The Baby Boom

  Lovely pram in Vesterbro, Copenhagen. 
  Originally uploaded by emira.

We're back, my  head is clearing and we're very blessed that the sun is shining here in Vancouver making settling into work and waking up far too early every morning thanks to jetlag much more pleasant. We had a fabulous trip which I'm still mentally unpacking (though all physical unpacking and laundry has been done). I'll be sharing many of our stories and adventures here in little bits and pieces as well as getting back to the business of documenting our wee home.

To start with I thought I would share our experience of what seems to surely be a baby boom in Copenhagen. Now we could be wrong, this may be very normal and certainly Martin's cousins didn't seem to think there was anything notable about it, but I swear to you outside of the tourist areas easily more than half of the women my age (30ish) were either pregnant, pushing a pram or toting along a toddler in big bike basket. After sitting outside a cafe in Vesterbro for a half an hour or so on our first real day in Copenhagen we began to worry that perhaps there was some kind of strange sci-fi breeding experiment going on. But, all jokes from Martin about me not drinking the water aside it was quite wonderful to witness.

At first I was of course very charmed by the ubiquity of modern-day old fashioned prams like the one pictured here. My mom used an old British pram with both my sister and I, but you really don't see them on the streets of Vancouver much. The women here used them in much the same way as my mom always did, to tote around both their infants and a good stash of daily groceries: a loaf of bread neslted at the foot of the pram, a bag of apples below, these sorts of things. A formidable walker, and neighbourhood green grocer shopper when we were young, my mom swore by her big pram for both the comfy ride it aforded us and the grocery storage space it gave her. My mom, you  must understand is a woman who judges the utility of a situation or vehicle by whether or not she can cart along a large box of laundry soap and in that regard an upright stroller was useless to her. But back to Copenhagen. The second thing I noticed, after the sheer commonality of these prams and the new/soon-to-be mommies nearly shocked me out of my skin: women left their prams outside of stores *with the baby inside* while they went in to pick things up/get a coffee/etc. Typically, I noticed they only did this if their child was asleep, but leaving your baby on the street in a major urban centre is totally unthinkable here in Vancouver, and as the reality of all this sunk in -- afterall it makes all kinds of sense as just how do you get one of these luxury prams inside a small Copenhagen bakery -- I grew very sad. Not for these Danish mother but for us at home here in Vancouver, as the idea of being able to leave your child just a few feet away while you pick up a loaf of bread is so very outside of what we think of as acceptable society here that I was finding the whole thing, well remarkable.

In the end, in addition to its oh-so-storybook like streets, it was the sense of a shared collective responsibility for society in Denmark that really made an impression on me. Sure it comes with a 25% standard tax on all goods and a much higher income tax for all residents, but the overall standard of living in this country is outstanding. And not just in the way that we tend to measure it on paper, namely what is the cost of housing, food etc. but the sense of safety, trust and community that is built up in a society that really does a much better job of caring for its less fortunate making the gap between those at the top and the bottom much less glaring. As a result, while it would be naive to say there is no crime in Copenhagen, simple things like leaving your baby outside a shop, only putting one simple lock on your bike (very different from Amsterdam which I'll tell you about another time), or not fearing for items left in plain sight in your car is so very different from what has become normal for us here in Vancouver and I would venture to say most big cities in this country. Coming back here, I can help but be quite sad at the loss of innocence here and frankly increasinly disgusted with how very poorly we treat so much of our society. I know I've gone a bit off the baby boom on a tangent here, so sorry, but  these thoughts are in fact keeping me up at night, wondering what I can do to help get my own country's innocence back.

Comments

[thecornells]

It is a sad state of affairs isn't it? I hate what has happened in our countries. The lack of caring and relating to others in a respectful, civilized way. I have hope that it will swing back around someday.
I'm glad you returned to your country safe and sound.

[Renee]

Welcome back!
Though we are in different parts of N. America, there is definitely a different fear culture here than in Europe.
Is it the tv broadcast news??

I'm loving your pics on flickr, too!

[mipmup]

wow. that really puts things into perspective, especially from my point of view as a los angeleno. i have duly noted denmark as a future place for relocating.

[alex]

It is just a common thing to see the Prams and I confess to missing them despite not wanting to breed!

But, a couple of major reasons why they're not so popular in America is that for one, a lot of people in Denmark walk to do their daily errands and most of the time, Denmark is chilly. The Pram keeps a baby warm and cosy. You don't have to fit a pram into a car like you would normall have to do in America.

Second, Prams are used just for babies - if a toddler can walk they are not pushed. In America, tired parents push children for as long as they can so they don't have to mind them so much. Seeing 7 and 8 year olds being pushed is a major pet peeve of mine. You hardly even see 3 year olds being pushed in Danmark.

The security and standard of living are two things I miss so very, very much. It is so hard to explain that standard of living to Americans because in Denmark, you live well without being a millionaire because you live simply and conciously. In the US, it often gets called "fancy" or "snotty" or something. I don't know how to explain it, really. It's just frustrating to me. Ah well. Perhaps its time for me to move back before I get too bitter :D

[emira]

Hey Alex, take me with you.

[Johanna]

Actually, there was a case a few years ago that got a bit of attention here in Scandinavia where a Danish women did the same thing outside a coffee shop in New York and got arrested for child neglect.

I live in the second largest city in Sweden and the pram culture is the same here. There are babies everywhere, even in our local pub, now that smoking is forbidden.

However there is one pram difference between Denmark and Sweden, which says a lot about the difference between us in general. In Denmark the prams are very chic with thin wheels, in Sweden they are much more sturdy and multifunctional (you can transform the pram to stroller when the child grows). Also in Denmark the women cycle around in dresses and high heels. In Sweden we use helmets and wind breakers :)

[Baby Prams]

I must say, that is a wonderful pram. Also, prams these days aren't just for babies, many prams come 2-in-1, where you can convert them to strollers in later years.

Prams are really starting to become popular in North America. I think with fashion & design taking center stage, you'll be seeing a lot more of them in years to come.

[recaro child seat]

What a great pam, where can i find a pram like that, i have just gone and brought myself a bugaboo for £800, well i guess i cant complain its two in one also so im loving it, and also its great that you can add a baby seat to it as you save so much space in the boot when you go shopping but you need to check the child safty regulations for the distance and time you can put the baby in there.

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