Is it really better this way? Day care vs. stay at home moms

I have written before on this topic, but several recent articles drive me to re-emphasize my point.

Let's take it story by story...

http://www.gp.se/nyheter/debatt/1.583949-en-familjepolitik-som-gor-barnen-psykiskt-sjuka?ref=fb

"The first generation born under the new conditions in Sweden has been at the preschool from the age of one year, and during his first six years spent most of his waking life with preschool staff."

Although they give it as a result of evolution, this article from Göteborgsposten allows for a complementarian view of men and women.  In other words, men and women are not identical and women are especially better fit to take care of children, especially in their earlier years.

In Sweden, parents are penalized for having their children at home, and while they could send their children for free for a limited amount of day care, they recieve little or no benefits at all for keeping them at home.

http://www.svd.se/opinion/ledarsidan/staten-ska-lasa-sagor-for-barnen_7904478.svd

Sweden is playing a game that Socrates wrote about for many hundreds of  years ago.  Let the state control the children, and you strengthen the state.  The state knows better than the parents, etc.

Get people to believe that this is not the state pushing to have more control, but something the parents themselves want. Socrates believed that within the second or third generation people would be brainwashed enough to hand their kids over blindly.

And now the Social Democrats want to have obligatory day care for our kids, starting at infancy.  The question is, how brainwashed are Swedes in this matter?

http://www.helagotland.se/ledare/artikel.aspx?articleid=8309420

This article says something along the lines of, it is for everyone's best to put your kids into daycare as soon as possible, because, among other things, this will help your kids become better students in the future.  Unfortunately, according to this article, the facts do not back up that statement.

Ultimately...

God gave us a beautiful gift as parents, to raise our children, teach them of the Lord, teach them how to be a better person and love them abundantly.  A day care with one teacher to a couple of students who are not her own children will have a very very hard time competing with a mother who loves and wants her children's best.

Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it
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Deuteronomy 4:9  “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s childre

Psalm 127:3  Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Sowing seeds already?

In Gothenburg, you have to take the bull by the horns when it is still snowy and cold outside, because it seems like it takes a looong time to warm up here. 

According to this article from Blomsterlandet, now is already the time to start sowing seeds, and sowing can continue all the way into May.  blomsterlandet's article 

Last year I was too late in starting to sow seeds and get things going on our tiny little apartment balcony.  

It seems like things had just gotten started when it was getting cold and dark again!

 So, unlike all the places I have lived in in America, this little cement corner is what I have to work with in terms of enjoying plants and the great outdoors from my apartment.  You take what you got, right?

Here are a few more websites about when to sow seeds here in Southern Sweden: 

http://www.icakuriren.se/Hem-Tradgard/Plantera-Odla/dags-att-sa/

http://www.coop.se/Recept--mat/Vardagstips/Tradgard/Sa-fron---att-frosa-plantor/

Let girls be girls and boys be boys

Sweden is all about taking away the diversity of gender between boys and girls.

Some kids toy catalogs have been changed to show girls with boys toys, and boys playing barbie (or something like that).



They are considering introducing a new word, HEN.  It means neither He nor She but rather a gender neutral way to speak about a person.

And here is a recent article I read that responds to all this gender-neutral focus.

I usually don't like Aftonbladet, but this Psychologist said it pretty well.

Aftonbladets article

Have I gotten there yet?

When do you know that you are "at home" in a culture?

Is there a certain time period,

a certain amount of involvement,

or maybe that you are not afraid that each step or word will cause a culture clash or be a big mistake?

We'll just have to see as we go.