Thaimout is a play on the word “timeout”, which exists in Swedish, where it refers to a short break during a sports game, just like in English.

But “thaim” in this case refers to Thailand, specifically taking a timeout from school to go to Thailand.

This is a new word which you won’t find in any dictionaries, but you may have spotted it in Swedish newspapers in the past year.

Schools are increasingly cracking down on parents who take their child out of school during term time rather than during school holidays to go travelling – not exclusively to Thailand, but the country is a popular tourism destination among Swedish families, especially during the grey Swedish winter.

Are you allowed to do this? No and maybe a little bit yes. But mostly no.

Let us explain.

Sweden, like most countries, has compulsory schooling. In Swedish this is known as skolplikt – literally “school duty” – and applies from the year children turn six to the year they graduate from ninth grade (around the age of 15-16). 

There are exceptions. If you plan to live abroad with your child for over a year, they lose their skolplikt. If you’re looking at taking a shorter, but still relatively long, break (say six to nine months) you can apply to the municipality to revoke the skolplikt. Note that when you return you have to reapply for a place in school for your child, and there’s no guarantee they’ll end up in the same class or even at the same school when they come back.

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If you’re only taking a mini-break, say a week, you have to ask the school’s principal for permission. 

School policies vary with some being more lenient than others, but factors the principal could take into account are the length of the break, how important the break is, and whether they expect that the child will be able to keep up or catch up with their studies despite being off.

If you take your child out of school without permission, you could be fined. 

Solna municipality recently took a family to court and demanded 50,000 kronor after they took their children to Thailand. The parents put their children in a school in Thailand that followed the Swedish curriculum, but the school board in Solna rejected their application. 

Swedish media also reported on Facebook groups where parents share advice on taking a thaimout, and some parents admitted to ignoring rejected applications for time away from school and instead seeing the fine as part of the cost of the trip and paying up when they got home.

That sparked a major debate in Sweden about the benefits of foreign travel, the fact that many children today have roots in other countries, children’s right to uninterrupted schooling and some parents’ perceived middle-class entitlement to vacationing on the other side of the world.

Regardless of how the ongoing debate will end, thaimout has been given a solid spot in the Swedish lexicon.

Example sentences:

We’re taking a two-week thaimout this winter

Vi tar en två veckors thaimout nu i vinter 

Doesn’t thaimout sound a bit like a Scanian saying “Thai food”?

Låter inte thaimout lite som en skånsk person som säger “Thai-mat”?

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.