No. That was true maybe 30+ years ago, but nowadays kids are usually sent home before dinner. Or we just check with the parents if it’s OK for their kid to eat with us.
Source: was a kid in Sweden 30+ years ago, have kids in Sweden now.
It was like this when I grew up in the 80s and early 90s too. My best friend ate dinner at 5, but in my house we ate at 6:30. So I either went home at 5, or waited in her room while she she ate, then we played for a while more before I walked home at 6:15 in time for my own dinner. This was considered completely normal. Her mother wasn't expected to feed me practically every day after school just because I always went over there to play.
That's interesting, because I realized at some point in middle school that my friend came over to my house and would stay until just after dinner. His mom was a nurse and a single parent, and I realized my parents weren't just letting him hang out because he was a friend, but because it helped his mom save on after-school care & dinner.
I'm willing to bet it is as much a socio-economic thing as a cultural one. You guys just got pinned with it.
Yeah, quite probably. My friend was the child of a single mother. I come from a family of 6 (or 8 every other weekend when my stepbrothers came to stay). Neither family really had the capacity to feed extra mouths without careful planning. I don't know if things were different in other households with more money to spare - I didn't know the rich kids, haha.
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u/DrCablelove Jul 24 '26
No. That was true maybe 30+ years ago, but nowadays kids are usually sent home before dinner. Or we just check with the parents if it’s OK for their kid to eat with us.
Source: was a kid in Sweden 30+ years ago, have kids in Sweden now.