Staffing the centers are early childhood educators and social workers who are equipped to help parents solve early socialization problems. Problems that arise in the early years are addressed in nonpunitive ways. Although the 1979 law does not prohibit the use of physical force or restraint in removing a child from danger, parents do not resort to physical tactics, even while removing a child from the middle of a street. Instead, they talk to the child and watch the child more carefully in the future. Children, for their part, get the message - without a smack or even a swat.
Swedish families appear to be flourishing.
The children I saw in 1988 were generally well behaved and, according to their teachers, easier to teach because they were accustomed to discipline at home. They also seemed much more self-disciplined in public than they were on my first visit. Moreover, adults are considerably more optimistic about Sweden's children than they were a decade ago. AT HOME Sweden has not been to war in over a century. This disdain for violence has clearly provided a favorable milieu for helping parents abandon physical punishment.