Week 7 - Professional

This week in Turku I have been spending a lot of time at my placement. This week my placement took the children swimming together as a class. I found this interesting at the children are only 6 or 7 years old, and so I thought that this was a young age to go swimming. I also thought it was interesting that the children went as a class, during school time to the swimming lessons. When the children were finished swimming in the pool, they would come out and shower naked altogether! I was astonished at this when I saw this because it is very different at home. Once the children had showered, they would then go into the sauna naked altogether. This was surprising for me because I had never seen this before. The children at home would never go to the sauna, and it would be very unlikely that if they did, they would go alone. The children here are given a lot of respect and independence, whereas I feel that at home, the children are almost being observed by at least one adult. It is significant to note these differences, as I feel that the Finnish children here expect their independence, and that they can be quite self sufficient. Everyday that the children went swimming, they always showered, then went to the sauna, showered again and then dressed themselves. All the children here could dress themselves with no help from any of the teachers or assistants. Once the children were dressed, they would then go and get a magazine or a book, and read it sensibly until it was time to go. I feel that this showed some maturity and sense on the part of the children, and I felt that it was interesting when I compared it to home. It makes me think that perhaps if the children at home were given more respect and independence then they may be grateful for this, and act responsibly. Once the adults in the setting had finished swimming with the children, they would also shower naked, and they were comfortable with this. This also astonished me, because I had never seen this in any of the other settings I had been in. The people here in Finland seem to be very comfortable with their bodies, and they feel that it is completely normal to sauna naked.  This was very surprising to me as in Northern Ireland, nobody really goes to the sauna, and if they do, they do not go naked!