The next generation of conscripts fears what awaits them.
Four out of ten children aged 9-14 do not want to serve in the military when they get older. This is shown by a new survey conducted by Epinion for DR's Ultra Nyt.
This year, conscription has been extended from 4 to 11 months, and women are now called up on equal terms with men when they turn 18. Conscripts are to be used to a greater extent when the Armed Forces solve tasks in the real world. (https://www.dr.dk/ligetil/indland/1-600-unge-er-startet-paa-ny-vaernepligt)
But the survey shows that it is especially girls who say no. More than one in three girls answer that they would feel bad about having to serve in the military.
11-year-old Ellen Matilde Lollesgaard and 12-year-old Agnes Pagh Hargreave also know that fear.
- I'm probably afraid of going to war and then dying, says Agnes, looking over at her friend Ellen.
- My big sister is 17, so she'll soon have to go and draw a number. So I also fear that she will have to join the military, she says.
Ellen (left) and Agnes (right) appear on Ultra Nyt today. They both fear having to do military service and try being conscripts for a day at Flyvestation Skalstrup.
Read also: The Armed Forces must be able to call up 180,000 soldiers if war breaks out (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/bliver-der-krig-skal-forsvaret-kunne-indkalde-180-000-soldater)
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Why children fear conscription
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The fear of having to serve in the military is largely linked to the way adults talk about war. This is the assessment of Sonja Breinholst, who is an associate professor in clinical child psychology at the University of Copenhagen.
She compares it to children's reactions during the coronavirus pandemic.
- The children whose parents, educators, and teachers talked very negatively about the pandemic became more scared than if the situation was handled in a child-friendly and neutral or positive way, she says.
Some parents may even be against conscription, but according to the associate professor, it is important that we do not transfer our opinions to our children.
- There is nothing we can do to change it, she emphasizes.
© Ritzau Scanpix
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How conscription works in Denmark
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* Both men and women receive a call-up to Armed Forces Day when they turn 18
* In August, 1,600 young people started the new 11-month conscription
* 20 percent of the conscripts who started in 2026 are women
* Over 99 percent sign up voluntarily
* Conscripts can start at 14 different service locations across Denmark
Source: The Armed Forces
Furthermore, the human reaction to something unknown is by definition anxiety-inducing, says Sonja Breinholst. This applies generally to children, because they naturally have not been conscripts. And it applies especially to girls.
- There are no stories about girls in the military in the same way as boys. And if you don't have older sisters or mothers who have been conscripts, then it is unknown territory, she explains, linking the anxiety to a tendency to avoid the unknown.
The survey's answers can thus be interpreted as an expression that children, especially girls, do not know enough about what it means to serve in the military when they answer no to whether they want to.
Over 99 percent of conscripts in Denmark have signed up voluntarily. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)
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How you should talk to your children about war
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We should of course not avoid talking to our children about conscription and war. But it is important that we do not do it in the wrong way, believes Sonja Breinholst.
The right approach is to take the children's premises as a starting point.
- That means only talking about it if they ask questions. We adults are constantly ahead. We read news and relate to political topics that are not always at the children's level. And when we get scared, we tend to feel that we need to talk a lot to our children and young people about it, she explains.
There is therefore not necessarily a need to prevent the children's fear. Right now, it is often more the parents' need than the children's to talk about the topic.
When the children then ask about war or conscription, Sonja Breinholst's advice is to keep the answers short and factual.
- Stick to the facts, and keep it at an age- and developmentally appropriate level. The children have no need to know all the nuances, she explains.
After that, it is important to place responsibility and control in the right place.
- You can advantageously tell the children that there are some adults, politicians, and people in the Armed Forces who are employed to handle this. So it is not something we as a family need to worry about, is the associate professor's advice.
We have asked the Armed Forces how they relate to the survey. In a written response to DR, the Defence Command writes:
There is a major communication task in giving future conscripts a concrete and realistic picture of the training, the daily life, and the tasks they may come to solve. We take that task very seriously, so that as many young people as possible also choose to serve their conscription voluntarily in the long term.
Surveys show that young people with knowledge of the Armed Forces or personal relationships with someone in the Armed Forces are generally more positively inclined towards conscription. Surveys also show that the vast majority – who have completed conscription – would recommend it to others.
The survey was conducted by Epinion for DR. It is based on 1,026 interviews with a representative selection of children aged 9-14 in the spring.
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.