Once, I was walking on the sidewalk of Karl Johan Gate, the road to royal palace in Oslo. I encountered two little girls who seemed like upper high school students. They were offering cookies and hot drink (Gløgg og pepperkaker) randomly to the people walking by the street’s popular sidewalk. They seemed delighted when I accepted those. It could have been the Christmas tradition of Norwegian children to do something good to make father Christmas happy. I can see the culture of reproduction of positive values in children in Norway – this is just an example.
Norwegian outdoor-based ‘upbringing’ Culture
Norwegian pre schools and schools take their children in outdoor education, which takes each child to the closest proximity with nature. Norwegians are rich or at least supported fully by the richness of the nation’s economy (and culture – I say) and many of them do not feel like they need private vehicle – car or motorbike. They understand a lot about ecological sustainability and the system makes them work for it, they have one of the best public transport system in the world. Apart from this, here is the culture of volunteering, doing something good for others who are in trouble – something we see as social aspect of sustainability. The picture that I have used in the picture is from a climate action march performed in front of the Norwegian parliament where young people joined together with adults for a serious agenda.
How do we do parenting?
We Nepalese also do not want our children to be self-centred than caring ones. But, they learn the values from their surroundings- in fact much from their family. The context of Nepalese parenting scenario is: The ‘science of non-productivity’ is there somewhere if almost many of our families forget collective power of transformation and see nearest (though unsustainable) so called individual benefits. Our children and we may have have gaps, hence we are not able in reproducing values in our children, for we have lost precious phase of parenting, in the race of immediate- (so-called) benefit. What we are reproducing is- vain amongst our youngest of the generations- a threat to aspiration of ‘transforming nation state’. If we are not changing the pattern, the thesis will be more towards deep-rooting and our children as adults will be continuing the same cycle.
