppy for example without being in someone’s way or having a vendor try to sell me something. At one point, while diligently taking notes, a woman came up to me and said something in Vietnamese. Of course I didn’t understand her, but a cluster of vendors nearby started laughing. Trying not to be offended, I gave them a wave and walked away. I learned that I will have to develop new methods for observation if I want to be a successful researcher.