Yesterday, Marieka turned 3 and a half. According to our parenting guru in Olympia Candyce...3 and a half is one of the most challenging ages around. We agree. Wholeheartedly. But our 3 and a half experience has been happening for at least 2 months...pretty much. Marieka is loud and energetic, noisy and opinionated, and quick to laugh and cry. And we are travelling abroad. Yikes. We are tired.
And in general Finnish children are not as loud and noisy as mine. In fact, it seems like most babies in strollers are blissfully asleep, and toddlers are compliantly rolling along with their parents and 1 years olds happily gaze at the snow with binkies in their mouths. The are cultural differences in the behavior of children, or something...I am not sure exactly. But, I see parents happily shopping while their child entertains themselves in their stroller...while my daughter is shrieking to get out, running and exploring everything actively, and I don't get to shop for anything! Now, I actually love her energy and enthusiasm for life, but it is a bit intimidating for me to see other children who, at the moment I look at them at least, seem to be doing what their parents want or need. I admit slight jealousy. But only at times.
This morning, I saw what looked like an 8 year old girl waiting for the tram in front of the railway station by herself. This is the busiest, and potentially, most "dangerous" part of the city, and here is this little girl, on her way to school. I see young kids walking, riding the bus, walking through shopping malls without adults. Kids are expected and trusted to be on their own. Most parents both work, and kids have to take care of themselves after school. A member of parliament even said to a group I was with (and I am paraphrasing...) "People ask if we know where our kids are after school, and we usually don't. They are very surprised. But, we have a safe country, and they are used to being on their own from an early age." Wow. True, it is a safe country, for sure. But I would want to know where and what my kid was doing, even in Finland.
I met with youth worker who helps run a youth coffee shop in the center of town and asked him what the biggest problems kids faced in the country. I was waiting for issues of drugs, gangs, homelessness, etc. First, he reminded me there are no homeless kids in Finland. While I assumed this, to actually hear it still amazed me. Then, he mentioned that the biggest problem the girls had was "not eating enough" and being too thin. Wow. While eating disorders are nothing to ignore, but coming from the US, it is mindblowing to think that is the "biggest" challenge teens face.
The language challenges continue to be a hurdle for everyone, especially Marieka. She wants to play with kids, but she isn't always able to communicate with them and can get frustrated, or not feel included, which feels really bad when you are 3. She is constantly trying to figure out if kids speak English or not. It has been a real awakening for her to know that not everyone speaks her language, and sometimes comes home talking about the "mean kids" at preschool, which we think is code for "I can't talk to them..." At the same time, she is getting more flexible with routines and challenges...like not having macaroni and cheese (she hasn't asked for it in over 2 months!), having to wear a snow suit everywhere (she puts it on herself now) and accepting that she has fewer toys than she is used to (pretend play is huge these days...thankfully!) (Pretend friends all speak English, even if they have unusual names...Ringabell, Lolly, Jackamoe, and the newest one, Unika, or something like that!)
We had our last ski day on Sunday. I am glad we did it because it has been above freezing all week. The Baltic is starting to melt and I honestly didn't know I lived up the street from a marina! All of the docks were under ice until just a couple of days ago. It is windy and rainy right now, but the weather report says sun for the weekend. Rob rode his bike for 2 hours the other day. And he built up my bike as well. Family ride in the works!
Headed to Tampere tomorrow to visit a library professor and a public library there. And the biggest news of the week...I am hoping to work with the American Resource Center (a US Embassy library) to help organize a School Library Roundtable here in Helsinki in May, with experts, and teachers and school librarians and members of the National Board, to meet and discuss the current status and future goals for school libraries in Finland! I am so excited to have great Finnish library minds in one place! Taina, the librarian at the ARC has been very enthusiastic about hosting the event and I am excited to be a part of it. Now the challenge is to find a day that everyone can come.
Here's to hoping I don't wake up to inches of snow...
If it is any consolation to you two, we also have an energetic 3 1/2 year old and we constantly puzzle over little tots we see here and there who are calmly sitting through a church service or a restaurant meal (even eating the food!).
ReplyDeleteTell us more about this meeting with Librarians. What is the National Board? When you are talking to Finns about their school library systems, is there any curiosity about how school libraries work in the US?
ReplyDeleteThe National Board is the instructional body for the Finnish Education system. They create the national standards, curricular guidelines, etc. They are kind of like the OSPI of Finland. Teachers are very interested in my job as a "teacher librarian" especially because it is something they haven't ever really seen before. The librarians who work in the schools here are generally public librarians and don't have any instructional background.
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