This booklet outlines what it is like to grow up as a child in Finland, and explains how Finnish society is looking after the new generation. The depiction begins with the birth of a child to a Finnish family, and progresses through sections describing the family as the basic unit of society, health programs, child health clinics, pediatrics in Finland, the care of handicapped children, care of the child before school age, play and children's culture, the comprehensive school, the lower secondary school, senior secondary and vocational education, children's rights and responsibilities, child-protective legislation, child welfare initiatives, (including the recently passed Child Welfare Act of 1983), parties responsible for child welfare in Finland, adolescent life and youth policy, and progress toward adulthood. (RH)