Moisture damages

An average of 50% of the schools in Finland suffers from moisture damages, according to recently published information and one fifth of the 6.000 schools have serious problems with moisture and mould.

The same goes for many municipal and government offices around the country. This is a problem the authorities concerned have been aware of for about two decades but decisions apparently were made at the time to do nothing about it.

Today this is a health hazard with an increasing number of respiratory illnesses and allergies in school children and employees working in government and municipal offices and the country will be facing bills of billions of Euros in both health cots and medical treatments of the ill. The houses built in the early 60’s and 70’s and repairs of the same were done with different knowledge and standards than today.

The problem was already discovered two decades ago and the then in charge decided to postpone the needed alterations and repairs of the buildings and it will now be more expensive to mend the situation than it would have been to do it back then. Now they will have to face the medical cost of the illnesses it causes in addition to the repairing of the buildings.

Anyway, old dear friend of mine peacefully passed away yesterday afternoon…

Life will never be the same, but it goes on.

Paternal leave

After a legislative change by the beginning of 2007 more fathers here in Finland are encouraged to stay home when children are born into families.

In Finland there apparently is a four month maternal leave followed by parental leave that can be used either by the mother of the child or the father, or it can even be shared by both. Still not many men take advantage of this great opportunity with this paternal leave to spend time with their new born children, many claiming it being a matter of money and missed career opportunities and only one in ten fathers make use of this unique opportunity, which I think is really sad.

Well, outcome in hand, I can now say that my father was very keen on his career when we were young, my sister and I, at least we had the opportunity of out mother staying home with us so we had at least one parent at home when small. When we grew older and both in out time began school our mother returned to the working life first as part time, to still be able to be there for us when needed. But we never saw our father, he was busy making a career, and my, so he did!

My sister and I grew up, got married and had children of our won and our parents divorced our father getting remarried not too long after having new children with his new, much younger wife. This means I have sisters and brothers who actually are younger than my offspring. My offspring has aunts and uncles that are younger than they are. This also means I am older than my father’s new wife as well.

My father now has told me regrets the time he lost when we were children my sister and I, that he was never there for us then and that he will try to better this time, but as they say, it is hard to teach old dogs any tricks. They have already got their own peculiar ways and one thing you can sadly enough never get back is time, nor lost chances.

They are gone for ever, and never to come back!

So if anyone listens to me, take the paternity leave if given the chance and spend it with your offspring, it is way too late when they get their driver’s licenses and ask to borrow your new car!

90th Independence Day

Today is the 90^th anniversary of the Independence in Finland, and it is traditionally celebrated already yesterday.

Okay, here is what I am saying; you begin celebrations the festivities on the day before the Independence day and sleep off the aftermath of the celebrations on the day itself. So here is one mum waiting for the offspring to come home from the celebrations that begun yesterday and will shortly end as the home coming time is nearing...

And finally I can go to bed as well.

Child laboured cotton

The Swedish fashion giant H&M together with the Swedish home textiles designer, Borås Väveri, uses cotton that has been hand picked by child labour in Uzbekistan.

According to the BBC program that was aired in Sweden yesterday, schools are closed down in Uzbekistan when the cotton is in season to be harvested and schoolchildren are transported out to the cotton fields to work for much less money than they officially are said to earn. The cotton is then bought by Pakistani contractors who manufacture fabric for the two Swedish companies.

So far H&M has stated that they can only put pressure on their own suppliers as they make their agreements with their contractors and if they are supplied with under contractors using child labour and they can not do much about it and are not considering a boycott of Uzbeki cotton. Well if not earlier, than at last this statement has put me off H&M and their clothes!

The second firm, Borås Väveri has announced that they will stop using Uzbek cotton since the news got out about it yesterday. So this was teo companies in Sweden, I just wonder if there are any Finnish fashion companies that also use cotton hand picked by Uzbeki children?

Wild children

Since the tragic shooting at a high school last Wednesday when at least 76 shots were fired by an18-year-old shooter, Finland’s Prime Minister considers an examination of the legislation whether hand guns should be kept at sports clubs and target ranges instead of being allowed to be taken home.

On Friday several threats or believed threats to schools were made around the country and Police in eastern Finland even detained a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of uploading a threatening video onto the YouTube website.

The debate on the issue on Internet about the shootings in school has been going on since it happened and there are discussions supporting what happened and those who are against it.

Until today I had not had any thoughts about the family of the shooter, how they must suffer. Feeling the guilt of not knowing about what was going on, not seeing it coming, the thoughts about if there was anything they could have done to prevent it from happening. The anguish of not being able to help your own child when obviously having been in distress, the feeling of being an outcast, as there is no one who can really understand what you are going through…

I certainly was a wild child, even though you probably wouldn’t realise it seeing me today.

I know I did cause my parents a lot of trouble and I even did a few things I am sure they were sick with worry and really ashamed of at the time. Today it is my time to be worried about my offspring, fortunately they have not as yet done any headless stunts as I did in my childhood, still I have had worries and not one day is like the one before and I am thankful as it keeps me young.

I remember the fear “not being loved by anyone” and the despair of “not quite fitting in with the others”, the feeling of “not having any future” you sometimes can feel, especially in your teens. So I can understand where violent acts stem from, it doesn’t’ necessarily mean you have to act upon every single one of them. You just have to stick tight and endure, grow up as they say. Still, when you grow up your trouble does not go away; it just changes into something else.

I really wonder if I am getting anywhere with this today…

This certainly calls for some more tea!

Parents behaving badly

An estimated 30,000 children a year have to undergo the divorce or separation of their parents each year here in Finland and the split-ups cause significant economic consequences for society with benefits paid out to single parents.

In the year 2005 such benefits were paid out to the amount of 420 million Euros and now the Finnish Family Federation calls for more efforts to prevent divorces and split-ups with more couples courses and psychotherapy services as help with the problems. Finland is currently rated third in European divorce statistics right after Belgium and Sweden. I just wonder if the commonly prevailing co-habiting that exists here in Finland is counted into these statistics?

At the same time Finns married to foreigners could have a more difficult time getting a divorce in the future, if the European Commission's current plan to standardise divorce procedures is approved. According to the new regulation, Finnish courts handling divorces might be forced to adapt to another country's stricter laws than their own and an expatriate Finn might not be granted divorce according to Finnish law any longer.

Well breaking up a relationships is never easy and it scars all the persons involved severely, some more than others but the kids always are the losers, but then you can not make pretend just for the children’s sake like some friends of mine did some years back, it all ended even more nastily than it would have had to as the situation got out of control in the end. We are here to live our own lives and no one is there to tell you about your choices. They might not always be the right ones for everyone concerned, but they are yours and you are the only one to blame.

They say the healing takes time, well I wonder if that works in all cases. One couple I know got divorced 17 years ago and they still get raging rows going, and both have been happily married since, well the other has actually been happily married several times since. Three times married actually, to be honest.

Even trickier problems seem to turn up when the kids grow up and you try to act civil with your ex-spouse and as parent you are expected to make an example with your own behaviour, well, some times you just wish the earth would split open under your feet as the kids are there to see and hear you behaving badly, especially against the weekend parent. It is amazing to see two normally sane adults act like insane, shouting in rage. Just one word might trigger the whole situation, so who are we to judge who is to divorce or stay married?

Maybe getting a divorce is too easy, especially when there are children involved but in some cases it is only for the good for all involved the ex-spouses never ever lay their eyes on each other again, not even to pick up or leave their children at the other parent’s house when using their visitation rights.

No more fish!

The law about fertility treatments has been altered here in Finland and from September 1^st the children born as result of donated egg cells and sperm have a right to know if they want to, who their biological parents are when they come to age and the decision about the law has already resulted in a waiting time up to two years time for fertility treatments and the amount of donors to decrease considerably.

Some people are meant to be parents and have a hard time to become parents and at the same time completely unsuitable persons have no difficulties in conceiving children into their abusive and unhealthy lifestyles.

I personally consider egg cell and sperm donation equivalent to organ donation, and as you do not know who you are taking the donations from, what habits of eating, drinking, smoking or drugs and neither can you be sure what inheritable illnesses there might be it is all about taking a risk and not a calculated one as you have no idea what you are up against in the end. Is it not a waste of resources and knowledge these fertility treatments in the first place?

I can not understand the necessity of the forcing reproduction of you against the nature as there surely must be some reason we are meant to either have children or not to have children, and as there are thousands of children around the world in need, why not instead give a helping hand to those children in need a good decent home, love and care?

Why is the fear of mortality as prevailing as it is in humans? Why do we humans yearn for immortality, if not by our acts or work valuable to the humankind but in the need to reproduce, to get offspring?

Well life just is unfair, and we just have to make the best out of what cards we have been dealt and ethics have never been an easy subject.

Anyway, dear spouse of mine went on one of the last fishing trips for this summer, at least that is what he claimed, but by the sound of the wife of his colleague’s reactions to yesterdays catch, it might actually have been the last time this year. The reception of the jolly fishermen yesterday night was not a contended one at their house, at least not according to what I have heard. The words surely are not the same as repeated here in writing as some of the more colourful adjectives probably were left out by dear husband of mine but the content was something like: “No not fish again, I am tired of fish. I hate fish, and don’t you dare come home with any more fish again!” resulting in us getting the whole catch to the joy of our cats and I was not even asked to clean and gut it them this time, probably as a side effects of the previous reception of the jolly fishermen.

As the fishermen are used to going out I have suggested some mushroom picking trips and as their knowledge in mushrooms is limited I get to join them to my enjoyment and it certainly will make a change to the ever and always returning home with fish at the colleagues’ house. With the rain pouring down we will have to wait until next weekend anyway before going out checking some of my secret mushroom-picking spots.

No catch

Couples living together unmarried is a contemporary trend in life in Finland and reality for many Finns.

20% of the couples cohabiting are parents but they do not have the same rights in the eyes of the law as married couples do, which causes troubles when splitting up from the relationship or in cases of death. According to the law cohabiting couples are strangers even after having been living together for 20 years and despite having children together. Now there is a bill proposition for legal rights for common-law marriages due for parliament next year.

I am glad I don’t have to think about this too much, it just makes my head spin.

Anyway, yesterday my husband spent all day fishing. The catch was seven different types of fish, and he even named then all but most of the fish were not ones you bother to cook or they were small enough to be thrown back into the lake Perch that our cats are so fond of, they only caught two little tiny ones and didn’t bother bringing home. Sitting in a boat for twelve hours and not even catching anything, well that goes beyond what is comprehensible for me. I like fishing but would not have the patience doing for an entire day, I need more variation. Now just imagine the disappointment of the cats when daddy comes home all smelling of nice fish and they get nothing!

Today is the birthday of one of my dearest friends and I had planned to join the celebrations but as vacation plans had to be altered completely I was not able to in the end. How sad, now I have missed the 50th and 60th anniversaries! A bit disappointing but hey, that's life for you once gain.

And if reading this my dear friend will know I am there in my thoughts. I did send an e-card along though, together with some love.

Drinking habits

Less than half of Finns would like to see wines sold in grocery stores, according to a recent survey.

46 % of the people asked in the survey are in favour of wine being sold in supermarkets with men being more liberal and wanting an easier access than women. There was also a difference in education, so not only that according to surveys you have a better chance to make use of your education if you are from an academic background, you also want easier access to stress down with alcohol, make ir easier accessible in the supermarkets.

Parents in Finland are surprisingly tolerant of their teenagers' alcohol use. A fourth of parents even buy alcohol for their kids, according to a survey even though supplying minors with alcohol is a crime in Finland. And mind that even giving it to your own children is the same crime. A great deal of parents interviewed in the survey had no idea of the drinking habits of their children at all.

I would like to see the survey that says whose kids are supplied with the alcohol?

I would bet on it being “the better half” of the population, the educated classes that are more liberal with things anyway. Well getting the painkillers for your hang-over the day after you still have to pay prices about 11 % higher than the average in the EU and they are available at the pharmacists and not yet in the supermarkets, which has been discussed as well.

There was also a difference in education, so not only that according to surveys you have a better chance to make use of your education if you are from an academic background, you also want easier access to stress down with alcohol, easier accessible in supermarkets.

Parents in Finland are surprisingly tolerant of their teenagers' alcohol use. A fourth of parents even buy alcohol for their kids, according to a survey even though supplying minors with alcohol is a crime in Finland. And mind that even giving it to your own children is the same crime. A great deal of parents interviewed in the survey had no idea of the drinking habits of their children at all.

I would like to see the survey that says whose kids are supplied with the alcohol? I would bet on it being “the better half” of the population, the educated classes that are more liberal with things anyway.

Well getting the painkillers for your hang-over the day after you still have to pay prices about 11 % higher than the average in the EU and they are available at the pharmacists and not yet in the supermarkets, which has been discussed as well.

Eggs and chicken

A baby especially designed to prevent its’ sibling from dying in a terminal disease, is being made in Sweden. Is this right or wrong?

As many egg cells as possible are to be gathered from the mother and fertilized by sperm from the father with IVF and the most suitable of the growing embryos is chosen to be implanted into the womb of the mother to be carried out in full in order to retain the stem cells needed from the umbilical cord at birth, transferring them to the needing sibling who might, or might not get well or even survive with this kind of treatment.

As this still is theory, is it not, that it might not work? Is it not?

But fact is that the baby is to be born. How would you feel if you are a result to save your brother or sister? “The only reason we got you, dear, is so that your brother would not die”. ?!? Well, the couple in question as it happens already have two sons with the same disease in question, the older one is dying or has already died of the condition, but still?

Well good news is that from today even if being pregnant you can go to any restaurant here in Finland and there will be no more cigarette smoke as smoking from today on is prohibited in bars and restaurants.

Oddly enough Salmonella infection was recently discovered in Finnish poultry exported to the eastern neighbour in a routine inspection of the meat and this type of salmonella has not been spotted in the EU in any routine tests according to the EU officials. Well the eastern neighbour seems to be quite on the go for the moment, banning imports of meat from an EU country, cutting off gas supplies to other countries in the winter and even performing missile tests. Anyway, now finally the poultry in Finland is let out after its’ involuntary confinement in order to prevent them to catch the avian flu from the migrating birds in the spring. Good for you chicken, now you can be digging happily for grains outdoors again.

Social benefits

I was surprised to hear that kindergarten has been free to people with low income here in Finland and parents have been able to leave their children in the municipal child-care full time even when being unemployed and at home. Well, this will come to an end from next year which I think is good. Children do of course need to be with other children in order to develop into normal human beings, to learn social skills to be able to cope when at school every day.

But having the kids at the kindergarten for the whole day I consider as just simply being lazy. Why not spend some time with your children when they are small, as you night get a job when they are older, and many parents hardly see their children as they are busy with their job and careers.

I began planning writing children’s stories “some hundred years” ago it now seems when pregnant, and life with small children sometimes consumes all your time and leaves little for your own ambitions. And for quite some time now I have planned to write a children’s book about our pet cat, the cat with the Vappu balloon and other funny ways and now with off-spring growing, becoming adolescents I have more time to do what I want. So now I am well on my way to developing this idea into reality and by writing it transforming it into a story and have today also found an artist, an illustrator with a nice visual view and I hope we will be able in cooperation to bring these stories into realization.

I was already very impressed when I first saw the samples I received by e-mail and the picture I got today was very much to my liking and looked like the original.

I am very glad and this has been a very good day, even though blogging took its’ time to get done. And this meeting was the most important thing on my agenda today.

Unfortunately I have no longer have any small children to read the stories to but friends and relatives have small children that can enjoy them, as I do not quite yet plan to become a grandmother. But then I guess it is not for me to plan anyway when I am to become a grandmother, but in about ten years time would be nice if anyone asks me.

First things first as they say.

Stand off in kitchen

With the off-spring getting older new situations earlier unheard of arise from time to time, the newest one is cooking porridge.

Cooking porridge for breakfast, for snack in the afternoon when back from school or late at night before going to bed. Nothing bad in that, really, I am just amazed at the creativity of what the porridge is eaten with.

Jam, sliced banana, a little butter, milk and sugar or even honey I can understand but chocolate or hazelnut spread mixed in it! Or cocoa! Why not try the Finnish egg-butter that you have with the Carelian pies or bacon and eggs in it for that matter while you’re having a culinary creative fit?!?

Cooking the porridge without my help is nice, but the not cleaning up, or the not washing of the pot where the porridge is burned to a black crust on the bottom is definitively not to my taste. For the time being we do have a pot in the kitchen sink awaiting its’ cleaning.

Anyway, I just heard on the news that a war criminal from the Balkans has been transferred to serve his 20 year sentence in a Finnish prison after his sentence was announced, and also that this is not the only case, that there are more war criminals in prison here which I was surprised to hear about.

Well, the burnt pot has been taken hostage and a “prison sentence” in seclusion in the culprits own chamber for the rest of the week is soon to be ruled by this mum, if nothing happens with this particular pot, and soon! And the culinary experiments with porridge are off in my kitchen for the time being. One stand-off with pot in the kitchen has to be dealt with first.

I better put the kettle on, I do need some more tea this morning!

Finnish daycare

I feel sorry for my friends that have children small enough to need day-care in a kindergarten when they are at work as the day-care centers close the school vacations here in Finland. I can understand that the day care shuts down during the month of July when the day-care personnel have their summer vacations, but if you do not have any grandparents or other relatives in the same town, or the same country for that matter what can you do?!?

But stay home with your kids and loose the pay. And with blended families you have to decide who's turn it is to stay home with whom's kids.

Thank God my off-spring is big enough to make me some tea at least, when home from school!