I was thinking about that when I was dropping my 6 year old off at some hobbies earlier - it’s pretty much expected to have learned how to ride a bicycle before starting school, and it massively expands the area you can go to by yourself. When she went to school by bicycle she can easily make a detour via a shop to spend some pocket money before coming home, while by foot that’d be rather time consuming.
Quite a lot of friends from outside of Europe either can’t ride a bicycle, or were learning it as adult after moving here, though.
edit: the high number of replies mentioning “swimming” made me realize that I had that filed as a basic skill pretty much everybody has - probably due to swimming lessons being a mandatory part of school education here.
In Ontario, it’s often swimming.
Lots of lakes here, children need to be taught to swim
Dutchy here.
Most, if not all, children learn to swim when they reach age five. Lots of water here, it’s pretty much a basic life/survival skill.
That leads to a follow up question to people from different areas: Is swimming a regular part of school sports?
I grew up in Germany with pretty much no lakes, and we had blocks of sports classes in the swimming pool from first grade - didn’t make me a great swimmer, but I can go swim a bit in a lake without having to worry.
Now we’re in Finland (lots of lakes here), and also swimming classes take place from first grade.
American here. The nearest swimming pool to my hometown was in Canada. So no.
Edit: I don’t think this is normal
It’s generally not taught by default in US schools, but some schools offer it as an elective and/or as a competitive sport. Maintaining a swimming pool is an expense that many schools, especially in poorer districts, cannot afford. Outside of schools, there are sometimes community swim classes at places like the YMCA, but those require the parents to be actively involved (like with many extracurricular activities) and usually are an additional expense.
Physical education is usually a mandatory part of US schools through high school (where students graduate at around age 18), and schools often offer students a selection of sports for PE - I did fencing one year and wrestling, gymnastics, and archery other years - but swimming requires more infrastructure than a basketball court and some padded mats.
I grew up in rural Canada, but have been living in major metropolitan areas for most of my adult life. It still surprises me when I learn there are other adults that don’t know how to chop wood, start a fire, work basic tools, etc.
Are chopping wood and starting a fire common activities in the metropolitan area where you live?
I have no earthly idea how to do those things and I’m from Canada. It’s also a gender thing if you’re older like me.
You’re an immigrant or from the city? Everyone from rural areas know how to do it
It’s cycling here as well in the Netherlands. Additionally in my circles: starting a campfire.
In Germany a lot of people reduced the amount of cycling they did once they had a driving license - now here in Finland a lot more adults keep using bikes, and also use it in Winter. Back in Germany I always was the odd one for cycling in the snow.
Starting a camp fire is something I’m teaching my kids just because I don’t want them to burn my house down - being allowed to play with fire outside along with an explanation of which are the dangerous bits took the fascination out of all the fire starting equipment in the house.
I technically “know how” to start a campfire, but the actual process is too much work. And then when someone does start a campfire, where I live, for some reason they can’t do it without singing the Campfire Song Song. Not something I look forward to.
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Swimming. Here, kids have to take mandatory swimming courses at school. I have quite a few eastern european friends, and they all tell me, that swimming is something that people learn if they want to and if they can afford it, but it’s not learly an universal skill in their countries.
Most people who drown here are actually immigrants, who see everyone swimming and think that it can’t be that hard…
Or in my case they just assume. Which is why I had brush-ins with the experience in the last sentence.
Not really stories, just not-good experiences. Had a couple/few moments where someone disagreed with the whole hard thing. I was going along a ledge near water recently and people assumed I had the same floatation magic as everyone else when I was thrust in and even after they (except for someone’s dog) saw what amounted to thrashing. So it works both ways.
Just misunderstanding social cues. Where I live (Spain), there’s a script you’re supposed to follow for certain things and newcomers, understandably, don’t understand the script. One famous example is buying new clothes. They all look great on. The idea here is that the poor person spent their hard-earned money on the new clothes. Damned right they look great on! Another would be birthdays celebrated in public venues. Perhaps someone you know is celebrating their birthday in a public venue and you had no idea they were celebrating their birthday on that day. You walk up to them and wish them a happy birthday, BUT you were not invited to this celebration. Since you weren’t invited you did not come prepared with a present for the birthday person. The safe thing to do is to ignore, socialize with the people you came with, and make like that person isn’t even there until they approach YOU. When and if they approach you, you make pretend you’re all distracted and you have to be like, “Ahhh! I didn’t see you! What’s up?” The reason: that person is buying all the invitees the drinks and food. In exchange, the invitees have brought presents. It’s a very nuanced and weird situation all of us have encountered. We err on the fear of not having brought a present because we had no idea because we were not invited.
That’s interesting. Would you please further explain the clothes shopping thing? Is it that it is rude for a shopkeeper or, say, the people you may be shopping with to say anything except “That looks great on you”?
It’s more like after they bought the new clothes. Like, your friend bought new clothes and wants to show you what they bought. It could be a friend, a brother, a sister, a cousin, an aunt, anybody. While shopping for clothes, before they buy the clothes, is the right time to criticize. It’s perfectly acceptable, and desired, to be out shopping and trying on clothes before buying them, to say whatever you like. “That makes your ass look huge, don’t buy that!” is desired, not discouraged. Never trust the salesperson. The employee of the store is going to tell you it all looks good so you buy it, even if it looks bad. They even try to sell you more crap, saying things go together when they don’t. I’m talking about after they bought the clothes and they’re showing you what they bought because you’re their friend or relative or whatever.
Is it not true in the US too? I wouldn’t tell someone who wasn’t a very close friend that their new outfit looked bad after they’d already bought it. That just sounds like a jerk move even here.
huh, so the implication is that saying it looks good means that you’re passing judgment on the outfit when it would be incorporate? to my American sensibilities when i pay a compliment it’s just to be encouraging. there’s no thought in my head that i might say something negative about it. sometimes it’s like seeing a kitten and going “aww” I just try to let the kind impulse thoughts out intentionally. especially when complimenting my fellow men’s appearance. we don’t get that enough otherwise.
The birthday thing fascinates me because it’s the exact opposite of how you would handle it in the US. Here you would wish them a happy birthday and then move on since you weren’t invited.
In the USA, the birthday thing is the best thing about the USA. It’s all about being selfless (I’m American btw, been living in Spain for so long I’m a citizen) and it’s actually something that creates conflict in interpersonal relationships between natives of Spain and the friends they make that are not from here. It is a huge drama that somebody needs to make a documentary film about now. This birthday thing has no age. It could be a 20th birthday or a 100th birthday. You ain’t invited, you didn’t know, you didn’t bring the presents, you just keep to yourself in the public venue. It’s harsh. It’s harsh because you were excluded and you don’t care, because you’re American, you just want to be nice and wish them a happy birthday. Spanish people are all nope on that shit. It’s all about the presents and who bought you the drinks and food.
are you saying its transactional then? like a social contract of “it’s my birthday, so I’m paying for my guests food and drink.” You, my guest, have accepted that contract by bringing a gift?
This flies in the face of birthdays I’m used to. There’s no expectation that If I invite someone to my birthday that a) they need to give me a gift (I would never expect that) or b) I’m paying for their food and drink. I guess because that social contract isn’t in place, the idea that someone can come over and say happy birthday isn’t a big deal. It’s just a gathering that happens to be on my birthday.
