Stuff Swedish People Like: Transporting kids everywhere

Swedish middle class families, and upwards, love to drive their kids everywhere up to the kids reach their early teens. Remember the days when kids were hanging out outdoors in gangs? Those days are long gone. Today, the Swedish pree-teens are not going anywhere on their own. Their parents have to drive them between various activities to the degree where they work half time.



Swedish schools actually encourage parents to drive their children to school, because the traffic around the schools is a threat. This is an oxymoron, because much of the rush hour traffic around schools are from parents delivering and picking up their kids.

Another reason for Swedes to drive kids everywhere is since Swedes watch so many detective stories on TV, and read so many of these books about gruesome murders on children and women they believe Swedish society is full of loose serial killers and paedophiles. But the murder rate in Sweden would disappoint most, since it is steadily around 70 cases a year. These murders often happen under the influence of alcohol, where the murderer might not even remember what has happened. Still, Swedes think their society is very dangerous, and must shuttle kids from door to door.

However, if a Swedish ten year old is out on his own, it is probably just because his parents car has broken down. If you want to get acquainted with a Swedish parent, you can say something like: "Oh, can you imagine, when I was ten, I had to ride my bike two miles to soccer practice. And I didn't even wear a helmet!" They will feel sorry for you, and admit it was the same in Sweden back then. After that they will recommend a really really safe family car with five stars in crash safety for you to buy.