Scandinavian Summer Quotes

Every year, the bright Scandinavian summer nights fade without anyone's noticing. One evening in August you have an errand outdoors, and all of a sudden it's pitch-black. It is still summer, but the summer is no longer alive.

Every year, the bright Scandinavian summer nights fade away without anyone’s noticing. One evening in August you have an errand outdoors, and all of a sudden it’s pitch-black. A great warm, dark silence surrounds the house. It is still summer, but the summer is no longer alive. It has come to a standstill; nothing withers, and fall is not ready to begin. There are no stars yet, just darkness.

as my children grew older and I stood in many more deserted playgrounds, in summer as well as winter, I started to realize that playing outdoors is not the norm here—at least not anymore. Even though most parents and educators recognize the benefits of unstructured outdoor play, research shows that this generation of children plays outside significantly less than their parents did.

Sue, a friend in Indiana whose three-year-old son was stung by a bee while playing barefoot in the grass at his babysitter’s house, was lectured by a nurse practitioner after she sought treatment for the swelling. “Keep his shoes on at all times outside and don’t let him walk through clover” were the nurse’s terse instructions. In other words: Have fun playing in the driveway the rest of the summer.