Reader’s Opinion | The Swedish model should be adopted for school children’s holidays

Our twins started first grade last fall, and soon the balancing of school holidays and work became familiar. The summer in Finland is short, but the school summer vacation is long, this year from 1 June to 8 August. Few parents have more than two months of vacation, unless the vacations are consecutive.

What do children do when parents are at work? The alternative is for the children to be at home and in the yard when the parents are working remotely from home, making use of support networks – thanks grandmas! – or different camps with a wide selection and price range. There are day and half-day camps from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, but finding a suitable camp for twins and coordinating schedules, budget, location and availability is a big challenge.

We have been satisfied with the afternoon club organized by the city, which starts after the school day at noon. It is accessible, versatile and, as a statutory service, reasonably priced.

Why couldn’t this system be extended to the summer months? We could learn from Sweden’s Fritidshem model, which offers morning and afternoon activities even during holidays. Up to 84 percent of Swedish 6-9 year olds participate in the activity, which says a lot about its value to families and the economy of our neighboring country.

This could also be brought to Finland as a legal activity, in which case it would be a uniform service that takes into account the different financial situations of families. A safe club place close to home would give families the opportunity to plan their working days and vacations more flexibly, as well as give children something meaningful to do in the summer. In terms of the national economy, this would increase the workforce and productivity during the summer. It would offer summer jobs for club employees.

Maybe in the future the whole of Finland wouldn’t catch up at the beginning of June. So why don’t we holiday smarter in the future?

Milla Tanskanen

mother of first graders, Helsinki

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