Jeg lærer nye ting om Danmark hver dag. Sommetider, spørger jeg Mads hvis min ny information er sand eller falsk fordi det er SÅ forskellig fra hvad jeg var vant til i Amerika. Han bliver ofte underholdt når han ser min reaktion på de nye ting. For eksempel---den danske barnevogn. Det er meget normalt at lægge en baby i barnevognen og putter barnevognen udenfor imens han sover....især i vinteren. Jeg drillede Mads og fortalte ham at dette er hvordan danskerne laver nye vikinger! :o)
I learn new things about Denmark every day. Sometimes I have to ask Mads if my new information is true or false because it is SO different from what I was used to in America. He is often amused when he sees my reaction to the new things. For example--the Danish pram. It is totally normal to put your baby in the pram for his nap and then set the pram outside...especially in the winter. I teased Mads and told him that my theory was that this was how the Danes created new Vikings! :o)
Før jul, havde vi venner til frokost og efter vi har spist, det var tid for Agnes (6 måneder) og Jeppe (2 år) at have en lur. Agnes´s mor og Jeppes far lagde dem i deres barnevogne i vores baghave, hver, med babyalarmen i barnevognen.Before Christmas, we had friends over for lunch and once we were finished eating, it was time for Agnes (6 months) and Jeppe (2 years) to take a nap. Agnes´ mom and Jeppe´s dad laid them in their prams in our backyard, each with a baby monitor in the pram.
Jo mere jeg oplever denne måde at sove på, jo mere normalt virker det, selv om det er noget der er fuldstændigt anderledes fra amerikansk metoder.
The more I experience this practice, the more normal it seems, although it is something that is completely different from American methods.
Den bedste del var da Jeppe vågnede op! The best part was when Jeppe woke up!
12 comments:
wow that is different and CPS would have a feild day if that went on in the states
Ah yes - I remember how strange I found this here in Sweden, until I got kids of my own. Then it seemed perfectly natural - and healthy - to put them in their prams and let them nap outside, even if it was minus 18 C outside!
Once the hoods are up, those prams are pretty toasty inside.
I always took my kids out in the cold weather. My mother always told me that I was a bad mommy to do it. I told her it made them hardy. They were pretty healthy babies. HMMM maybe they are on to something.
I like this idea and I love those strollers so much.
Kelli... the picture of Jeppe waking up in his pram is priceless!! :-)
I remember noticing prams being left out in front of stores while parents went into shops in Cph... Mac assured me Danes do this all the time, too.
I like all your pix of different prams. It was so much fun seeing all the different bikes and prams in Cph. I was so excited when I got to push Mac's nephew in the pram. lol
hahaha...yeah, my husband almost had a heart attack first time he saw a baby left outside like that.
I found this fascinating too - and also leaving prams outside shops - and they don't get stolen! That says a lot for DK in my opinion. Of course there was that fracas when that Danish actress/model left her baby outside a shop in New York and promptly got arrested and child services called in. I think it took the Danish PM or some figure to get her off by explaining it was perfectly acceptable and safe behaviour in DK. Still, I suspect not so in the US!
Oh, and I believe there was a case in the U.S. some years ago where a Danish mother had left her baby outside and got into a whole lot of trouble because of it?
I still cannot get used to this method of rearing kids, but the Danes are so relaxed about it so I just leave them to it.
It does irk me how often a Dane will jump in and inform me where I am going 'wrong' with my parenting (when I am..duh..so not going wrong) but I haven't yet exacted a revenge hit and said: "Yeah, well, at least I don't isolate my kids and let them scream to sleep..." Telling someone else how to parent is not my gig. Each to their own.
My grandmothers put their kids out to air, it was the fashion for a long time, but then they had lots and lots of kids, they needed them out of their hair and often the elder kids were enlisted to walk the prams until the babies slept. To me the practise of airing kids in prams is all at once old fashioned and modern. It is certainly frowned apon in my home culture and I never felt comfortable doing it, but I admit to trying it here, because so many Danish mothers I knew at that time insisted that it was wrong to NOT put an infant in a pram for a couple of hours in the afternoon.
I couldn't do it their way, my babies cried and it just didn't work on so many levels, all those duvets on top etc, I have been taught not to overheat a sleeping child. But, I have on occasion put my babies out to sleep in a pram, when the weather is good, and when I can sit near them.
I don't understand the way they don't sit near their kids when they put them out like this. I worry about cats jumping up, recently released mental patients deciding to snatch and yes, even meteors LOL!
I have my own theory that there is something a little 'off' with a generation of parents who do not feel the 'pull' and can so easily leave their kids alone and away either by leaving them in those massive casket like prams or by relinquishing them to daycare as very small infants. But I have found nothing yet to prove that this can harm a Danish child, it seems to me, as you suggest, this is just the way to make new 'Vikings'.
Personally, I use slings with my babies, and tend to keep them as close as possible until they are a bit more grown up. Babies who grow up slumbering close to their mothers and fathers heartbeats have an alternative start to life, one that I believe is more intimate and bonded. I won't preach about that way, but I can say it worked for us. It wouldn't have worked if I had to think about going out to work though, it is an approach that is only working if one has the time.
I cannot help thinking that this process of seperating from one's child while they slumber is the first step to moving away from the child, and holding them at such a distance (outside in a pram in all weathers) would also make it easier to say goodbye to them when it is time for daycare to begin (which is around 9 months in DK).
Most of the expat women I know are appalled at the way the babies are 'prammed', I have worked on looking the other way, especially when there is a tiny tot screaming it's lungs out in an icy street while the parents slurp coffee inside.
I will shut up now, because I have been reminded of something I want to blog about, the way the babies here are toughened up (LOL) and the flood gates are open.
Kelli, you may not have realised it, but this is a rather contentious subject ;)
I've always thought prams were so much cooler-looking than strollers.
Yes, seeing kids in prams outside of stores does take some getting used to! But the very interesting part is that no one bothers the children! Here in the US, those kids would be kidnapped in no time.
This is one of the things I don't think I will ever get used to here. I don't know, but it just pulls at my heartstrings. I have to agree that it seems to be the first step in distancing yourself from your baby. I know they say...when in Rome, but I don't think I would ever be comfortable being "hyggeligt" having a cuppa joe when my baby is outside. ;) I know, I know..."kylling mor"...must be an American! :)
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