(edit title) Swedish children vv Swedish adults Is Sweden really so good for children? Options

[gplusa]

Geez, why do you people keep falling for this crap. They don't even go to much effort to disguise it any more. Well done, "First Day Poster". Hook, line and sinker.

[ingeling]

It's true that I'm quite bitter at Sweden at times but more often than that I'm relieved that I ended up living abroad ( lived in Spain for eight years too) and got some perspective on my home country, things I may never have realized if I had stayed. Naturally there are also things that I miss about the place time and again, but I do firmly believe that you need a certain mentality to enjoy living there. If you're an emotional or opinionated or sociable person it's a cold place to be. Swedes are likely to think of you as "needy".

Obviously Swedish people have feelings too but when they're not expressed openly it creates an uptight uncaring kind of environment. The same goesfor the "culture of concensus" which makes people censure their true feelings and opinions creating an unfree robotic society.

In my view Swedish people are prepared to pay higher taxes in order NOT to have to care. It's not love of people, it's a conveniant and practical way of dealing with poor people, old people, drug addicts, children etc and other abnormalities to the only respectable citizen; the hard working tax payer.
AS for the issues of gay marriages and foreign aid etc I think it's all aquestion of political correctness, Sweden wants to be the best in this field as they see it as a symbol for having reached the top of civilization.
They're the most competitive nationality I know!

[Migga]

Obviously Swedish people have feelings too but when they're not expressed openly it creates an uptight uncaring kind of environment. The same goesfor the "culture of ... (show full quote)

Obviously Swedish people have feelings too but when they're not expressed openly it creates an uptight uncaring kind of environment. The same goesfor the "culture of concensus" which makes people censure their true feelings and opinions creating an unfree robotic society. ... (hide full quote)

Interesting. According to who? If the Swedes don`t feel the need to express themselves openly then I don`t think they consider the envoirment they are living in to be uptight or uncaring. I think they would consider it normal, comfortable and relaxing. The enviorment is considerd uptight and uncaring by others who haven`t adepted to the enviorment. I think.

In my view Swedish people are prepared to pay higher taxes in order NOT to have to care. It's not love of people, it's a conveniant and practical way of dealing with p ... (show full quote)

In my view Swedish people are prepared to pay higher taxes in order NOT to have to care. It's not love of people, it's a conveniant and practical way of dealing with poor people, old people, drug addicts, children etc and other abnormalities to the only respectable citizen; the hard working tax payer. AS for the issues of gay marriages and foreign aid etc I think it's all aquestion of political correctness, Sweden wants to be the best in this field as they see it as a symbol for having reached the top of civilization. They're the most competitive nationality I know! ... (hide full quote)

So Swedes care for others is because they are so uncaring that they don`t want to be involved and because of political correctness? That`s a very cynical view. Why do you have that view?

[skogsbo]

Geez, why do you people keep falling for this crap. They don't even go to much effort to disguise it any more. Well done, "First Day Poster". Hook, line and sinker.

yeah, I think she is just a bored Swedish girl(possible not Swedish, a Brit or Yank) sitting in her Edinburgh tenement with the little one whilst he fella's at work.

It's true that I'm quite bitter at Sweden at times but more often than that I'm relieved that I ended up living abroad

Yeah, trolling for certain, why if you are so convinced that you hate Sweden so much, would you go on an English speak forum to ask about your kids future, would you not ask any of your friends you grew up with who now have kids in Sweden (unless her moaning has repelled them), either a complete idiot or troll.

[sometimesinsweden]

Not sure there's a 'right' answer to the original post. There are pros and cons of bringing up children in each culture and it ultimately comes down to personal preference of the parent, especially regarding dagis vs earlier schooling in the UK. If you ask this kind of question, you'll always get a variety of opinions based on what each individual thinks, rather than a comprehensive answer.

I live in the UK and Sweden currently, travelling between the two each month, and not sure that the generalisations are as clear as some make out. There are 'uncaring' British people, as there are 'caring' Swedes - it's not as clear-cut as the stereotypes indicate.

[olga118]

The majority of adults I have met in Sweden really have no relationship with their parents or the simply see them as a burden to be endured. It's hard not to wonder about how much effect the dumping of kids into daycare from the time they can walk has influenced that.

[skogsbo]

It's hard not to wonder about how much effect the dumping of kids into daycare from the time they can walk has influenced that.

thankfully for you, Sweden is the only nation in the world that has nurseries / dagis / daycare, and people from no other nation ever put their children into someone elses supervision prior to starting formal school. Otherwise this hatred of parents would be global and not down to some other factor, or the size of the field you surveyed (1 or 2people?).

[Bender B Rodriquez]

The majority of adults I have met in Sweden really have no relationship with their parents or the simply see them as a burden to be endured. It's hard not to wonder about ... (show full quote)

The majority of adults I have met in Sweden really have no relationship with their parents or the simply see them as a burden to be endured. It's hard not to wonder about how much effect the dumping of kids into daycare from the time they can walk has influenced that. ... (hide full quote)

Sounds like you met the wrong persons then.

[skogsbo]

The majority of adults I have met in Sweden really have no relationship with their parents or the simply see them as a burden to be endured.

I suspect you are trolling like the OP, but for everyone else benefit, here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_leave you can see how much time every other nation gets to spend with their kids. Some of the biggest countries that supply Sweden with it's migrant workers, UK,USA, Aus, NZ, France ... alll provide far far less paid and unpaid parental & maternity leave for people, so I suspect that you theory is actually quite the opposite in reality.

Top tip to those living outside Sweden with a Swedish partner, when your mini me is born, register it immediately in Sweden, make sure you are the parent & guardian (see other threads). That way even if you move to Sweden a few years later, your Swedish quota for parental and maternity leave is saved for you. All they do is deduct the number of days you had paid maternity/paternity leave (only state funded days count) in the country you were in at the time, from your Swedish quota. A letter from your employer etc will cover this. Then you have until your kids are 8yrs old to take them, plus you can transfer 75% or 80% between parents. Hope that made sense. It's worth the hassle as you can get more paid time with your kids, which goes against Olga and the OP thoughts on Sweden, but that's their loss.

I only got 2 weeks paternity in the UK, paid my employer, so I was entitled to a massive 240 working days here, so I transfered a fair percentage to the prettier Skog and she can work a 4 day week for a few years, I work from home, so I work flexibily 1 day, which means the kids only do dagis 3 days a week, which is far better than we could have ever engineered in the UK. No major loss of earnings for us, plenty parent / kid time and plenty kids play and group interaction at dagis.

[cogito]

@the OP (troll or non-troll, and who cares as long as the poster provokes discussion?)

Many would argue (though not on this board) that Sweden is not a good place for children.
Nowhere else have I seen so many fall-down drunk young people. There is a fairly direct path from government dagis (day care) to the government Systembolaget (state liquor store) as soon as they're old enough.
And let's not get into education. The failings have been covered ad nauseum.

Sweden is, however, a great deal for parents. You are paid with other people's money (via the government) to have children. Then you are paid, again with other people's money, to spend time spend time with the kids--something parents in other nations do as part of their normal parental responsibilities and without requiring financial incentive.
Since money is fungible, other people's money allows irresponsible parents to treat themselves to better car or a new television.

Like politicians, parents often justify what suits them best by repeating the mantra: It's for the children.
We all need to persuade ourselves of noble motives for selfish choicees.

[Bender B Rodriquez]

Nowhere else have I seen so many fall-down drunk young people.

Lol, you clearly haven't been to the UK for quite some time... or Finland/Russia/Eastern Europe for that matter...

[Willy]

Nowhere else have I seen so many fall-down drunk young people.

I have! In the UK...

[skogsbo]

@the OP (troll or non-troll, and who cares as long as the poster provokes discussion?)Many would argue (though not on this board) that Sweden is not a good place for children. ... (show full quote)

@the OP (troll or non-troll, and who cares as long as the poster provokes discussion?)

Many would argue (though not on this board) that Sweden is not a good place for children.
Nowhere else have I seen so many fall-down drunk young people. There is a fairly direct path from government dagis (day care) to the government Systembolaget (state liquor store) as soon as they're old enough.
And let's not get into education. The failings have been covered ad nauseum.

Sweden is, however, a great deal for parents. You are paid with other people's money (via the government) to have children. Then you are paid, again with other people's money, to spend time spend time with the kids--something parents in other nations do as part of their normal parental responsibilities and without requiring financial incentive.
Since money is fungible, other people's money allows irresponsible parents to treat themselves to better car or a new television. ... (hide full quote)

Swedish drunks, if you want to see a youth culture revolving around drink, go to ANY UK town on a Friday or Saturday night between 7pm and 3 or 4 am. You will be lucky to see a sober person, probably just the Police and Ambulance crews waiting for their evening's customers. Better still try some of the less well off inner cities at anytime of day? Yes, the system here has it's regulars, you normally see them sitting on benches nearby about 15mins before they open.

In the UK they don't beat a path to a state run system, they just get their bigger siblings to buy it at the corner shop or anywhere that sells it cheap enough in large enough volume. Better still why not go to any UK A&E dept on a weekend evening, see how many of their customers are drunk or the need to hire security staff to protect the hospital staff from these drunks. Perhaps I'm picking the worst example with the UK, but are you really stating that Sweden has a bigger alcohol problem than the US or Canada, NZ, Aus or many other European cities?

It is also strange that in Sweden the percentage of people hospitalised, caught drunk driving, injury whilst drunk or dying from alcohol related diseases seems to be much lower than many other nations - like the UK, US, Oz etc. etc.

Parents having time off to see to their kids? I think it's called society, you can go it alone on your island or be part of it. When those kids are at school and Uni, the parents are still working and paying tax, probably funding your healthcare, state infrastructure, pensions... everyone gets their dip in the pot of cash, it's just at different times for different things. If folk choose to live a childless life and don't ever take anything from the state that is your choice, it's there for everyone.

Could you please advise me how the state will buy me a new TV or car?

[Kaipa]

It's funny how the initial poster is shot down for making generalisations by the same people who then go on to make generalisations themselves. Surely it is just as much a cliche to talk about binge-drinking UK youths as it is to talk about
anti-social Swedes.

Also I find it ironic that the people who seem to be defending the notion that Sweden is a "caring " nation appear to post the nastiest replies!

[Bender B Rodriquez]

Nobody is saying that all UK youngsters are binge drinking, just that it is as prevalent as in Sweden. The OP however made it clear that all Swedes were anti-social.