How does German parenting differ from the U.S.?

German children are given much more freedom than kids in the U.S., but they're also expected to be more self-reliant. These are some of the observations made by Euromaxx reporter Hallie Rawlinson, who has lived in both countries. One example that surprised her is how hazardous German playgrounds can be. And she was shocked by the fact that many 7-year-olds take public transportation by themselves to get to school.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:18 Hallie’s first impressions in Germany
00:50 Are German parents more relaxed?
01:42 Is Germany safer than the U.S.?
03:23 Are German playgrounds built to be dangerous?

#Germany #playground #parenting
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CREDITS
Report: Hallie Rawlinson
Camera: Henning Goll
Edit: Arndt Baumüller
Supervising Editor: Mirja Viehweger
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[ElkeLandenberger]

Als Kind habe ich sehr viel draussen gespielt und bin oft für Stunden mit dem Nachbarshund im Wald und auf den Feldern gewesen. Ich habe Mirabellen, Kirschen, Zuckerrüben und Mais gegessen und musste erst Heim als die Strassenlaternen anggingen. Ich fand es toll unabhängig zu sein und bin bestimmt dadurch in meinem Leben gut ausgekommen.

[Izanuela]

What you didn’t mention is that the children are never really alone or unobserved. There are always lots of adults around them who also keep an eye on them. I take the bus to work and there are often children there. Most of the time they go to school with at least one friend. And even if they go alone, I would certainly help this child if it seems to be stressed out or in trouble and I know that the same is true for many other adults on the same bus. The same thing on playgrounds. A child falls and seems to need help, you just give and help no matter if it’s your own child or not.

[nikaw.]

I'm German and was a bit surprised that it's taken that way. Because it might be all true. And in comparison to US it seems relaxed. But if you look to nordic/scandinavian countrys they put all of this to another level. A level which I adore and like more than the German 😅

[byromania]

I am American, and I firmly believe that Germany is MUCH safer for children than any city or state in America. The gun violence, or violence in general, is just unreal here.

[chetumal]

Born in 1970.
For our generation and those before us, it was normal to go to school alone or take public transport. Not every family had a car back then. When we met up with friends after school, the maximum information from me to my parents was "I'm going out to play."

[Sikk]

german kids from ‘97 here. grew up in a rural suburb near hamburg and since there were no playgrounds nearby, my friends and i used to play in the streets and the forest. we used to take some snacks and water with us and just told our parents who we were playing with. at sun set, we used to come back home telling our parents about the adventures we had and where we were.
also, from age 12, i had a long distance relationship that i traveled to by train on my own (3, 5h ride + switching trains twice, yay). never wished it to be different

[richardcook]

It broke my heart to see the playground of my elementary school (1950's vintage) replaced with safer one of wood. That was then replaced with plastic. I loved those galvanized monkey bars and stainless steel slide. Not to mention the heavy wood swings with chains. Now there's almost no green space to play in or trees and shrubs.

[ginbecell]

5:20 also, in Germany you can only claim _actual_ damages in a lawsuit. There are no punitive damages here.

[ketamu]

Kind kriegt Schlüssel. Kind weiß was es darf und mit wem es nicht reden darf. Kind geht raus auf den Spielplatz. Kind kommt zurück kurz vor dem Abendbrot, ist dreckig und hungrig und bringt lauter andere Kinder mit, welche alle Hunger haben... Kinder gehen zusammen im Planschbecken baden. Ich gehe noch einmal einkaufen und sag den anderen Eltern bescheid, das heute bei uns gegessen wird. Nachdem essen wir diskutiert warum nicht alle 4 Freunde bei uns übernachten können. 5 Minuten nachdem das Licht aus ist, schläft das Kind. Es hat nicht einmal gefragt ob es was gucken kann...

[jannetteberends]

I think the Dutch way is close to the German way. The one big difference is that you won’t see many children in public transport. Kids here go everywhere on bike.

In the eighties some English psychologists published a paper in which they stated that more harm was done by overprotective parents, than actual harm was done the parents were afraid of.

[andreeadobrovie]

I live now in Berlin and my son loves the playgrounds here. In Romania, they look mostly like the American ones. Recently, they've started building more creative and aventurous playgrounds in Bucharest, my homecity

[rich-ard-style]

As a 5 y old (German in Germany) my mother send me to go shopping for bread at the bakery, she gave me money and a tiny shopping list in case I might forget I was suppose to buy. She gave me instructions what to do, and if I went. The bakery aprox. was 1 km from home.

To school we walked 2 km alone. My mother walked the way ONCE with me and I had to remember it then. It was save to walk to school, later in high school we used the city transportation busses to go to school.

My mother gave me instructions how to behave and not to go with anyone, if someone would approach me. And there were some moments, a few, when someone tried to lure me in, driving a car next to me. But I kept my distance, bc my mother protected me with her advice that I followed then. But in a big in general in the years after the war and decades after it was secure most of the times. Kidnapping and murders were the big exceptions. Walking passing a dark big park was secure in Berlin.
.

[thegeebee]

As a West German kid I walked 🚶🏻 to my primary school about 1.7 km between 1968 and 1972.

My mom showed me all possible ways to go to school 🏫 and to go back home 🏠. Including the crossing of two big streets with quite some traffic 🚙 🚛 and without traffic lights ❌🚦.

After some while she said at 2/3 of the way: 'Go on for the rest' and she stayed behind. Later she let me go alone at 1/3 of the way. And finally I went by myself the whole way.

She showed me how to use the public phone booth 📞 and always made sure that I had suitable coins with me (two 10 Pfennig coins 🪙 🪙 at that time and another 🪙 🪙 coins in case the coins failed).

The result:  It worked ALL the time👍.

Funfact 😉:   Many years later she told me that she had followed me unseen for some longer time on the whole way - just to make sure - until she was convinced that I could do it.
And yes - I did it.👍
Thanks Mom. ❤️

[elizabethturel]

My friends and I have often spoken of the changes that have occurred in children’s limits in playgrounds. We are 72, so grandparents; massive changes in the US since the 50’s. Totally all encompassing our children/ grandchildren’s lives. It makes me sad.

[samratpodder]

Talking about my country, India, there are no such things as playgrounds or official playzones. Children generally play on the roads or on empty lands or wherever they get space. A decade ago there used to be local parks in many places in my city Kalkutta (Calcutta) but due to recent expansion of living space, we have lost many of these garden styled parks where kids used to play. In a city where 15 million people live, we hardly have any parks. The kids are forced to play on the road on which vehicles ply. Owning to this there exists a lot of dangers and risk and thus many parents rather prefer to not let their kids play outside and would rather engage them into some kind of academic or non-curricular training during their playtime. This is leading to much poorer quality of life for the children and in turn affecting their creativity and personal growth.

[kaoskwien]

German mother here with a now 11 y old. Not every playground in Germany looks that fancy. Or scary from a American perspective.But it's true this days there more wood and metal than plastic.

And this days the swings from my childhood with the metal chains and a single seat are often replaced by netswings or Nestschaukel. These look a bit different and are better for small children or disabled people. You can lay on them with 3 people and swing and have fun.

My child used to to go a playground in public park. And until she was 7 she never went alone. But even if we went together, she was used to see me sitting from distance reading and she was used not to be observed all the time.
To be totally honest I only saw her, when she was hungry or wanted me to show off her newest trick she just invented. And after a while I didn't see her at all because she was playing in an area with bushes and trees nearby the playground. She loves climbing on all sorts of trees. That was perfectly normal. And she never got any injury from our playground or the trees bigger than a small scratch.

[vyvienn]

My husband grew up in a small town in the Midwest in the 1970s. All the stuff he did there with his friends, I did with mine roughly a decade later in a big city in Germany. Neither the US nor Germany are as they were back then. I will always be glad that I got to grow up the way I did. Modern parents seem so stressed most of the time and constantly worried that their kids need to be kept busy with something.

[clouds_demise]

I live in Berlin, where the video was filmed, and I think the design of the playgrounds is great. When I was a child, I could spend the whole day on playgrounds with my friends. There were always adults there to look after us and we had a variety of different playgrounds in the neighborhood. Some were quite simple, others had huge climbing frames and slides, and others had water as a creative opportunity.

[pigoff]

I shopped in East Berlin before the wall came down in 1986. The East Berlin side of the Brandenburg gate was a tourist place. I bought posters and pamphlets there and souvenirs. We also shopped at the old train station in West Berlin as it was a huge flea market in 86.😅

[juliehock]

Safe in America where children have to dodge bullets in school? Terrifying in my opinion.