Hello there swedditors, I was scrolling through reddit til saw this comment on a post about cultural differences + some people supporting that claim. Is that actually something common among swedish people?
Hello there swedditors, I was scrolling through reddit til saw this comment on a post about cultural differences + some people supporting that claim. Is that actually something common among swedish people?
25 comments
I would say it varies from household to household.
If we for example know beforehand that we’re having folk over *before* we’ve had dinner we make sure to know if the guests want to eat here aswell or not.
It used to be. Probably not so much anymore.
Kids back then usually had a set dinner time of their own they had to get home to, and you had no way to contact the parents and let them know (either you didn’t know them or the kid didn’t have their number).
Edit: I should point out that we are talking about kids unable to feed themselves, so somewhere between ages 6-15.
Yeah its common, people don’t cook for extra kids and the parents might not even know who or how many kids are in the house.
A big family might have 10 extra kids at home after school…
I had better food being cooked at home anyway so I never cared. It was just nice not having to decline their food.
This was super common when I grew up at least.
Same is said about german parents.
Was very common when I grew with my swedish friends. Never with friends from any other country. So yeah, I was always hungry, and had to decide if I would go home, or stay playing Amiga 500 alone. The latter usually won 😎
Wow, surprised so many has experience from this. I don’t think I have ever heard or seen it befors
It’s pretty common, or at least used to. I think it’s less common today because kids plan their “playdates” more often than we did in the past. We used to go around everybodys house and I get why it would be hard planen to cook under those conditions. Today when my kids play with someone it’s almost always decided days if not weeks ahead.
I used to do this as a child (early 2000s)
I once had a friend over and we were playing video games in my room. It was my birthday and my mom called me down to open presents and cake. I asked if he was coming but he just stayed upstairs. I thought it was weird but he thought that was normal to let me celebrate with my family.
I grew up in a small town (~3000 people) in the 90’s. If my friends had dinner while I was there almost all of them would usually invite me to have dinner with them. Some would be borderline offended if you declined too.
As a kid/teen in the early 2000’s, can confirm this.
What is the alternative?
It’s not only because there might not be enough food, it’s also so the friend doesn’t go home later to his family’s dinner and has already eaten.
An alternative is of course to just sit at the table, but I preferred to play video games in my friends’ rooms.
I was at friends or friends were at my place like every day and we had different dinner times so I don’t think it’s strange at all. When I got a Nintendo 64 first in the neighbourhood there were kids at my place every day, should my mom then feed the whole neighbourhood? Wouldn’t have worked.
Happened all the time for me. I actually didn’t think it was weird. 30 minutes just me with my friends NES, sweet!
I don’t know how this is common but yes it happens and i have experienced it a quite a few times before
Super common where i grew up. I didn’t have many swedish friends but all, with the exception of one, did this.
100% yes. Waited on many rooms as a kid while my friend ran down stairs to eat as fast as possible.
Now that you mention it, I recall this happening a few times. Wasn’t really weird to me, though.
Yes because it would be considered rude by the hosting family to feed someone else’s kid, because that kid’s parents most likely were at home making dinner, too. It would almost be offensive as in, do they think the kid’s own parents are bad parents who aren’t gonna feed their own kid?
Very normal, at times me or my friend (whoevwr wasthe guest) would have to call home to check if it would be ok for us to stay for dinner.
Yes this is common!
I was born in the year 2001 and ya this was common for me growing up. Usually it was about dinner times where our parents asked or discussed this before we kids hung out at a place. More than often its common courtesy to ask the child if they want to eat or join at the table.
Its just a courtesy thing set between parents
My mom was a single mother raising 3 kids and I usually had 4 or 5 friends over because we played d&d so yeah the only times my friends ate with us were if they lived further away like some of them lived outside of town. The others lived like 5 mins away with bike so they could easily go home to eat.
It worked the same way for me when I was at their houses too.
Seems like it used to be common, but I doubt it happens often now, I’m 20 and this has literally never happened to me
I grew up in a working class area or rather a place for those with not the strongest purchase power. I experienced this a lot, but mostly it was because I had to go home and eat anyway.
I remember staying in my classmates room and playing and then when he was back, it was basically my time to go home.
The same happened at my place. Sometimes the other kid got food and sometimes not.
I feel it was common at least in that place and I grew up during the 90s.