I live in New Zealand and it’s the start of the year. We have a boy from Denmark in my daughter’s class. These past two weeks he has ripped her hair that it came out, he pushed her and she fell, while on the ground he put his foot on her back. My daughter said he said he likes to hurt small girls. The teacher said that it’s cultural that Danes hit each other. I’ve never known Dane children but I’ve never been hot by a Dane adult either. Is hitting a normal thing in Denmark or am I a sensitive kiwi?
Edit: I have added her email response to the situation.
by kikiweaky
11 comments
Based on what you say here, the guy sounds like a bully
Get that shit sorted asap. Bullying and assault is not a danish tradition, it´s a worldwide problem
The boy sounds like a mean bully.
The teacher sounds like a moron.
The teacher is an idiot, and the kid is a bully.
Even IF this was how Danes behaved culturally , it doesn’t make it appropriate at a school in NZ. The rules of the school , and their expectations towards behavior, should go above any and all cultural practice (maybe a few things like dietary or linguistic things could be “met half way” ) .
Moving with kids can be super difficult (been there – multiple times) but it does not make violence okay.
Also.. it sounds VERY un-danish. The notion that boys pull girls hair if they like them is no longer accepted as reasonable (at least it shouldn’t be and isn’t when I hang out)
The teacher is talking shit about a whole country without reason. I resent that kind of statement from someone who is working with children – the teacher is teaching them to be racist.
We have a very low rate of bullying: [https://www.euronews.com/2023/12/15/why-does-denmark-have-one-of-europes-lowest-rates-of-bullying](https://www.euronews.com/2023/12/15/why-does-denmark-have-one-of-europes-lowest-rates-of-bullying)
Even if this was actually how danish kids behaved, it would still be a problem to solve. You are in NZ, so NZ rules and culture apply.
As a danish teacher working in DK myself, I expect all my pupils to follow the generel danish public school rules, our local school’s rules and those we’ve worked out as a class.
You should demand the same for your daughter’s school. What you are describing sounds more like incompetence or some form of racism towards danes in my ears (no, we are not barbarians who let kids beat each other up).
That’s not true at all. That teacher is a god damn dumbass, and the kid is a bully
Use a Wahaika on the boy. That will teach him about cultural differences.
My Danish spouse tells me that its been illegal in Denmark to hit your child (or any child) for approx 30years, and that its not a socially accepted behavior…now.
He says that in the 1970s and earlier it was common and not categorized as a criminal act or as domestic abuse. He was hit by his parents when he was a child, so were his siblings. His younger brother is estranged from their parents. His younger brother experienced their parent’s parenting as abuse.
Say to Them fix the situation asap or you Will go to the news
And Also i would instruct your Girl to defend her self if she Can, nothing wrong with that imo