i know i'm always complaining about the absence of common sense in the country of my birth, but last evening, i heard a story of an utter lack of common sense right here in denmark. it involved husband's middle daughter, M.
she went to a summer camp on børnholm, an island in the middle of the baltic sea below sweden that belongs to denmark. now M is 14 but looks about 25, so it's easy to forget that she's still a kid. so, being a kid, she and several other kids decided to walk down to the local grocery store for some candy and sodas. as kids will do.
while they were gone (i'm not clear as to whether they said where they were going, but suspect they didn't), some of the adult supervisors at the camp freaked out because the five kids were suddenly deemed missing. they rushed down and found them at the local grocery store and proceeded to bawl them out, citing all kinds of horrible things that could have happened - they could have fallen in the water and drowned, they could have been hit by a car (walking on a path), they could have gotten lost. in my view, the worries should have been that they were buying alcohol and cigarettes, but that wasn't the case (they didn't worry that and the kids really did go out after candy).
the camp personnel were so upset by the incident that they decided the group of kids had to be sent home early, because they couldn't be responsible for such renegades with a sweet tooth. so, they elected to put the five on the next ferry off børnholm. to sweden. without any chaperone. or instructions as to which bus to take from sweden to get back to denmark. and frankly, with M's sense of direction and ability to get lost inside her own bedroom, it was risky at best.
so, to sum up. it wasn't ok for kids to walk a few blocks to a grocery store for a bit of chocolate, but it was perfectly ok to send them home alone via another country.
and i thought the danes had cornered the market on common sense.
20 comments:
Irony at its best!
In the U.S. that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen. A lawyer would have surely greeted the kids at the ferry...
Well, you know, obviously they could never have drowned or been hit by a car in Sweden.
Obviously.
that is utter insanity - good grief
That is completely crazy! And I thought the French logic was unfathomable. Hope the parents of the five are creating quite a stir. (Beautiful photo, btw). xo
oh... how can we stay quiet and trustful with our kids? brrrrr I'm shivering... let's trust in our kid's responsibility!! and let's teach them as much as possible!
kisses :)
That's rubbish what they did to the kids,nasty bit of business for sure. I would be after that camp and the counselors with a little "heads up" in the local paper! I would also get them blacklisted with every parent I knew.
I just wrote this post yesterday (last night) about some kids (14 also) and what "real mother's" (I am always reminded I'm not one -- argh...who watches out for kids if their parents don't!) would do in a situation I encountered. I'm the girlfriend of the dad so I don't have the power -- but I did end up telling the gal's mother because my bf always wants to be the non punishing, cool dad and never say no -- maybe the mom will try to do something about the matter. Kids today -- boys espescially -- some girls too..you should read my post and let me know what you would do.
oh. my. god.
That's just plain stupidity. How old were the personnel ? Probably not much older themselves.
The parents must be glad that nothing happened to their kids; but I would have freaked out.
Oh dear - I wonder, if you pointed out the flaws in their plans to them? Even if you did, would they understand them? I think it may not just be restricted to Denmark though. Stupidity is a worldwide language and we can all speak it at the best of times... but... yeah, putting them on a ferry unsupervised, and not to their home country...
Ha! Not too much chance of that one happening in Australia... closest options are New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia... I've always complained about being so cut off from the rest of the world - but in the instance of something like that happening, I don't think I'd complain too much :s
xx
Boggles the mind, doesn't it?
Wonderful photograph, by the way! Perfect yellow. Perfect bee!
you are brave...i have the same sense of direction as M. Hope she enjoyed the adventure.
look at those golden wings of that bee. it looks as if it's dancing ballet. BEAUTIFUL!!!
Well, gee, I hoped that they hooked them up with a place to stay while in transit home -like a halfway house or bordello .... seriously
Lolita, I'm with you..sometimes safer being an Australian!
what a reckless reaction but of course, it's more dangerous for them to step out of the camp than travel across countries unaccompanied..
i hope they get more than an earful for such disregard for the safety of those children
wow... people are unbelievable!!
Eh. Common sense is overrated.
Not candy though. That shit is totally worth getting kicked out of crazy camp for.
WOW... not much else can be said about that....
ahhh i feel like a human being again... finally found some time to read my fave blogs :)
Julie thanks for the card
Oh my GOD I can't believe that. I guess it's their call on whether sneaking off is a 'sacking' offense or not, but those children were in their care and they completely failed to care for them. I'm stunned at what I'm reading!!! Hope they all made it home ok? x
I would not be happy if that was my child. The camp supervisors should know better than that.
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