Okay, yes, more on the Danish babies. Because here's the thing - I'm actively looking forward to being back in the US so I can confirm to myself that the level of babies in the outdoors here is really way more than I'm used to, I'm not just a crazy person stalking babies.
Fresh air. Danes LOVE it. No matter the weather or occasion opening the windows to let in some air is always a good plan. Your bedroom might but frigid as a result but hey! The air is fresh. The fresh air thing combined with the much lower level of germ-phobia concerning babies means that I'm NOT CRAZY - babies are EVERYWHERE. It's not only the fresh air though - Danes are simply much less germ-ophobic (on the whole, yes of course I'm making generalizations) than Americans. I love my litle baby niece very much and I love her parents... but she doesn't go outside NEARLY as much as these babies. She's totally fine. A couple days ago when I was studying for my exam at the nearby library I noticed a baby half-crawl / half-wriggling toward me. She was basically doing the worm - you know, pre-crawling. And squeaking and drooling. Her mom was just casually printing something on the public computer while the baby wriggled away on the floor in a public building. Americans would NOT BE DOWN with that.
In May 1997 there was actually an incident in New York where a Danish tourist was arrested for leaving her 14-month daughter outside in a buggy while she ate lunch inside. Danish Mother's Arrest Blamed on Culture-Clash. It's funny in a certain light because our understandings of parenting are so vastly different... but was also a crazy nightmare for this family - the baby was taken away by Child Protective Services.
To prove my point I did a little survey on my bike yesterday.... I calculated babies per kilometer along my commute to school. I mostly relied upon baby-buggy sightings.... because damn, Danish baby buggies are large and in charge. But there was one occasion when I spotted a free-floating, sans buggy baby in the arms of her father and two occasions when I saw babies in one of the Christiania bike sidecars. I won't try to describe, here's a photo:
I also spotted two self-propelled toddlers (they were walking...) that almost qualify as babies. There are plenty of these about... I didn't count them for my stats unless I got a visual on a baby. I figured it would be reasonable to bike around without a baby in the cart but it would be pretty inexplicable to push a baby buggy around without the baby so it was a safe bet that where there is buggy one can find baby.
The stats!
TRIP ONE:
From Falkoner Allé to Enghave Station via H.C. Ørsteds Vej
Distance traveled: 3.1 kilometers
Babies spotted: 37
2 Christiania bikes; one containing three children, one containing two children
1 buggy carrying twins
2 toddlers in snow suits ambling along with a grandparent
BABIES PER KILOMETER: 11.93
TRIP TWO:
From Vesterbrogade to Langelandsvej vis H.C. Ørsteds Vej
Distance traveled: 2.5 kilometers
Babies spotted: 19
1 baby being carried around without a buggy
1 Christiania bike with three kids
3 unattended babies outside shops
Temperature: approx: 7 degrees Celsius
BABIES PER KILOMETER: 7.6
Side trip:
From Enghave station to Sydhavn station
This is a largely industrial area.... in other words, not where you'd forcedly expect to see the babies out in force. But I saw no less than four babies in this 1.3 kilometer stretch. That's a little more than THREE BABIES PER KILOMETER, FOLKS.
So what to do with this information.... valid question. I dunno, it's just kinda interesting. Lots of babies.
Fresh air. Danes LOVE it. No matter the weather or occasion opening the windows to let in some air is always a good plan. Your bedroom might but frigid as a result but hey! The air is fresh. The fresh air thing combined with the much lower level of germ-phobia concerning babies means that I'm NOT CRAZY - babies are EVERYWHERE. It's not only the fresh air though - Danes are simply much less germ-ophobic (on the whole, yes of course I'm making generalizations) than Americans. I love my litle baby niece very much and I love her parents... but she doesn't go outside NEARLY as much as these babies. She's totally fine. A couple days ago when I was studying for my exam at the nearby library I noticed a baby half-crawl / half-wriggling toward me. She was basically doing the worm - you know, pre-crawling. And squeaking and drooling. Her mom was just casually printing something on the public computer while the baby wriggled away on the floor in a public building. Americans would NOT BE DOWN with that.
In May 1997 there was actually an incident in New York where a Danish tourist was arrested for leaving her 14-month daughter outside in a buggy while she ate lunch inside. Danish Mother's Arrest Blamed on Culture-Clash. It's funny in a certain light because our understandings of parenting are so vastly different... but was also a crazy nightmare for this family - the baby was taken away by Child Protective Services.
To prove my point I did a little survey on my bike yesterday.... I calculated babies per kilometer along my commute to school. I mostly relied upon baby-buggy sightings.... because damn, Danish baby buggies are large and in charge. But there was one occasion when I spotted a free-floating, sans buggy baby in the arms of her father and two occasions when I saw babies in one of the Christiania bike sidecars. I won't try to describe, here's a photo:
The stats!
TRIP ONE:
From Falkoner Allé to Enghave Station via H.C. Ørsteds Vej
Distance traveled: 3.1 kilometers
Babies spotted: 37
2 Christiania bikes; one containing three children, one containing two children
1 buggy carrying twins
2 toddlers in snow suits ambling along with a grandparent
BABIES PER KILOMETER: 11.93
TRIP TWO:
From Vesterbrogade to Langelandsvej vis H.C. Ørsteds Vej
Distance traveled: 2.5 kilometers
Babies spotted: 19
1 baby being carried around without a buggy
1 Christiania bike with three kids
3 unattended babies outside shops
Temperature: approx: 7 degrees Celsius
BABIES PER KILOMETER: 7.6
Side trip:
From Enghave station to Sydhavn station
This is a largely industrial area.... in other words, not where you'd forcedly expect to see the babies out in force. But I saw no less than four babies in this 1.3 kilometer stretch. That's a little more than THREE BABIES PER KILOMETER, FOLKS.
So what to do with this information.... valid question. I dunno, it's just kinda interesting. Lots of babies.
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