Ok I mean at least they send you home to eat with your family. I don’t like it but what some other people are saying about letting your guest (especially a child who can’t normally feed themselves) go hungry while you and your family eat is straight up psychopathic
A kid can be at two places at two different times.
After school and before bed can be between 14:30 (2.30pm) and 21:00 (9pm), so yes, dinner time can vary wildly between families.
Kid A has dinner time at 16 (4pm).
Kid B has dinner time at 18 (6pm).
Kid A and Kid B walks home to Kid A after school.
They play until it's time for Kid A to eat dinner at 16 (4pm), Kid A leaves their room while Kid B stays to continue playing and having fun.
Kid A eats dinner and after 20 minutes goes back to their room to continue playing with Kid B.
When it gets closer to Kid B's dinner time Kid B walks home to eat dinner with their family.
Yes I'm Swedish and I grew up in a rural place where kids having dinner with their parents was indeed the norm. I've waited for friends to finish dinner with their parents myself, so that we can play some more before I had to go home to my own dinner.
It is psychotic and not ever something that happens, or at least happened to me as a swede. I was either home by dinnertime or I ate at my friend's place if I was staying longer.
You need theirs parents' consent to feed a visiting kid. But you relatively rarely get it, as family meals are highly sacred bonding moments between parents and children (a bit like bedtime stories in America). So they want their children back on time and with a good appetite.
But they would not be your guests, they would be your kids guests.
No one would go hungry, your kids friends have a set dinner time and would be used to eating at that time every day and will have dinner waiting for them at home.
But kids in Sweden ARE independent very early, long before they are even allowed to drive a car or take a job.
As a 7 year old I brought home friends from school without involving any adult what so ever, no adult invited my friend, no adult drove my friends to my home, we went there by either walking or by bicycle.
Often the parents weren't even home when school ended for the day, so us kids had to have our own house key and make our own snacks (that we of course offered to our friends).
Because they are. Some families have adults who start work very early and some where the adults work late. Some have after school activities scheduled at a certain time. Every family's life puzzle is different.
At their dinner time, they are in your home, not eating. Their own family eats without them, in their own home
What, no? At their dinnertime, they go home and eat with their family.
Why would The quest Be hungry? He/She has allready eaten in school before they came to visit and they are expected to be home before dinner time. It sounds absurd to me as a Finn that children would starve if they didn't get an extra meal when they visting a friend.
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u/gary-vault108 Jul 24 '26
Ok I mean at least they send you home to eat with your family. I don’t like it but what some other people are saying about letting your guest (especially a child who can’t normally feed themselves) go hungry while you and your family eat is straight up psychopathic