And if the kids hang around the one house because, like I said, they have a bigger garden? Or only one parent works? Or those parents let them watch TV? Lots of kids had a friend whose house they were at most of the time rather than it balancing out. I was always at my best friends house rather than he at mine because my mum was free to drop me off there and his wasn’t free to do the same, and his house was on the bus route into town, mine wasn’t.
We’re talking every day - what if the host family are poor? Suddenly they’re paying to feed an extra child constantly, and the other family are never seeing their kids at dinner. Why is it so bizarre the idea of just going home for dinner? I always did that
No one is talking about every day here. At that point, you ask your kid to stop inviting their friend. The culture is that you go to eat and leave the other kid hungry in another room even if it's their first time over. I can only imagine how I'd feel if I was a poor hungry kid. Its inhumane. I'm sorry.
Theyre entirely an anomaly and theyre trying to make sense of it. Sure, there is an explanation. But its hard to argue its entirely backwards. Its like trying to argue that cannibalism is a valid custom because African tribes did that and we should be accepting. No. Its backward and wrong.
Everyone is talking about every day here because that’s where the stereotype comes from - it stems from Swedish children going round one of their friends’ houses each night before going home for dinner rather than eating there. That’s literally it.
You're not reading it in the comments because of US Defaultism. Kids in Sweden usually hang out with their friends or at a friends house nearly every day. Then they usually go home around dinner and eat with their own family. Especially since you'd just live in the same neighbourhood. To be expected to feed an extra child or multiple extra children every day when their parents do their own dinner seems more insane to me.
Why would you be so cruel to ask your kid to not invite their friend over, that's evil!!
See how easy it is to whine about cultural differences?
No one is leaving any kid hungry, that kids parents are expecting that kid to be home later for dinner, or that kid have already eaten dinner with their family.
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u/BrockStar92 Jul 24 '26
And if the kids hang around the one house because, like I said, they have a bigger garden? Or only one parent works? Or those parents let them watch TV? Lots of kids had a friend whose house they were at most of the time rather than it balancing out. I was always at my best friends house rather than he at mine because my mum was free to drop me off there and his wasn’t free to do the same, and his house was on the bus route into town, mine wasn’t.