Husband and I are from American/English background and are living and working in Jutland for the time being.
We spent a few years banging our heads against brick walls trying to 'integrate' as a family here, but it really seems to be the case that unless one sacrifices all to the system here (kids, family time, unusual way of life) one cannot integrate. We do things differently to the norm here, our of finding a way that works for us, works for our kids, but it means we are kind of on the outside. Now, we interface rather than integrate. The kids speak the lingo fluent (as do we, just I am on strike right now), have a network here, but still, the more we tried to be 'in on it' the less we fit. So now we just walk our own path and hope that we can somehow stay here and be this different.
The culture here is still difficult for us to want to be a huge part of since first and foremost, the parents farm their kids out to daycare at such an early age..which leaves no community during weekdays as we know it.
Okay. I better shut up about that now as I don't intend to make this a rant against the Danish system! It serves the Danes very well and people enjoy a very high standard of living here.
Anyway, we often talk about leaving to go and live in a place where mums are not treated like pariah's if they choose not to go out to work and pay others to take care of their kids.
But for now we would like to make the most of what we have here...give it one more go so to speak.
I write to ask: are there any 'SAH' moms out there? Any homeschoolers? Anyone doing anything remotely like that? And in Jutland?
If so, I'm a friendly kind of gal, our kids are great and I'd like to see if we can hook up with someone who has the same kind of lifestyle as us (i.e: taking care of our kids ourselves and not financially loaded).
Most of our (international) friends have left the country over the past few years all citing the lack of community and the 'sameness' as a reason.
It's just so wierd that the kids are all in daycare by the age of 1..or at the very very latest at the age of 3 (it's very radical to keep your kid home till three here). Is it because people can't live without the extras a double income brings? Or is it because they have found out that life is a lot easier without kids hanging off shirt tails as they did in the 'old days'?
Hmmm.
Shut up time again.
Okay, but just reply to this if you are in the same boat as us. Maybe this could stop another few families leaving Denmark.
We spent a few years banging our heads against brick walls trying to 'integrate' as a family here, but it really seems to be the case that unless one sacrifices all to the system here (kids, family time, unusual way of life) one cannot integrate. We do things differently to the norm here, our of finding a way that works for us, works for our kids, but it means we are kind of on the outside. Now, we interface rather than integrate. The kids speak the lingo fluent (as do we, just I am on strike right now), have a network here, but still, the more we tried to be 'in on it' the less we fit. So now we just walk our own path and hope that we can somehow stay here and be this different.
The culture here is still difficult for us to want to be a huge part of since first and foremost, the parents farm their kids out to daycare at such an early age..which leaves no community during weekdays as we know it.
Okay. I better shut up about that now as I don't intend to make this a rant against the Danish system! It serves the Danes very well and people enjoy a very high standard of living here.
Anyway, we often talk about leaving to go and live in a place where mums are not treated like pariah's if they choose not to go out to work and pay others to take care of their kids.
But for now we would like to make the most of what we have here...give it one more go so to speak.
I write to ask: are there any 'SAH' moms out there? Any homeschoolers? Anyone doing anything remotely like that? And in Jutland?
If so, I'm a friendly kind of gal, our kids are great and I'd like to see if we can hook up with someone who has the same kind of lifestyle as us (i.e: taking care of our kids ourselves and not financially loaded).
Most of our (international) friends have left the country over the past few years all citing the lack of community and the 'sameness' as a reason.
It's just so wierd that the kids are all in daycare by the age of 1..or at the very very latest at the age of 3 (it's very radical to keep your kid home till three here). Is it because people can't live without the extras a double income brings? Or is it because they have found out that life is a lot easier without kids hanging off shirt tails as they did in the 'old days'?
Hmmm.
Shut up time again.
Okay, but just reply to this if you are in the same boat as us. Maybe this could stop another few families leaving Denmark.
