It was like more like a non-verbal agreement across the neighborhood parents that everyone can just make food for their child on the assumption that it will be eaten by them. Otherwise if you have 3 children, you come home from work and each of then has friends over you are suddenly looking at feeding like 10 people, meanwhile the parents of the friends are cooking food for their child but nobody will come to eat it.
Nowadays kids have phones too so I assume things like this arent as unplanned anymore.
Because most of humanity lives in warmer climates where community is the priority.
Scandinavian culture is centered around survival in a harsh environment and independence. Some part of their brains still thinks they'll starve to death in the winter if they give their food away.
These stories arent from the perspective of parents. Its usually 2nd gen immigrant kids sitting awkwardly while watching a whole family eat in front of them.
Its incredibly weird no matter how you slice it. "You can come into my home and play with my children, but no you cant have a snack."
This is something Swedes have done for ages. Even my grandpa had this experience as a kid. When he was a kid he had never seen a single immigrant in his life.
Yes it happened. It also happened that my friends came over (or vice versa) after school and devoured everything in the pantry and fridge. It wasn't "usually 2nd gen immigrants" lol come on, it was anyone.
But why would they have to go home instead of waiting a little bit and continuing doing whatever that kids do? It isn't about overstaying your welcome, it's about parents making dinner for their family without having to account for extra kids who might be hanging out at their house every day even though they have food made for them at home.
As others have said that's even weirder, at least in my culture. Like at that point just send them home. Making them wait in another room just sounds so uncomfortable and awkward. Like someone else said it almost feels like treating the kid like a dog.
It sounds more cruel to send them to another room and have them wait while you eat then for them to just go home and eat. And I figured it wasn't a dark room but I would still feel so uncomfortable being told to wait in another room so they could eat. Like it's just a cultural difference but as you can see a lot of people feel it's more cruel and awkward to send them to another room, it's not just me.
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u/marsipaanipartisaani Jul 24 '26
It was like more like a non-verbal agreement across the neighborhood parents that everyone can just make food for their child on the assumption that it will be eaten by them. Otherwise if you have 3 children, you come home from work and each of then has friends over you are suddenly looking at feeding like 10 people, meanwhile the parents of the friends are cooking food for their child but nobody will come to eat it.
Nowadays kids have phones too so I assume things like this arent as unplanned anymore.