AdventureDad

There are many great things to say about the Swedish parenting style.  I know this well since I've visited a large number of countries and seen parenting in action.  One of my favorite things is how involved fathers are.  They don't just work,  act as lazy bastards, and make every possible excuse to avoid taking care of their kids.  Most Swedish fathers are there for birth, every doctors appointment, take months (or years) of paternity leave, stay home from work with sick kids, and often share the privilege of being a parent almost equally with the mother.  Without maids or other bullshit.  That's standard practice in Sweden but incredibly rare anywhere else in the world (rest of Scandinavia is decent as well)

Great example can be found here in Turkey with one of my team mates.  If you read the previous post you know I'm representing Sweden in the ITF World Championships in tennis.  We're here competing against many world class athletes and you know what my team mate did?  He brought his 7 -year old son with him.  Not because he had to, because he wanted to.  He also didn't bring his son Latin style, with three nannies so he didn't have to even chat with his son.  He's here alone with him and it's not a big deal to him or myself. 

Some European countries are famous for being much into family.  Italy and Spain to mention a couple.  Meeting an involved father from those counties is extremely uncommon.  That's a shame, for the family of course but mostly for any child.  An involved father is great for any child and shouldn't even have to be discussed.  Why don't men like to take care of their own kids?  Why are kids always priority number 12 even though officially kids are sooooo important?

Competing in professional sports is very tough, doing it with a child with you is something few can do.  I know, I've done it it several years during  summers in Germany.  Practice a couple of hours a day.  Matches for 4 hours in blistering heat.  On top of that taking care of  your body, equipment, friends, and teammates.  And of course your child(ren).

My friend is not having a hard time with his 7-year old son, everything is going great.  He has of course already laid the base for this during all those years of being there for his son.  I must say he's done a fantastic job, if I've done half as good job when my son is 7 I'll be very happy.  As an involved father, it's great to see the path he has chosen.  His son probably hasn't realized how lucky he is.

I wonder if fathers really realize it's 2008?  Looking at 99% of fathers, one might believe we're still stuck in1958.

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Categories: Tennis, Travel
Tags: , Family, features, involved fatherhod, italy, kids, Parenting, sweden, Tennis, Turkey