Nursery personnel are made of tough stuff!

I saw an article this week in the local paper about a girl who'd intervened when a father was beating his son on the tube (it's illegal to beat/slap children in Sweden.)

I read the article in admiration and thought I recognised her - she's a hairdresser (that's not how I recognise her - I'm faithful to my middle-eastern barber!) It clicked a couple of days later when we were talking about it - "it looks a bit like that girl from dagis (nursery) who left a couple of years ago to become a hairdresser. No? Really?"

So, the question was asked on Friday - yes it was Maria that used to work there.

When she eventually intervened physically (earlier verbal prompts had resulted in the father pushing her about) she held him in a neck lock with her left hand whilst calling the police with her right hand.

When the two police arrived they had trouble holding the man, wrestling with him before eventually holding him against a wall.

I'm not suggesting that her ability to control a fully grown man with one hand came from her previous nursery work - but I wouldn't be surprised. They're made of tough stuff - especially mentally - our local dagis personnel!

Bravo Maria for intervening - you deserve all the kind words being written about you!

A fanclub started on facebook - a link to an English version of the story is here.