I was thinking about that when I was dropping my 6 year old off at some hobbies earlier - it’s pretty much expected to have learned how to ride a bicycle before starting school, and it massively expands the area you can go to by yourself. When she went to school by bicycle she can easily make a detour via a shop to spend some pocket money before coming home, while by foot that’d be rather time consuming.

Quite a lot of friends from outside of Europe either can’t ride a bicycle, or were learning it as adult after moving here, though.

edit: the high number of replies mentioning “swimming” made me realize that I had that filed as a basic skill pretty much everybody has - probably due to swimming lessons being a mandatory part of school education here.

  • @TwanHE
    15•1 year ago

    It’s cycling here as well in the Netherlands. Additionally in my circles: starting a campfire.

    • aardOP
      11•1 year ago

      In Germany a lot of people reduced the amount of cycling they did once they had a driving license - now here in Finland a lot more adults keep using bikes, and also use it in Winter. Back in Germany I always was the odd one for cycling in the snow.

      Starting a camp fire is something I’m teaching my kids just because I don’t want them to burn my house down - being allowed to play with fire outside along with an explanation of which are the dangerous bits took the fascination out of all the fire starting equipment in the house.

      • @[email protected]
        3•1 year ago

        Starting fire is pretty relevant skill in Finland for multiple reasons from saunas to cabins to campfires. While I partially learned at home, scouts are pretty good here and definitely taught me a lot of wilderness and survival skills.

    • Call me Lenny/LeniEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      I technically “know how” to start a campfire, but the actual process is too much work. And then when someone does start a campfire, where I live, for some reason they can’t do it without singing the Campfire Song Song. Not something I look forward to.