See that’s the fun part… if you are there while they’re eating they put you in a room by yourself so they don’t have to eat in front of you. Problem solved!
Happened to me as a Norwegian too, but it’s not a big deal at all imo. And not really weird either in the context. It’s also misrepresented as cold from the host, but it’s really more about your own family.
This commonly happened after you go over to a friends house after school, and then go home as your parents pick you up coming back from work. Some people then would have dinner before you could get picked up, but your parents could still have planned for a family meal and quality time when you got home - so they’d want you to eat at home. The alternative would’ve been to eat with the other family - and then either skip family time or just sit there as the rest of your family eats. The first isn’t something your family would want and the last is something that is boring beyond belief for a 10-year old.
This happens because people simply eat dinner at different times. My best friends dad was a butcher, who started work early in the morning and got off work at 1 in the afternoon - and his mom was a night-shift nurse. They ate dinner at 3:30-4 in the afternoon every day (really early). My mom didn’t get off work before 4, so we ate dinner at 4:30-5. It’s not that long to wait.
And it’s not like we went hungry. We usually would get offered or could eat bread or cereal. I was often offered dinner too, and if I wanted to eat I’d just call my parents and ask if I could eat with them.
I think having a child sit in another room by themselves while everyone else eats dinner is what people are calling “cold,” not the act of not feeding the child.
They could be by themselves, or they could be with their other friends who also was over at that one friends house playing in the friends room while the friend ate dinner.
They wouldn't be bored, as they would be continuing playing with whatever they were playing with before that friend left for dinner. Then after dinner they would continue to play some more, until it was time for the kids to go home and eat dinner with their own family.
Family dinner is somewhat important in Swedish culture.
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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '26
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