O joaca de copii...

Party politics of holding children's parties in Sweden


Children’s parties are for fun with friends - unless you are Swedish
Markus Oscarsson in Stockholm and Roger Boyes

It was supposed to be a party with balloons and a birthday cake but the eight-year-old Swedish boy had not reckoned on his country’s obsession with equality and inclusiveness. Two of his classmates were left off the invitation list – and that, deemed his school – was forbidden and a violation of their rights in the strictest “nanny state” in Europe.

The case has been sent to the Swedish parliament and has sparked a national debate about individual liberty. Does a child have the right to invite anyone he wants to a party, even if he risks hurting the feelings of those who were left out?

These issues are taken seriously in a society that has a very active Children’s Ombudsman and which encourages children to voice their complaints about school and society. Sweden is the best place in the world to grow up, according to the Save the Children Fund’s 2008 index. So much so, apparently, that adults and school managers have been put on the defensive.

The Swedish pressure group Children’s Rights in Society publicised recently 1,895 complaints by children about the way their parents used the household computer to access pornographic websites or sex chatlines. The Government is now looking into the problem.

Lena Nyberg, the Children’s Ombudsman, is waging a campaign against collective punishment in schools too. Children have been complaining to her about the way that entire classes are kept behind after hours to punish an offence committed by a single pupil. “Adults at work would never accept being punished for something which a colleague is guilty of,” Ms Nyberg said.

The birthday party case takes state intervention to a new level. Before the beginning of lessons the boy had cheerfully threaded his way through the class handing out invitations. When the teacher spotted that two children had not received one he confiscated the invitations.

“One of the children had not invited my son to his own birthday party,” explained the father of the boy, who lodged an official complaint with the parliamentary ombudsman. “The other one had been bad to my son for six months. You do not invite your antagonists.”

That was not convincing enough for the headmaster or government deputies. “I believe the staff acted correctly, in a model way,” said Lars Hansson, of the Swedish Liberal party, one of the four ruling coalition partners in the country.

“It is their duty to reject any forms of insulting behaviour. To eliminate individual children from parties is not acceptable.”

The school, in Lund, southern Sweden, argues that if invitations are handed out on school premises, which are public areas, it has an obligation to ensure that there is no discrimination. It is irrelevant that the party will be held in a private household.

In other societies, exclusion from a party may be considered as a rite of passage. Many Swedes seem to believe, though, that equal treatment helps to reduce the unseemly scramble for classroom popularity and the splitting of pupils into groups of the socially attractive and those children perceived as unpopular.

A poll in Dagens Nyheter, a daily newspaper in Stockholm, showed that Swedes are divided on the matter: 56 per cent believed that a child should be free to choose who attends his party and 44 per cent backed the teachers.

The debate is likely to continue until a verdict is reached in September, in time for the next school year.

“My son has taken it pretty hard,” his father told the newspaper Sydsvenskan. “No one has the right to confiscate someone’s property in this way, it’s like taking someone’s post.”

In the meantime, the boy has several years to plan a very special celebration for his 18th birthday, when he will be free to leave anyone he wants to off the guest list.

Lepadati-va de Satana...

Nu inteleg de ce se incapataneaza Satana sa ne mai incalece doi ani. Nimeni nu-l mai vrea. Du-te nene acasa, ai copil mic, amanta, vila in Pipera... Poate prinzi un contract la CS Otopeni, sa-i faci pe aia campioni, sa-ti demonstrezi valoarea... Piti, Piti, Piti lasa-ne, lasa-ne, lasa-ne...

Betivanul reloaded

Mai iahiiiii, mai iahoooo...

Ne-am dorit mai mult infrangerea...

Poate ar fi fost bine sa jucam si noi cu rezervele impotriva Olandei. Macar daca luam bataie aveam o explicatie...

Pana una alta, mama eroina a lui Codrea Paul, baiatul de pe banca de rezerve a Sienei, care nimereste poarta la fiecare 50 de meciuri jucate, s-a destainuit Mediafax...
"Mama mijlocaşului Paul Codrea, Maria Codrea, se consideră vinovată de ratarea calificării naţionalei în sferturile CE, punând ratarea fiului său din meciul cu Olanda pe seama faptului că, atunci când era mic, acesta se antrena la o căpiţă de fân foarte înaltă, transmite corespondentul MEDIAFAX."

Asteptam reactii de la mama lu Mutu - a ratat 11 m cu Italia pentru ca pe vremea cand juca la Chelsea era cu nasul in puctul cu var. Mama lu Tamas - a luftat cu Italia pentru ca atunci cand era mic nu manca macaroane. Mama lu Cocis - a facut act de prezenta pe teren pentru ca era un elev silitor cand era mic. Mama lu Marica - nu a jucat pentru ca la salariul lui oricum nu conteaza. Etc, etc...

Gorane, Gorane... Nu era mai simplu să te apleci după paharul de JD?

Popular musician fell of ladders while picking cherries in his yard
Bregovic broke vertebra
Author: A. Ž. AdŽić - U. Piper | 13.06.2008 - 06:32

Belgrade – Musician Goran Bregovic (58) sustained a vertebra injury yesterday while he was picking cherries from a tree in his yard. He fell of ladders from a height of 4 meters.

As ‘Blic’ learns Bregovic’s spinal vertebra has been broken. He was conscious when he was admitted to the Emergency Center and was able to move his arms and legs. After examination he was kept at the surgery department.
The specialists for spinal injuries shall decide after today’s examination if Bregovic shall have to undergo surgery.
‘He was conscious and talked to doctors all the time. He is moving both his arms and legs and should not suffer any
permanent consequences’, surgeon Zlatibor Loncar told ‘Blic’.

29 mai, la Buzău, eu cu nişte amici - Goran, Timi, Lexi...

 

Euroi vision

După ce acu două săptămâni a dat cu Mitriţă în fasole la Eurovision, celebra cântăreadză Nico cântă în seara asta la o nuntă în Buzău... Deh, unde nu-i eurovision e euroi vision...