I could not resist posting this piece I wrote a few weeks ago while I was still on vacation. It is timeless and can make us think:
"For days noticed something strange in these countries through which I travel. No, not the weather or course architecture or other obvious peculiarities. I had a similar feeling in Denmark , I stressed in Sweden and finally Norway have confirmed what seemed only a shadow of mine: there are children everywhere. The streets are full of young couples who have one, two, and frequently, three children. It is very common to see a couple on a bicycle with a small child sitting on a seat auxiliary followed, in turn, of two small bicycles with shoots of just one year difference between them.
walk through Stockholm and there are playgrounds everywhere. But Latinos were not like the Italians who had created the "big family"?. This Latino family with many children with grandparents and uncles who shared the table? Well now it seems that it is not. A few nights ago while wandering a bit hungry for a small Norwegian coastal town began to discuss this topic with a waitress who seemed to want to talk some. The girl was nearing early twenties and apparently supplemented his studies with the extra work. He told me, certainly amused by my surprise at such effervescence of birth, more than half of her classmates already had one or more children.
It was logical think that in some countries that are among the highest in the world would not be easy to support a family so another explanation should be more plausible. I began to discuss the aid that we have in our country and they have just been introduced by the government. She listened, not without little curiosity and began to explain the government aid, in this case Norwegian, young couples, low-interest loans from the institutions (not banks) to buy a house or, failing , maintaining a rental. Secondly, a good pinch of NOK birth of each child, but then a fixed amount per child per month (yes, per month!) to three years. But it does not end there, then another only slightly less support to eighteen years of age. If we add to these ingredients free, quality education and social support, just missing a little desire to have children and you're done!
I leave the restaurant a little stunned by so much information and I can still see the trail of children of all ages line the streets. It is clear that the money does not solve every problem, but it is also true that few things easier in the development of a family.
English children come with a loaf under his arm but the Scandinavians are accompanied by a good salmon
Oslo, late August 2007
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