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CHILDREN

Swedish teacher taped toddlers mouths shut

A teacher at a kindergarten in Hyssna in the west of Sweden taped shut the mouths of four children because they were being loud.

“This is a question of violation and physical assault,” Sussie Pettersson and Sandra Börjesson, the mothers of two of the boys whose mouths were taped, told the Expressen/GT newspaper.

“We can hardly believe it happened,” they continued.

Börjesson found out about the incident when she picked up her three-year-old son from the kindergarten. The teacher joked about having taped his and other children’s mouths because they were being noisy.

“She told me how she had first said to the children: ‘If you don’t calm down I will tape your mouths shut’. When they didn’t calm down she wanted to follow out the threat,” said Börjesson.

A few days later the three-year-old told his mother that he wanted to tape her mouth shut.

“What if he had a younger sibling and tried to do the same to them? It could have had devastating consequences.”

Pettersson said the teacher had told her about taping shut her four-year-old son’s mouth, too, but she was too shocked to react on the spot.

“I work within child care myself and this is completely unthinkable. My son told me it hurt when the tape was pulled off his mouth,” said Pettersson.

The two mothers feel that the kindergarten principal has not taken the incident, which occurred in September, seriously enough.

A protocol from an internal meeting at the kindergarten cites the principal as saying that the teacher should not have told the parents about the incident.

The principal and the teacher, who is a recent graduate, have expressed regret over the incident.

The case has been referred to the union which will determine whether or not the teacher will receive a written reprimand in addition to the verbal warning. According to the principal the teacher has also been assigned a mentor.

The Local/nr

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CHILDREN

What names do foreign nationals give their babies in Switzerland?

Each year for more than three decades, the Federal Statistical Office has been publishing the first names of infants born in Switzerland the previous year. It seems that foreigners favour names that are typical of their national background.

What names do foreign nationals give their babies in Switzerland?
Foreigners give their babies names that reflect their nationality. Photo by Keira Burton from Pexels

As The Local reported on Wednesday, the most popular names for newborn girls born in Switzerland in 2020 were Mia, Emma, and Mila.

For boys, Noah took the top spot, ahead of Liam and Matteo.

REVEALED: The most popular baby name in each Swiss canton

But what about the most popular names among various nationalities living in Switzerland?

The answers come from the same study.

Italy

The top name for boys of Italian parents is Giuseppe, followed by Antonio and Francesco. For girls, Maria is in the first place, Anna in the second, and Francesca in the third.

Portugal

There are many Portuguese immigrants living in Switzerland and, like their Italian counterparts, they like to give their children traditional names: José, Carlos and Manuel for boys, and Maria, Ana, and Sandra for girls.

Spain

Spanish names are similar to those of Portuguese babies.

José, Juan and Jose are most popular boy names, while Maria, Ana and Laura are in the top three spots for the girls.

Turkey

Most boys of Turkish descent are named Mehmet, Ali, and Mustafa. Among girls, Fatma, Ayse, and Elif dominate.

Kosovo

Arben, Vallon, and Bekim are top names for boys, and Fatime, Shquipe, and Merite for girls.

Macedonia

Bekim is in the first place for boys, followed by Muhamed and Fatmir. Among girls, Fatimr is in the lead, Sara in the second place, and Emine in the third.

Serbia

Aleksandar, Dragan and Nicola take the first three spots. For the girls, Jelena, Maria and Snezana are at the top.

Can you give your baby any name you want?

Not in Switzerland, you can’t. It’s important to keep in mind that the cantonal registry offices, where new births must be announced, don’t have to accept very unusual names.

Several years ago, for instance, a Zurich court ruled that parents can’t name their infant daughter ‘J’.

In another case, a couple in the canton of Bern were ordered to change the name of their newborn son because their choice – Jessico – was considered too feminine. 

Several names have been forbidden in Switzerland, including Judas, Chanel, Paris and Mercedes. 

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