What's in a name?

If you don't have much time for reading, this entry should be right up your alley!  It was brought to my attention (politely) that all of my posts do not have to be long, involved stories and can, at times, be just a short little blurb (ok...indulge me for at least a few paragraphs) discussing my day, perhaps a yummy restaurant I visited, or some interesting "Swedish" thing I encountered.

I find myself intrigued at how informal it is here when it comes to children speaking with adults.   Back in the states, the girls would typically refer to our friends and other adults as "Miss", "Mrs." or "Mr." So and So.   A few special people (you know who you are) are called "Auntie" or "Uncle".

When we moved to Sweden, of course the girls started meeting new people (many of them grown-ups).  We did our typical  "Miss" and "Mr." thing and people looked at us like we were out of our minds (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but certainly it seemed a bit unusual to them).  We were informed that kids typically just use the adults' first name.   OK...I guess I can understand that...if I heard someone calling for "Mrs. B..." then I would be looking around the room for my mother-in-law.

However, I didn't think that this informality would hold true at school....OF COURSE we would address the teachers with Mr., Miss, etc.  Nope.  First day of school....we met Emy and Stefan....the girls' teachers.  Really?  Shouldn't the kids show a little more respect?  But after watching the children (not just my own) interact with their teachers, it really didn't seem have any effect on their behavior...for better or worse.

Interesting.....

Something happened this week, though, that really made me think about this whole hierarchy again.  Malena had a dentist appointment and I, as you might expect, went into the exam room with her.  The hygienist did some preliminary checking then told us that the dentist, Jacob, would be in to check her teeth.  Jacob (who looked all of 23) came in and introduced himself to Malena (as Jacob, not Dr. N.) and completed her check-up.  Teachers, dentists, doctors....all on a first name basis....how interesting!

Before writing this, I did a little (and I do mean a little) research on this topic and I guess I really shouldn't be surprised.  Sweden has an environment of equality (at least when compared to the U.S.) and professional titles are not frequently utilized.  It is very much a culture where people don't think they are better than anybody else (or perhaps they do, but they just don't say it out loud!).  However, I still don't have a good answer for why the kids are on a first name basis with their teachers.   Oh well....I will go with it....as long as my girls still refer to me as "Mom".