Kindergarten in Norway

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Here's an interesting video I found concerning kindergarten in Norway. When I first heard about this I was thinking, "How on Earth can they let babies play outside like that!!??!?! They'd get sick! What are they thinking!?!?!" I think that would be the reaction of a lot of Americans and teachers would have to deal with listening to complaints of angry parents, but now after reading up on this and watching videos about these children I understand more about why children are more or less outside to explore and prevented from being sheltered the way indoor classrooms allow.

Norsk Kindergarten <---- You can see here how different the kindergarten is in Norway from the kindergarten in America.

Longer Video on Norsk Kindergarten  <---- This video is longer, but goes more in depth about the kindergartens.

Comments

forcryeye said…
Love this! I grew up in MN, and my Mother ran a child care. We played outside all winter! It was great! Even the little ones got to play outside on the fenced in deck for some much needed fresh air! :)
May 1, 2012 at 4:29 PM
Evelyn Sand said…
I'm very interested in this myself and I have to admit, I still have mixed feelings about it, but at least the kids look like they're having fun! :-)
May 9, 2012 at 5:48 AM
Nika B said…
Hey Evelyn. I had a great time reading your blog :-) I must say that kind in Poland (from where I orginally come from) do the same in winter or fall... The weather should never be an obstacle to be outdoors. That is what we believe in. I myself do not have children yet, but I am very much pro such a way of rasing them. I will be moving in January to live permanently in Porsgrunn (close to Skien). I thought maybe you would not mind exchange emails with me? I am moving there myself, so looking for new lovely friends... My email is: monika.brychczynska@gmail.com

I would be very happy to hear back from you.
October 7, 2012 at 1:59 PM
Evelyn Sand said…
Hi there, Nika! I've sent you an e-mail! :-)
October 7, 2012 at 7:45 PM
H. Bratset said…
I see this was written a while back but I'm new to your blog and have been going through older posts. I love this! I have 2 kids and I believe in this. It's so difficult in the U.S. because of the whole helicopter parenting phenomenon. If I teach my kids to responsibly use a saw or matches with supervision over here, I might get a vistit from social services. This isn't right, but there is a lot of judgement here. By teaching kids to be self reliant, you are giving them loads of self confidence. I think raising kids in Norway would suit me much better. Mine are too old for barnehage now, but if they weren't, I would be looking for one of these schools upon arrival to Norway. Thanks for sharing this!
October 22, 2012 at 5:49 PM
Evelyn Sand said…
I was a bit surprised at first when I read about children being left outside during kindergarten, but now, I completely understand why they do it. I think Norwegians are more relaxed with their children than Americans. What shocked me for a second time was a few weeks ago and learning that Norwegian babies and small children go outside to nap. That's something I'm sure an American parent would have CPS knocking on their door over.

Now that I know how relaxed the Norwegians are with their children, I'm happy to know my future kids will grow up into trusted, independent individuals without me hovering over them all hours of the day - and that's perfectly okay with Norwegian society.

October 24, 2012 at 12:53 PM
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