# The Dutch have a tradition of "dropping" their children off in a forest at night **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 5, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465 "2021-05-05T18:54:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/41 "2021-05-06T18:22:22Z")
This sounds a bit weird to me (mainly because you do it at night when there can be accidents (even in a safe forest.) Here in the UK, we have the ([https://www.dofe.org/](https://www.dofe.org/)) Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, which involves teenagers tackling a range of useful activities (pursuing a hobby, helping a charity etc) to earn an award. Part of the award is an outdoor expedition . However this is carefully planned and supervised e.g. the students study maps, plan a route and on the day can phone adults with transport standing ready. The students also dress appropriately and have first-aid training. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/42 "2021-05-06T18:35:12Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > How about a Danish woman who [got arrested for leaving her baby outside a NYC restaurant](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/26/anette-sorenson-denmark-new-york-baby-left-outside)? I remember that story, and how shocked New Yorkers were that she could do such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ranch\_Dip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranch_dip/32/5238_2.png) [@Ranch\_Dip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranch_Dip)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/43 "2021-05-06T18:51:00Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I think that a ‘snipe hunt’ is a kind of ‘wild goose chase’ rather than specifically finding your way home. Where I grew up, it was both. I never fell for it, because my mama didn’t raise no fool. But others did. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/44 "2021-05-06T18:54:00Z")
Yeah, they were just stories. They’ve become part of the the canon of “stories for children” but that doesn’t mean they started there. As Tolkien wrote: “the association of children and fairy-stories is an accident of our domestic history. Fairy-stories have in the modern lettered world been relegated to the “nursery,” as shabby or old-fashioned furniture is relegated to the play-room, primarily because the adults do not want it, and do not mind if it is misused.” ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/45 "2021-05-06T20:20:51Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I don’t know where I read this, but if I understand correctly, the original “fairy tales” were not just for children – for one thing, stories were told when everyone was gathered around the hearth at night This. The Grimm brothers collected folk tales from predominantly middle Europe, that were fairly grim(m) and brutal in their original versions. A lot of them have been “Disneyfied” and relegated tot the nursery, but the original stories were not specifically aimed at children. Some are very black and white in their depiction of good v bad and the bad guys usually come to a rather gruesome end, but there’s also the tale of the farmer who deceived the devil and came away as the hero of the story. Come to think of it, it seems like the most horrible deaths (like Snow White 's evil stepmom who in the original story had to dance until she dropped dead, clad in red-hot glowing metal shoes with spikes driven into her feet), were meted out to the evil females, so there’s not a little misogyny in there as well. Plus all kinds of allusions to sexuality and the perils therein for young girls (Little Red Riding Hood, for example) I love fairy tales for the glimpse they give us into the morals and values of earlier times, just like myths and legends. Plus all of the Freudian essentials to be found 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/46 "2021-05-06T20:55:51Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Like most of these stories, there are different versions. Perhaps in some the kids get lost picking berries, but in others, they’re deliberately abandoned by their father and stepmother because of a lack of food. In the original story there was a famine so the children’s mother wanted to leave them in the forest. They found their way back the first time but she did it again and the trail of breadcrumbs was eaten so they were lost. They ended up with an old woman who was going to eat them, but they tricked her and pushed her in the oven. She had a load of jewels and they made their way home where they found that their mother was dead. [Grimm 015: Hansel and Gretel (pitt.edu)](https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm015.html) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/47 "2021-05-08T12:49:52Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > even more entertaining: Let’s imagine a room full of American lawyers. …dropped into the remotest north Maine woods. At night. In January. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/48 "2021-05-08T23:02:01Z")
Not exactly the same thing: Our Scout troop pulled into a state park where we had never before camped. It was about 6.00pm in mid fall. The trailer was unloaded in the parking lot and each patrol sorted out their equipment. Each patrol was given a list of compass bearings and distances to their assigned campsites. We were not supplied with a map or a compass. It was assumed that we brought our compasses. One patrol did not. Everyone in my group had one so I rented my compass to the group with none for two packs of cigarettes. The adult leaders got back in their cars and drove off, leaving us to organize how we were to transport our personal gear, kitchen box and tents to their site. Last group to check in was tasked with after dinner clean up for the whole group for the weekend. My group came in second by about five minutes. The last group got in well after dark. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465/49 "2021-05-08T23:05:52Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Wander through the snowy city and you’ll see buggies lined up outside coffee shops while parents sip on lattes inside. This was common practice in Germany. Dogs were welcome in restaurants; children, not so much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dutch-have-a-tradition-of-dropping-their-children-off-in-a-forest-at-night/941465.md?page=2)