Do American men not look after their kids?
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A friend of a friend of mine visited Stockholm from the US. She loved it, but was really puzzled by "all the gay nannies" until she was told they were the fathers.
So what do American fathers do on mandatory parental leave, just sit at home?
Oh, wait, there is no mandatory parental leave for fathers in the US, is there?
Lol, federally we don't have paid parental leave for mothers either. If there are 50+ employees both parents can take up to 12 weeks unpaid, and states may force paid leave to be offered.
And yeah, I'm not a parent, but I've noticed that over the years there's been more and more of a move towards fathers taking part in the nurturing parenting (as opposed to mainly being involved via providing, instruction, and discipline)
really puzzled by "all the gay nannies"
Damn, that’s some eastern europe type phrasing
Wait what's with the knives? That baby is holding one, his dad is giving one to the other baby... I don't get this reference I'm a brute sorry
SATW always portrays Finland with a knife, so it’s more of an inside joke and not related to this specific comic strip.
All scandinavians has those (fjällkniv, morakniv,...) but the finnish are portrayed, in Scandinavia, as the most isolated/laconic people,the most "manly" ones, hence the knife. Swedes were portrayed as the gayest in the nineties at least (very "woke"), and so on. It's just cultural stereotypes.
As a Finn I am deeply insulted by yet strongly approve of the knife thing.
Here in the UK its getting more and more common, but we still have to put up with strangers asking "are you babysitting today?".
Like no mate I'm being a parent.
You're not being very apparent if they have to ask.
As a single dad in the Bible belt of PA, I feel this. I always got weird looks. I just love being a Dad.
Not a single dad, but my wife was gone for a year when our daughter was two. I used to watch moms struggling with kids in the grocery store and no one batted an eye (GA, USA). I'd do grocery shopping with mine in the cart and keep her amused while shopping and checking out and on more than one occasion for compliments about what a great dad I was.
I love my girls and spend as much time with them as I can and do things with them all the time. Still, my wife gets nothing and I occasionally still get pats on the back and compliments on doing basic dad stuff from both men and women.
Always struck me as such a weird thing. Sometimes moms really need more recognition too, I think.
... why are the men drawn normally, but the women like that
Every character is a stereotype of a country.
And those are just the female stereotypes of those countries.
Sweden is the home of the women brought home by the vikings. Big breasted beautiful blondes.
The US is the home of the women who go tanning and get plastic surgery.
For reference, here are the other countries:
England: 
France: 
Japan: 
Brazil:
there's two men who walk a baby down my street every nice day.
they must be really good friends or roommates to be so close all the time.
it's nice to see to men have such a strong unshakable bond together.
If I didn't know any better I'd swear they were married or something.
why are they giving the babies knifes???
It's a Finnish baby, knives are mandatory.
Jokes aside, I'm a Swedish speaking Finn who happened to move to Sweden for the last year of school and my teacher made a point of reminding me it's not okay to wear a knife to school.
She made quite the face when my mother told her we stopped that particular tradition about a century ago.
But still, it's something of a national joke, lol.
There's a joke here in Sweden that goes like: (With finish accent) "Boys! Stop fighting with knives! We gave you chainsaws for Christmas!"
Is Finnish dad distributing knives to the kids?
I'm from the US and I did the stroller thing often. My kids are out of strollers now, but when I go run I see dads often enough out pushing one or two kids. I take my kids to the park a lot and say hey to the other moms and dads I know. I volunteer for things at my kids school, in their classes. One time it was me and two other dads, although that does seem to lean more heavily toward moms. I think moms are still better at other peoples' kids, at least I know that's not a strength of mine.
I think my generation of parents, right now, is equal responsibility. I have had to correct some extended family members, when my family shows up to a gathering and we have food, they automatically assumey wife made it, and I'll dissuade them of that notion. But that's coming from a generation of people where that's how it was, and I take no offense, and it also doesn't happen anymore.
I would also not take offense to someone saying "Look at you doing dad stuff," because hey, it's not always easy, and encouragement is ... encouraging.
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