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.
War bei mir auch so, nur war ich als jugoslawischen Kind in Deutschland noch freier. Nicht ganz so frei, wie im damaligen Jugoslawien - aber hey: nicht jedes Land konnte so großartig zu seinen Kindern sein. 😉
Bei mir genauso. Auf dem Land aufzuwachsen, war bis zur Pubertät toll, danach wurde das Dorf mit einem Bus morgens und einem Bus abends ein wenig zu eng... Wir waren den ganzen Tag draußen, im Wald, gingen die in der Nähe stationierten amerikanischen Soldaten besuchen (die immer super nett waren!) und bei Regen spielten wir mit dem brandneuen C64. War 'ne tolle Zeit.
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.
@@holger_pThis seems to be a key difference then. In Germany (and maybe Europe in general?) we seem to trust that people are inherently good. Also we feel as a community and most of the time it still feels like „we take care of each other“, although that depends a bit on the place and is also changing a bit during the last couple of years. Especially the younger generation is sometimes so deeply glued to their phones they don’t even see or hear what’s going on around them…
I think it slowly changes more to the same idea than in America or something in between. For example my eldest daughter once took the wrong bus to school when she was about 10 years old. So the bus only drives to a different school in town, little bit far from hers and she had no idea now where to walk or which bus to take now. Someone brought her to the school secretariat, they called up her school and since now they were responsible and couldn't let her go unsupervised, they sent her with a random mum who happened to be there willing to walk her 1/2 hour to her school and she had to drop her off personally in the school secretariat. The secretary than had to call back the other school to make sure everything went well before accompanying her to class to explain everything to her teacher. I definitely would help out kids in need or other parents on a playground when in need and it's possible for me to do so. Kids always randomly start finding friends on playgrounds so adults just need to watch from a safe distance. Kids need some privacy too.
@@Izanuela22 Right, and maybe the armement in USA is a reason, this blind trust has gone. The missing trust, is also a reason for this facade of friendly small talk, without really caring what the other has to say. There is no liability for your word.
@@a.r.r.i.9841 This must be america, if you get in the wrong bus in Germany, you would never end up at another school, but at the zoo or the supermarket or whereever. And if the kid handles to correct his mistake himself somehow, maybe it can read google maps, or the schedule of the bus, with age 10 , it's 4th grade ? It will become very proud and get confidence in himself, to have "survived" this adventure. The only one noticing this thing, would be his school, for arriving late.
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 😅
I wouldn't idolize the Northern-European countries. They also have concepts like barnevernet which is 100 times more aggressive than the German Jugendamt. A neighbour calling in for alleged abuse is enough for your children being taken away from you with no examination of the situation first. I know of a mother who had to flee Norway to Poland because they wanted to take her child away. Why? Because she had had clinical depression AS A TEENAGER, several years before giving birth. The state controls everything in the north, and it doesn't always do it well. But people are way to proud of their progressive system to address its horrible weaknesses. Did I mention they had forced castrations and sterilizations way into the 1970s? Not castrations of sex offenders, no - they castrated/sterilized the sick, poor, and uneducated so that they wouldn't procreate. Sounds a bit like the Third Reich, right? And lt's not forget the bigotry of the national community which actively excludes refugees whilst claiming itself open-minded etc. at the same time. Complete inability of the police to deal with raising crime rates (have been robbed in Sweden before, can definitely attest to the police's incompetence), and inability of the state to integrate refugees who often end up becoming criminals. Critics consider the social democratic welfare state (the system in place in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark - no clue about Iceland) a far-right state masked as left-wing. Those are not my words though.
@@joanneaugust1489 I heard terrible things of the barnevernet as well. They took children of indian parents away, because it is forbidden to give food to your child with your hand. You have to always use fork, spoon ect. Also co-sleeping is forbidden in Norway. So no family bed or sleeping next to your child. You can loose custody for stupid things like that.
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
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
@@SomePotato Not really. The actual damages are all financial damages resulting from the accident, firstly the cost of treatment (most which is covered by mandatory insurance in the first place), secondly potential loss of income as a result (which of course wouldn‘t apply to a child, and even adults would receive their normal salary for 6 weeks) and thirdly all potential additional financial losses, such as gas for necessary extra trips to a doctor. In addition, courts can potentially grant some amount of compensation for personal suffering. The latter is calculated by the court which will take many factors into account, most notably the severity of the injury, the intensity of the required treatment (surgery is more intense than bruises, of course) and secondary damages, both physical and mental (which have to be proven, which can be hard to do); the compensation is meant to be both satisfaction and compensation for immaterial damages. Other factors can be the grade of liability (meaning how much is the defendant at fault), the financial situation of both parties (as the compensation shall not ruin the defendant), and more. Generally this form of compensation will only be awarded under certain circumstances. The possibility of an accident and even an injury is considered a common risk of life, so not all accidents qualify - mind you _actual_ damages will still be awarded, immaterial damages only if the injury is cased deliberately or by _gross_ negligence. For instance, hitting someone with a car while driving much faster than the speed limit is certainly gross negligence, a child stumbling at the playground (even a wooden and „dangerous“ one) probably isn‘t - the severity of the injury is irrelevant in this context - so even if the victim of the car accident only has bruised while the child broke their arm on the playground, it is likely that the former would receive some (minor) form of compensation, the child probably won‘t. Personally, I find this fair. Personal responsibility is an important aspect in German culture and society, and the possibility of accidents and injuries is just another aspect of life - as long as it isn‘t caused by someone grossly disregarding said responsibility. It is always possible to get injured or cause an injury by accident, and as long as it _was_ accidental, the injuries just happened, and you‘ll have to accept it. To get back to the example playground: If the child was injured because a hand rail broke off, then the playground was likely not serviced and maintained enough, which could (and likely would) be considered gross negligence.
@@qq84 That very much depends. Let‘s imagine a case, and take all assumptions as proven and correct. Let‘s say a worker in a steel factory has his hand chopped off while checking something in a machine (that is shut down at that time). Firstly, we must check if he is partially at fault himself (for instance, that he neglected to properly turn off the machine, secure the emergency stop button or something like that). For the sake of argument, he is not to blame for anything in our case. To make it simple, we skip some investigations and come to the conclusion that the machine he worked on was not maintained properly, which caused a malfunction despite the machine being shut down. Also, no other worker mistakenly powered the machine in the meantime. Now, again, for the sake of argument, the court finds that the employer acted grossly negligent by not properly maintaining the machine and causing the accident. One factor for damages is now fixed, as we‘re talking gross negligence. Damages are _all the damages_ the worker has. So there _is_ an amount for pain and suffering (which is way lower than punitive damages in the US, we‘re talking a low to medium 5-digit Euro amount for this rather severe example - the 24k might be realistic). But it doesn‘t stop here. Let‘s say our victim was 36 years old, he has learned this metal working job and has no other qualifications. He has a gross income of 1800 Euro per month. He is now unable to work his previous job, even considering an advanced prosthetic, due to his trauma. Also, he can not easily be trained for an administrative position, due to various factors. He is now, at the age of 36, considered unemployable in his field due to his disability. He worked since he was 15, when he started his apprenticeship, so he contributed to the social insurances in Germany for about 21 years. He doesn‘t get a lot of state backed rent. It is likely that he would have worked another 30 years (or more) until the age of 66 before retiring, and even when not calculating later rises in salary or him qualifying for more advanced jobs, we‘re talking about 30 years of lost income, which are damages that have to be compensated. 30 years, 12 months, 1800 Euro gross income, that sums to 648k in lost income, minus the small amount of the mandatory social insurance. This amount will be taxed, of course, as I calculated gross income, but we would still be talking about some 300k in damages that he would be able to collect _in addition_ to the small amount for pain and suffering. Of course, this example hinges on optimal circumstances, on presumed findings by the court and on quick calculations. In reality, this would have been much harder. But still: Despite the fact that the amounts granted for pain and suffering alone are relatively low in Germany _and_ there are no punitive damages, the total amount of damages can be drastically higher when you take _all_ actual monetary damages into account. And in this example, we‘re talking (gross) negligence by an employer. _Intentional_ inflicting bodily harm by chopping off a hand is a whole other thing. In that case, the criminal court (as we would talk about a felony here) would likely already grant a substantial amount of compensation for pain and suffering (again, the 24k could be realistic for a copped off hand), but that has nothing to do with a possible subsequent civil case for _actual_ monetary damages, where things like lost income again come into the picture. At the end of the day, you will get the chance to get reimbursed for all _actual_ damages that resulted directly from your injury, plus (if applicable) some reasonable amount for pain and suffering. You will, however, not suddenly become a millionaire. Which, by the way, also prevents many fraudulent injury claims, as there is simply not much to gain.
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."
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.
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.
When was that? In the 50s / 60s I would guess. These days are over. To many things are happening in the states. Let alone how many lical news I heard about kidnapped children, shot children, it is unfortunately a very sad fact that things are pretty negative in the US when it comes to children's safety. I was and I am still shocked about it, and my Germany mind cannot understand it.
@@rich-ard-style6996you had these kinds of playgrounds until the early to mid 90's where I grew up (South Florida it was). As far as kidnapping children are far far safer than they were in the mid 90's and before. You didn't have Amber Alert system, you weren't allowed to post missing children in public spaces, dad's who kidnapped their children weren't considered a kidnapper (they were just dad), children weren't considered missing until they were missing for 5 days, among other things. News also didn't report on it until a week after your child was missing. Where I grew up there were 2 kids that were kidnapped and then murdered. There were 30 kids kidnapped in one year. Nowadays there's no children being kidnapped and then murdered. There's 5 kids that were kidnapped in a year. As far as kids getting shot. They are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be shot. You have to remember. The news has really changed. If it bleeds it leads.
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.
@@ramsey5568 So.... you blame brown and black people? Just so you know: Germany is not homogeneous, nor other relatively safe nations like the Netherlands.
@@nebelland8355 Hm the post I responded to is gone. Anyway, typically when people argue that crime is lower elsewhere because the population is not diverse (even if it's not true), they mean "Yeah but we have a lot of brown and black people".
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.
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. .
I grew up in a village in Slovakia and I also walked to school by myself about 2km from grade 1. The village school was only grades 1-4 so from grade 5 I had to travel to the city by public bus - I learned the bus timetable and got a watch so I don't miss it. Worked out fine :)
So there were a few times that someone DID try to lure you into their car? A FEW times? Meaning at least THREE times someone tried to lure you into their car when you were a child? I grew up in Houston, TX in the 70s and 80s and walked everywhere and no one EVER tried to lure me into their car. Maybe Germany isn't so safe after all!!!
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.
That is sad. In this video you've seen playgrounds in Berlin, which is the most crowded city in germany. Thus you can find playgrounds all over Berlin. In smaller towns in germany you will find less playgrounds, because children use to play more at home or in parks or in nature. So I think a good thumbrule might be: the more crowded a city is the more playgrounds you will need. I hope that in India people will plan their cities with more playgrounds in the future.
15M population for a single city is crazy. Berlin is the biggest city in Germany with its 3.7M population, and its already too many people in one place IMO.
I grew up in a village with about 7.000 inhabitants in Southern Germany (*2005), the next playground is on the other side of our fence, the next daycare and elementary school are within a 100m, I would have gone by myselve to the daycare by four, but our mom brought us becaus of my littell brother. From about 5 I was playing on the playground by myselve or with my friends all afternoon. We were allways climbing, at 9 I fell of a tree about 2,5 or 3m maybe even more, I broke my wrist and stopped climbing trees, a year or two later my aunt took me indoorclimbing for the first time, I'm climbing regullarly since I'm 14. I was one of those kids who did a lot by themselve even for German standarts, I was told I am very brave for traveling 6h, home from my uncel in swizerland, by myselve on the train at 14. My longest travel by myselve were about 8 or 9h so fare.
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.
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.
I have lived in the Netherlands for a few years and yes it's wonderful, amazing playgrounds, safety...but one thing that wasn't mentioned is the persistent bullying and phone use that are traded in for knowing where your child is. You'll see kids here in Copenhagen as well, some of the most beautiful playgrounds but on their phones. So yeah having free range kids is great when they play and make friends, can explore or be independent but nowadays those same kids have their attention directed somewhere else than actually learning to get along and use the playgrounds themselves.
When I was a child we had so many great playgrounds right in the neighborhood - it felt like one every 500 m ^^ and all had different implements made of wood and sometimes metal; you could walk from one to the other all day and have the time of your life ^^ The greatest playground I remember was a so-called "construction playground": as a child, you could build your own huts out of boards and all sorts of other materials with a hammer, saw, nails, etc. There were 2 supervisors who paid attention to safety and helped when needed - the kids did everything else themselves... and what did we build! Even two-story houses with connecting bridges, that was absolute madness... every few weeks the houses (or whatever else they built) had torn down and you could let your imagination run wild again. Sometimes there were parents there (mostly fathers) who volunteered to work around with the children and were there to help and advise - whether the children wanted it or not, hahaha.. . This was by far the greatest playground we children have ever had - and certainly the one where we learned the most to recognize our own limits. Minor injuries were completely normal, no one made a big deal about it - on the contrary, in the evening the scratches and wounds were proudly shown at home and you received praise and recognition for what a great job you had done ^^ It's a real shame that there don't seem to be any playgrounds like this anymore...
@@dweuromaxxYes, indeed! We were truly "free" and allowed to experience and express ourselves in every conceivable way... We were trusted - and that was worth more to me personally than I can say... 😀
Unfortunately, parents in Germany are becoming more and more anxious. This is a bad development for children. People used to talk about helicopter parents. They always hover over their children, monitor everything and tell the child too often what it has to do. Nowadays, people talk about lawnmower parents who clear every blade of grass out of the way before the child trips over it. Young adults who grow up in such an environment are often very dependent and their physical abilities are getting worse.
I'm from the UK, and I'd say that the playgrounds in your u.k are similar to the one's in Germany nowadays. Calculated risks, designed to test the child and for the child to be creative.
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.😅
Part of the reason for this independence, I think, is due to the built environment, which is walkable and bikable relative to the US. For example, how can a child go to school along if driving is the only way to get there? I think urban planning plays a big part in individual freedom.
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...
I'm a German mother and when I first saw american playgrounds on tv I was very surprised that there is soooo much plastic. I also think Germany is safer because of less gunviolence. It is very strict here and I really like that. I guess some things are better in America and some in Germany. (:
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.
harm? it's simply not that safe in some US cities. Thus naturally, such "mental harm" isn't really a topic. And we Europeans shouldn't be arrogant about this since crime and safety issues are slowly creeping into our societies, too. When I visited Belgium this year, I didn't feel safe either in certain areas. I wouldn't let my kid roam around there, either.
As a German, I would also like to see more infrastructure for cycling. We are still really lagging behind the Netherlands in this regard. 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.
When it comes to way of living - I think Germany really has got it well covered. USA is very Tech driven and its getting more and more online whereas Germany likes outdoors more.
Little 6 yo Adam Walsh got kidnapped in 1981 and all they could find was his head. That is when it began. After that, all of us children were required to remain close to our parents or teachers. We were lambasted with safety lessons each day. We were constantly told of every little thing that could harm or kill us if we didn't follow strict rules. That was when everything changed.
I come from Tokyo and even German ppl were shockced/surprised, how independent small children (6yrs. old) are. Like, they take public transports to go to school every day.
It seems in many aspects Germany is somehow in the middle between the US and Japan. It often feels like that when I see comparisons between two of those three countries.
I live in a big city here in Germany and went to school alone at 6 years old (1988) and i see small kids walking alone or on public transport nowadays too.
@@CalmoOmlac its getting more rare / rarer?... you get what i mean.. since the school districts where removed and every child can go to school where ever the parents want them to, you see more and more children being driven to school by parents. because having the child going to school where you work is so much more convenient then having it go to school where you live.. how stupid would that be. having your friends close by is such a bad idea... you get the idea. sure there are still some waling / taking public transport,.. but its getting less
@@Brainreaver79 What? School districts aren't removed here in Frankfurt am Main. My son can only go to the school near his home. He's in elementary school now.
As a child in Germany (DDR/East Germany to be precise) I did not play at playgrounds. The village I grew up in and the fields and woods around were our playground. We played in sand pits, corn fields, went inside abandoned houses, climbed the cherry trees, and flew kites, explored old barns etc.. I had to be home at 5:30, that was all. In cities it was and is different I think.
I've heard many times that kids in the US used to grow up without being watched 24/7, being more independent, etc. I wonder what caused this to change?
24 hour for profit news, amber alerts and printing missing children on milk cartons. Stuff like that constantly makes people think how dangerous the world is. It makes parents think about child abductions every day. None of this stuff exists in Germany or Switzerland (where i live). So people only think about abductions like once a year when there is some high profile case. Also the urban design in most of america just isnt suitable for kids to do anything on their own. That sure doesnt help.
I'd guess TV. In my lifetime I feel like I have seen the rise of "true crime" as a category of television show, podcast, and documentary. It's not that crime, kidnapping, or murder is more of a risk as much as the perception of those things is. Another factor that has changed the philosophy of play in the US is law surrounding civil liability. For example I have friends who run a summer camp, they had a merry go round which has been at the camp for decades. During a recent insurance adjuster visit they got told they HAD to remove it unless they wanted a massive bump in insurance rates. It wasn't that the parents, kids, or camp directors got less risk tolerant it was that the structure of our legal system made risk tolerance too expensive.
Yes, it’s definitely due to the increase in child abductions or maybe just increase in child abductions that are reported. But I do understand why parents are so cautious, because even though stranger abductions are more rare than a child being taken by a non-custodial parent, they do happen. children are terribly abused and/ or killed. And even though it’s not likely to happen to your child, how many parents are willing to take that risk? I grew up in the 70s in Minnesota and as long as I was home by that time my mom got home from work everything was cool. But it is definitely a different world.
@@beckycaughel7557 is there an actual increase tho? General violent crime rates in the US definetly went down vs the 70s and 80s. So i think its all about the reporting and not the real situation. Also are kids really safer if their risk of abduction by strangers is reduced from 0.00000000004% to 0.00000000001% at the cost of increasing their risk of obesity from 10% to 40%? And same with their social anxiety problems and such.
Kids should feel free to learn to solve problems and exercise their motor skills. Also learn to take some responsibility/ like going to school on their own.
@@willfungusman8666 No, they aren’t stupid. They are inexperienced but not stupid. My kids went to kindergarten and to school alone, after a period of practice with me, like the other kids sid, my son went for drum practice using public transport at the age of 8 years. So did my daughter.
@@willfungusman8666 they learn to not be stupid by taking responsibility and doing stuff on their own. Or you think that on the 16th birthday or something a switch in the mind of all children is flipped and they magically become smart that day?
My grandma liked to call me a stray because I always was outside with my friends from the age of 10 playing on large playgrounds with huge net constructs which were 5m high, or playing in the nearby woods on a small stream or playing football from after school to sunset. Best childhood ever. Yes, we came home once or twice with bloody knees, a cut above the eye or broken wrist, but those things would have happened most likely one day even under the eyes of our parents. I'd give my kids the same kind of freedom I had and teach them the same lessons I was taught and experienced myself.
Children learn to calculate the risk, sometimes it hurts but they learn. A 6-year-old German child is far more independent than a 12-year-old US child. And the most essential difference, each and every German adult takes responsibility for any child, be it a bus driver, a person passing by, or a granny watching from her window. Police are considered to be a friend, not an enemy. It is called social behaviour, a thing Americans will never learn
Als Kind in Deutschland aufgewachsen, kann ich nur sagen: sei froh, dass du nicht die Spielplätze der 70er Jahre gesehen hast. Wenn ich daran zurückdenke, wundert es mich, dass nicht mehr passiert ist. Ok, ich selbst hatte nen gebrochenen Arm. Aber naja... bis dahin hatte ich Spass. Und danach auch wieder. Es gehörte dazu, dass man sich verletzt. Das hat auch keinen Arzt interessiert, solange du nicht im Wochenabstand zum Arzt musstest. Solche Spielplätze wären heute undenkbar, selbst in Deutschland. Die Zeiten waren eben anders. Dennoch, oder gerade deswegen, hatte ich eine glückliche Kindheit.
Oh yes, our seventies playgrounds were simply brutal! Rusty sharp-edged metal everywhere, high towers, where it would make sense to think about the use of a parachute. The asthetical quality was highly questionable, too. But the simplicity was encouraging the imagination. These hyperdesigned modern playgrounds look actually boring to me.
Czech playgrounds in the major cities are pretty amazing too. thanks for sharing the statistics, but the threat of litigation, although it might be very low, is enough to scare city planners to install the "safest" playground equipment. the US also has the american disability act, that requires that playgrounds need to accommodate wheel chairs.
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. ❤️
@@holger_p From what I can see, yes. Parents don’t let their kids do the things I did when I was growing up. I noticed the change in the ’80s and it has gotten steadily worse since then.
Wir wohnen in Dresden in einer kleinen Reihenhaussiedlung. Hier kennt jeder jeden und selbst 5 jährige sind alleine draußen. Ist halt wie in einem Dorf.
I was a kid in Germany and climbed up everything. My parents were American but my nanny was a German old lady that took me everywhere especially the park that I still remember.
My daughter and brother walked to school together. They walked to the playground and played alone. They had to be home when the street lights came on. My step father did spy on them occasionally to check up on them. They walked to the stables too alone. They stopped on the way to school to pick through the junking trash. My daughter came home with a baby buggy full of stuff every few months. Lol. My mom cleaned what she could and put some back out for our junking. 😅
American children growing up during the 1940s through 1960s were far more independent than today’s children, who probably will be known as the “helpless generation.” Parents can’t protect their children from every bad outcome in life. Thus, parents should consider the harm they inflict on their children by smothering them with oversight.
it really depends on the age but as soon as a kid hits school age they are expected to find the way around their immidiate neighborhood on their own. At least with a friend. We trust our kids to be able to do this. which makes them more confident in their own abilities.
I can totally confirm that some playgrounds in germany are actualy built scary even for adults. I've seen some where I realy was afraid when I saw my kids climbing up without any safety or security but they are not only built to train the kids, but also their parents, too. As a german parent, you have to learn to trust your children that they know what they can manage and to let them go. Uowards in this case. And if they realize they were overconfident and they need you to get down again, well, you should learn to ignore your own fear of heights fast. :D
I'm Swiss but live in Africa on an international compound. Oh my... This helps me understand people from other nationalities better. They ALWAYS suprvise their kids and intervene in every fight etc. Now I understand better, why. Thanks.
When I was a kid in the countryside of Germany, we did´t even have playgrounds. We played on the street, in the woods and in the vast fields and gardens. We were out all afternoon and had to come back for dinner. We often had scratches from climbing trees, but that was considered normal. We wore old clothes when playing outside. The best playground to me is an exiting environment with trees, lakes, bushes, fields... Nevertheless, I love, how creative modern playgrounds are. There have many difficult levels, swings and slides, for example. Kudos to the designers of these beautiful playgrounds, the are doing a great job.
This could have been about growing up in small town USA in the 1960s, as I did. Everything was the same then as depicted in Germany today. Children had much more true autonomy, clear and simple boundaries, and a sense of accountability. I think the change is why anxiety seems to rule for parents and kids today.
I'm a German living in Japan right now and I must say that playgrounds here are way better because they don't distinguish between age groups and offer facilities for all ages - even for adults. Also Denmark has this. That's very much missing in Germany. But I understand that most things are already great if compared to greedy and superstituous US.
I recently read on reddit that the DIN EN for playgrounds (the German standard) regarding security measures was not designed for the purpose to prevent injury. The security measures may even be such that kids could break a bone in the worst case... The main design goal of the standards are set to prevent death or any other permanent damage from possible injuries.
To imagine that I grew up making bonfires, running through the woods, always a machete in hand, and me and my friends had the times of our life’s. I see kids nowadays and fell nothing but sorry for their super protected reality.
It is necessary to say that although it does not look like, still the German law has some requirements of safety for these playgrounds. For example the structure need very good foundations, the floor surface has to be soft for tall structures (there was tree bark small pieces in the video) in order to reduce impact in case of fall and they are yearly check by specialized companies.
Unfortunately some german places are getting obsessed with this hyper safeness. My old elementary school had a huge playground with lots of different and unusual play equipment and a bunch of trees. As i grew older i often passed my old school and they felled all the big trees you could climb on and got rid of all the cool stuff and replaced it with generic slides and swings. Really sad to see. Even as an adult i love big and creative playgrounds. I wish i was still small enough to play in them😅
One example of this risk adverse society was shown on British TV recently when a Scandinavian pop star Aurora said that for every record bought she wanted to plant some trees to make a forest. The host beamed and nodded slavishly (probably thinking 'ooooh great, an interview with a trendy artist & an eco message'). She then said that the forest could be somewhere where you could take your kids- the host beamed wider and nodded in agreement. Then Aurora added mischievously 'And leave them there...' The host's face dropped and he looked like he'd just shat his pants and even while Aurora was continuing 'And they can teach themselves how to live in the forest'. The host hastily added 'Not sure about leaving kids in the forest, don't try this at home' But the thing is there are schools in Scandinavia that take kids out to the woods for all day classes in all weathers. Oh, yeah and there are bears and wolves in parts of Scandinavia. The kids are told to stay within a certain marked perimeter, but otherwise they are left to there own devices all day. Petty much the way I was as a kid. I'd head out at 09;00 and not be back until I was hungry or it was getting dark (whichever happened first) - we'd run off to a nearby wood and spend all day just larking around.
I grew up in the 1960s/70s in Western Germany. We learnt where our limits are by hurting ourselfes. And it was OUR fault because WE went too far. My father always said: "If you get under the bus with that injury, you may die!" (means: Don't take it too serious). We learnt where our limits are and how far we can go!
I lived in the US for 5 years and happy i had my kids in Germany and they go to school here. Much safer, less bullying and in a small city , more country side is the safest place to have kids.
As someone who has lived in and visited Germany I have to say that I've never noticed the playgrounds in the past. The next time I go to Germany, I will check out the structures. They look interesting!
In Australia, I think we have a mix of both styles. We definitely have parents who watch there kids all the time, well into teen years. But there are also a lot more relaxed parents who let their kids take responsibility for themselves.
As a school age child of the 70s in the USA I can tell you that this sort of parenting was much more common. My friends and I use to roam all over the creek that ran behind our housing development.
In the 80ies and 90ies we went everywhere alone as children...there was literally no limit. Today's children don't even realize that their parents protecting them make them to scared little bitXhes.
4:05 I grew up in Germany and played at many playgrounds. And I was capable to master everything. When revisting the same playgrounds as an adult I almost shat my pants trying some of the jumps and climbs. I´ve clearly lost my confidence and skills due to a lack of practice. As an adult I was full of fear when inline skating came up and I tried them. But I was fearless when I was roller skating as a kid and teen.
Sadly, in Russia (Moskow), most playgrounds (like those in the yards of apartment blocks) are rather similar to those in the US - made from prefabricated plastic blocks in bright colours. Some public parks have more "german" examples - unique, made from natural material and pretty interesting. My and my sister's favourite as children was one in the Vernadsky park, built like a big wooden castle. Sadly gone by now...
So here, all adults more or less look after other people's children. For example, I (male, 45 years old) take the bus to work every day, which school children also take. Recently, a group of girls were getting on the bus with their bikes (there is space for bikes on the buses) and one of the girls had problems getting her bike onto the bus. Of course, I helped her, one of her friends held the door open and I got her bike onto the bus. At least here, as an adult, you naturally keep an eye on other people's children and help them if necessary.
As a 1948 model Canadian, it was always possible to escape excessive parental supervision. I remember the forbidden pleasure of paddling a raft on a pond in an disused gravel pit. When my wife and I moved to Norway in 1980 and had two children in that decade we tried to do things the Norwegian way. For example, we allowed our children to nap in their buggies outside in the winter (and other seasons), we allowed them to explore the neighbourhood unsupervised, including the forest near our house. As a ruralist, I do not have much experience with playgrounds. One sport I am interested in is parkour, although some may regard it as an urban phenomenon.I addition, children living near water should learn to respect it, but have access to boats. Our neighbour told us that he had to row one to school, from the age of seven. I have tried to teach our children how to use tools, and to avoid injuring themselves. In particular, I think children should learn how to use knives, and be capable of making fires. It is appropriate to point out specific dangers, such as the cliff at the edge of our property. From an early age, we would encourage them to look up at our property from the road 15 meters below. I think they understood, that they should keep to the other side of the fence. After a mere 44 years of living here, we almost feel more Norwegian than Canadian. Our daughter is now living in California. Should she and her husband ever have Children, I hope they will consider moving (back) to Europe, because I feel the environment is better for children to grow up in. She is an EU citizen, so there are no restrictions in moving here.
BTW also in Switzerland children are going/coming to school at similar age as in Germany. BTW I was going alone school at 11 (in Italy) I was going with my sisters 'alone' @8 years old. This is not possible anymore since ~15-20 years in Italy. Till 10 years of age, children (In Italy) have to be brought to school and retrieved (parents may nominate friends or relative but their names must be filed with the school). After 11 children may be allowed to go home by themselves if the parents have signed paperworks with the school.
There are quite a lot of projects in Germany where children (and their families) are involved in the process of playgeound-design. They care about other things than we might think. They want places to hide, picknick spots, benches for their parents etc. You can see magnificent differences in playground-design. Some playgrounds are standardized and boring and others are reqlly cool and Individual:)
In Sweden, I got my first commuter pass and a key home hanging under my shirt on a string when I was 9-10 years old I remember that i so PROUD to manage to take the subway alone 4 stations to school and get home and make my own afterschool snack waiting for mom coming home..and even taking the bus 5-6 minutes to Karate practice and other activity's . I did get really independent and selfgoing from that i presume
Worst thing you can get from playgrounds in Germany is a broken bone or a concussion. Happend to me as well but it just taught me to be more careful next time! And I really really loved those playgrounds as a child because none is like the other 😊
It took decades for playgrounds in Germany to become more exciting. For a long time, they were reduced to boring swings and sandboxes, so that children sometimes preferred nearby construction sites, which aren't really safer. And, no matter how hazardous playground buildings may look, there's tons of rules and regulations behind them, in order to prevent serious injuries or death.
I grew up in Brazil in the 80s and after my 5th anniversary I was given the key to our house and could go anywhere with my bike. We didn't had fancy playgrounds like that, but we would just play around in the streets or venture for hours in the small patch of forest of the city. But I had friends that would just be driven by car and were not allowed to go out, they were just excluded from our adventures. I live today in Germany and have a 2 year old daughter, I plan to give her such freedom as I had, so she can learn to be independent.
So, my brother and I were dropped off at Grannies house when we were Kids, that was in the middle of nowhere compared to teh next village over in Schleswig-Holstein (only slight exageration, by bicycle it was like 15-25 Minutes into teh village propper). We we're not alone however, all grandchildren and a neighbourskid (from the fringe of teh next village) basically squatted at her place the entire summer and we basically WERE "Dorfkinder" for the summer and we made the woodlands etc. our stompingground after we were above 10, befoer we ONLY made the not so small property and teh two villages our stompingground, fun times indeed! But from what I understand, letting your kids roam all over the place would be unthinkable in the US.
As a child, I would throw my school bag in the corner after school. And then I would leave the house until the evening. We mostly played cowboys and Indians and shot at each other with homemade arrows. And we climbed the highest trees We mostly played in the meadows or in the nearby forest. We despised playgrounds. And there were no cell phones yet. So our parents couldn't harass us with calls *LOL* We could do whatever we wanted all day long without supervision. We only had to be home in the evening, when the church bells rang at 7 p.m. We didn't have our own clock, of course. We enjoyed this freedom - it was a wonderful childhood. Greetings from Germany:-)
Not living in Berlin, but when I was first grade I drove the 2+km to school on my bike through our town, crossing major streets... I guess, my parents just saw my responsible self and taught me well during my kindergarten time when I drove almost the same distance also by bike but with my mom behind me 😊
I love to hear people from other countries saying something positive about my own country. Cause we Germans are used to see all those negative things in our country. It relaxes me to see that there are good things. (I think there are a lot of good things but we forgot to look at them, cause we learned to look just at the bad ones.)
Young parents these days can't imagine that when we (born in the 1970s) were young, in the afternoon told our parents "Mom, I'm going outside, back by dinner" and from that point on, she had no idea where in town we were.
I‘m a mom of 4 living in Germany. We have a lot of different playgrounds even in our little town. But theres one thing I’m telling my kids: when you can’t get on the climbing frame (is this even the correct word?) by yourself it’s not ment to be for you and you won’t be safe up there. And most of the time I am right 😊
What you and my people don't know or notice, the German players and the state place a lot of effort to construct a safe playground. For example studies show the risk of live thratening injuries increase, if childen fall more than one meter. There for high swings a place between earth walls, reducing the high of the possible Fall. The high slides are in Tube, so nobody can Fall of it. And so one ... Many playgrounds are encircled by fences or some kind of cattle grid to keep dogs out. ...
If you can get up - you can play on it! And honestly I even prefer the Danish way. (Where you do not even have to worry that your child goes missing) I am a German mother of four (very rare) and I let my kids do what they think they are capable of. I encourage them to do „dangerous“ stuff too. My now 15 year old went round Berlin (we live close) first time on her own when she was 12. My 15 month old goes up the slide. Just let them be! And also there is no lawsuit unless the playground is actually broken and not closed.
On holiday I met two teachers who worked with 6-7 year olds from Philadelphia. Because of the threat of a school gun attack , they were paid very highly because it included danger money. 😖
●When talking about his childhood it was kind of hard for me, an American, to accept that comedian George Carlin's parents let him play out in the streets of New York City with his friends. At age seven! ●In the 1970s & 80s our mom would have us small kids wait in the car while she went inside to the store or whatever. Now? A mother was arrested after her job interview for doing the same thing. _That's_ the standard now here in the States.
The greatest danger for beeing harmed for a child is his own family. That's the same in the US and in Germany. But in Germany ist's much much easier for children to find help. They can find friends by there own on playgrounds and other parents see if something is going wrong. Homeschoolong is't allowed so you have teachers and friends of your own. In the US you can't get in contact with others if your parents don't want it. Much more dangerous! I'm from Germany so my English wasn't perfekt. But I am glad my childs can live here!
I think cultural, historical and anthropological factors play the main role. Here in Italy we have the not-so-false stereotype of the Mediterranean overprotective mum, but I have a feeling that it's still more relaxed than the average US mum - except for the mum I saw at a playground once, escorting her 7/8 yo around hand in hand the entire time and scaffolding her buttocks to protect her when climbing stuff, the way I would have probably done with my 2 yo, or not even. Things have changed dramatically in the last 20-30 years, and I think this is something US and Italy have in common. 20 years ago I was serving at a summer camp and even if I was underage I had responsibility of a small group of 7 years olds inside a huge amusement park, now summer camp trips to that same park are only allowed with a parent or caretaker up to 10 years old. My super anxious and controlling mum would still let me play in the woods and in the sea with friends but no adults around since age 7 and go around the town alone since age 11, but I don't see that so much nowadays, and I am still not sure I will be able to get myself to do the same when my kids will be that age. Yet, I would never ever consider things like baby monitors, leashes for toddlers, tracking bracelets or suing anyone because my kids got hurt at the playground. When they want to experiment something new I consistently cherish and encourage them, while still firmly standing my ground when it comes to actual safety and responsibility. It's always a delicate balance, and this is quite universal I think.
Thing about protecting your kids is: You mostly have to protect them from irreperable damage. The really bad stuff. For everything else, let them hurt themselves. You cannot protect them indefinitely and if they learn early, they will be much better at protecting themselves, and they will have years of experience with it!
I think playground are just kind of a „symptom“ of underlying cultural differences. As I understand it (and experienced it during an exchange year ages ago), in general americans want to protect their children and teens from harm by making sure the harm doesn’t come near them or is unknown to them (ie dont climb too high, or you’ll fall and get hurt, don’t use matches or you’ll burn, don’t have sex at all, or you’ll get pregnant, don’t talk about money or difficult things, don’t …)except in very closed, safe settings supervised by adults. Of course not everybody is like that, US is huge, with many different people in it. But, as a rule, in Germany we kind of protect our children by teaching them to protect themselves (like saying to our kids and teens: you won’t fall because you know how to climb, you won’t burn because you know how to safely make a fire, you won’t become a teenage parent because you know how how to be safe, sane and consensual and if you don’t know how to solve a problem yet, you’ll find a way to do it. I’ll be here if you need me) Where y’all’s crazy gun and health care politics come into that theory though…. I really truly absolutely don’t know
But as a dad of three daughters i think that this "american parenting" style keeps getting popular in germany more and more especially due to social media. Carrying them to school in a 3 ton SUV, controlling every step they make, wanting to know what they do and were they are. German parents lose trust in the abilities of their kids to take care of themselves for at least 5 minutes a day.
German author Anne Kratzer has done research on this topic, which was published in Gehirn&Geist in 2019. It explored the influence of the long-trusted German parenting manual, "The German Mother and Her First Child" by Johanna Haarer. She theorized that this parenting philosophy had many damaging effects, too. Her writing is well worth a read.
I think it was either Sweden or Finland that have outdoor schools and kindergardens. Which i find goes into this direction pointed out here as a differance between german and US playgrounds. Training for independent and responsible thought and action.
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.
War bei mir auch so, nur war ich als jugoslawischen Kind in Deutschland noch freier. Nicht ganz so frei, wie im damaligen Jugoslawien - aber hey: nicht jedes Land konnte so großartig zu seinen Kindern sein. 😉
Bei mir genauso. Auf dem Land aufzuwachsen, war bis zur Pubertät toll, danach wurde das Dorf mit einem Bus morgens und einem Bus abends ein wenig zu eng...
Wir waren den ganzen Tag draußen, im Wald, gingen die in der Nähe stationierten amerikanischen Soldaten besuchen (die immer super nett waren!) und bei Regen spielten wir mit dem brandneuen C64. War 'ne tolle Zeit.
Same here.
During school holidays my mum and dad saw me only for lunch and dinner.
@@krollpeter I didn't even come home for lunch since I was good at foraging for food.😁
Same here in Canada, my parents had a school bell they would ring at dinner time for me to come home because they never knew where I was.
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.
Every "adult around" is considered a threat, not as helpful. Just touching a child that's not your own, is a big thing in USA.
@@holger_pThis seems to be a key difference then. In Germany (and maybe Europe in general?) we seem to trust that people are inherently good. Also we feel as a community and most of the time it still feels like „we take care of each other“, although that depends a bit on the place and is also changing a bit during the last couple of years. Especially the younger generation is sometimes so deeply glued to their phones they don’t even see or hear what’s going on around them…
I think it slowly changes more to the same idea than in America or something in between. For example my eldest daughter once took the wrong bus to school when she was about 10 years old. So the bus only drives to a different school in town, little bit far from hers and she had no idea now where to walk or which bus to take now. Someone brought her to the school secretariat, they called up her school and since now they were responsible and couldn't let her go unsupervised, they sent her with a random mum who happened to be there willing to walk her 1/2 hour to her school and she had to drop her off personally in the school secretariat. The secretary than had to call back the other school to make sure everything went well before accompanying her to class to explain everything to her teacher.
I definitely would help out kids in need or other parents on a playground when in need and it's possible for me to do so. Kids always randomly start finding friends on playgrounds so adults just need to watch from a safe distance. Kids need some privacy too.
@@Izanuela22 Right, and maybe the armement in USA is a reason, this blind trust has gone.
The missing trust, is also a reason for this facade of friendly small talk, without really caring what the other has to say. There is no liability for your word.
@@a.r.r.i.9841 This must be america, if you get in the wrong bus in Germany, you would never end up at another school, but at the zoo or the supermarket or whereever.
And if the kid handles to correct his mistake himself somehow, maybe it can read google maps, or the schedule of the bus, with age 10 , it's 4th grade ?
It will become very proud and get confidence in himself, to have "survived" this adventure.
The only one noticing this thing, would be his school, for arriving late.
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 😅
I wouldn't idolize the Northern-European countries. They also have concepts like barnevernet which is 100 times more aggressive than the German Jugendamt. A neighbour calling in for alleged abuse is enough for your children being taken away from you with no examination of the situation first. I know of a mother who had to flee Norway to Poland because they wanted to take her child away. Why? Because she had had clinical depression AS A TEENAGER, several years before giving birth. The state controls everything in the north, and it doesn't always do it well. But people are way to proud of their progressive system to address its horrible weaknesses. Did I mention they had forced castrations and sterilizations way into the 1970s? Not castrations of sex offenders, no - they castrated/sterilized the sick, poor, and uneducated so that they wouldn't procreate. Sounds a bit like the Third Reich, right?
And lt's not forget the bigotry of the national community which actively excludes refugees whilst claiming itself open-minded etc. at the same time. Complete inability of the police to deal with raising crime rates (have been robbed in Sweden before, can definitely attest to the police's incompetence), and inability of the state to integrate refugees who often end up becoming criminals. Critics consider the social democratic welfare state (the system in place in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark - no clue about Iceland) a far-right state masked as left-wing. Those are not my words though.
@@joanneaugust1489sound really worrisome.
@@joanneaugust1489 Sure, but the playgrounds are great there, as I can also compare.
@@peterk.6093 Fair point. But the original commenter was referring to a relaxed attitude to parenting, not to the playgrounds themselves.
@@joanneaugust1489 I heard terrible things of the barnevernet as well. They took children of indian parents away, because it is forbidden to give food to your child with your hand. You have to always use fork, spoon ect. Also co-sleeping is forbidden in Norway. So no family bed or sleeping next to your child. You can loose custody for stupid things like that.
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
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
German kid from 1967, i did the same...but i used my bicycle for short distances like 10km...lol
by long distance relationship at age 12 you mean a friendship or family relations I hope?
@@homemaking-iz1gz nope, full on relationship lol. a bit childish, i admit, but nevertheless
@@Arltratlo USA kid from 64, did the same. Our parents had no idea where we were.
@@1972Ray they still doing it here in Germany...
while in the USA, the parents get jailed and the kids auction off to rich people by the CPS!
5:20 also, in Germany you can only claim _actual_ damages in a lawsuit. There are no punitive damages here.
Which, to be fair, are often calculated ridiculously low when it comes to bodily harm.
@@SomePotato Not really. The actual damages are all financial damages resulting from the accident, firstly the cost of treatment (most which is covered by mandatory insurance in the first place), secondly potential loss of income as a result (which of course wouldn‘t apply to a child, and even adults would receive their normal salary for 6 weeks) and thirdly all potential additional financial losses, such as gas for necessary extra trips to a doctor. In addition, courts can potentially grant some amount of compensation for personal suffering. The latter is calculated by the court which will take many factors into account, most notably the severity of the injury, the intensity of the required treatment (surgery is more intense than bruises, of course) and secondary damages, both physical and mental (which have to be proven, which can be hard to do); the compensation is meant to be both satisfaction and compensation for immaterial damages. Other factors can be the grade of liability (meaning how much is the defendant at fault), the financial situation of both parties (as the compensation shall not ruin the defendant), and more. Generally this form of compensation will only be awarded under certain circumstances. The possibility of an accident and even an injury is considered a common risk of life, so not all accidents qualify - mind you _actual_ damages will still be awarded, immaterial damages only if the injury is cased deliberately or by _gross_ negligence.
For instance, hitting someone with a car while driving much faster than the speed limit is certainly gross negligence, a child stumbling at the playground (even a wooden and „dangerous“ one) probably isn‘t - the severity of the injury is irrelevant in this context - so even if the victim of the car accident only has bruised while the child broke their arm on the playground, it is likely that the former would receive some (minor) form of compensation, the child probably won‘t. Personally, I find this fair. Personal responsibility is an important aspect in German culture and society, and the possibility of accidents and injuries is just another aspect of life - as long as it isn‘t caused by someone grossly disregarding said responsibility. It is always possible to get injured or cause an injury by accident, and as long as it _was_ accidental, the injuries just happened, and you‘ll have to accept it. To get back to the example playground: If the child was injured because a hand rail broke off, then the playground was likely not serviced and maintained enough, which could (and likely would) be considered gross negligence.
@@gi0nbecell The damages you get in Germany are way too low. E.g. if you chop of a hand of, you only have to pay 24k in damages.
@@qq84 That very much depends. Let‘s imagine a case, and take all assumptions as proven and correct. Let‘s say a worker in a steel factory has his hand chopped off while checking something in a machine (that is shut down at that time). Firstly, we must check if he is partially at fault himself (for instance, that he neglected to properly turn off the machine, secure the emergency stop button or something like that). For the sake of argument, he is not to blame for anything in our case. To make it simple, we skip some investigations and come to the conclusion that the machine he worked on was not maintained properly, which caused a malfunction despite the machine being shut down. Also, no other worker mistakenly powered the machine in the meantime.
Now, again, for the sake of argument, the court finds that the employer acted grossly negligent by not properly maintaining the machine and causing the accident. One factor for damages is now fixed, as we‘re talking gross negligence.
Damages are _all the damages_ the worker has. So there _is_ an amount for pain and suffering (which is way lower than punitive damages in the US, we‘re talking a low to medium 5-digit Euro amount for this rather severe example - the 24k might be realistic). But it doesn‘t stop here. Let‘s say our victim was 36 years old, he has learned this metal working job and has no other qualifications. He has a gross income of 1800 Euro per month. He is now unable to work his previous job, even considering an advanced prosthetic, due to his trauma. Also, he can not easily be trained for an administrative position, due to various factors. He is now, at the age of 36, considered unemployable in his field due to his disability. He worked since he was 15, when he started his apprenticeship, so he contributed to the social insurances in Germany for about 21 years. He doesn‘t get a lot of state backed rent. It is likely that he would have worked another 30 years (or more) until the age of 66 before retiring, and even when not calculating later rises in salary or him qualifying for more advanced jobs, we‘re talking about 30 years of lost income, which are damages that have to be compensated. 30 years, 12 months, 1800 Euro gross income, that sums to 648k in lost income, minus the small amount of the mandatory social insurance. This amount will be taxed, of course, as I calculated gross income, but we would still be talking about some 300k in damages that he would be able to collect _in addition_ to the small amount for pain and suffering.
Of course, this example hinges on optimal circumstances, on presumed findings by the court and on quick calculations. In reality, this would have been much harder. But still: Despite the fact that the amounts granted for pain and suffering alone are relatively low in Germany _and_ there are no punitive damages, the total amount of damages can be drastically higher when you take _all_ actual monetary damages into account.
And in this example, we‘re talking (gross) negligence by an employer. _Intentional_ inflicting bodily harm by chopping off a hand is a whole other thing. In that case, the criminal court (as we would talk about a felony here) would likely already grant a substantial amount of compensation for pain and suffering (again, the 24k could be realistic for a copped off hand), but that has nothing to do with a possible subsequent civil case for _actual_ monetary damages, where things like lost income again come into the picture. At the end of the day, you will get the chance to get reimbursed for all _actual_ damages that resulted directly from your injury, plus (if applicable) some reasonable amount for pain and suffering. You will, however, not suddenly become a millionaire. Which, by the way, also prevents many fraudulent injury claims, as there is simply not much to gain.
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."
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.
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.
And where was it?
I say it's not a slide unless it's stainless steel.
Irondequoit, New York, USA. Built about in 1957.
When was that? In the 50s / 60s I would guess. These days are over. To many things are happening in the states. Let alone how many lical news I heard about kidnapped children, shot children, it is unfortunately a very sad fact that things are pretty negative in the US when it comes to children's safety. I was and I am still shocked about it, and my Germany mind cannot understand it.
@@rich-ard-style6996you had these kinds of playgrounds until the early to mid 90's where I grew up (South Florida it was). As far as kidnapping children are far far safer than they were in the mid 90's and before. You didn't have Amber Alert system, you weren't allowed to post missing children in public spaces, dad's who kidnapped their children weren't considered a kidnapper (they were just dad), children weren't considered missing until they were missing for 5 days, among other things. News also didn't report on it until a week after your child was missing. Where I grew up there were 2 kids that were kidnapped and then murdered. There were 30 kids kidnapped in one year. Nowadays there's no children being kidnapped and then murdered. There's 5 kids that were kidnapped in a year. As far as kids getting shot. They are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be shot. You have to remember. The news has really changed. If it bleeds it leads.
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.
@@ramsey5568 So.... you blame brown and black people? Just so you know: Germany is not homogeneous, nor other relatively safe nations like the Netherlands.
@MrMezmerized What do you mean? The above posting doesn’t blame anyone.
@@nebelland8355 Hm the post I responded to is gone. Anyway, typically when people argue that crime is lower elsewhere because the population is not diverse (even if it's not true), they mean "Yeah but we have a lot of brown and black people".
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.
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.
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It is actually more secure today than it was in the past. People are just freaking out.
I grew up in a village in Slovakia and I also walked to school by myself about 2km from grade 1. The village school was only grades 1-4 so from grade 5 I had to travel to the city by public bus - I learned the bus timetable and got a watch so I don't miss it. Worked out fine :)
So there were a few times that someone DID try to lure you into their car? A FEW times? Meaning at least THREE times someone tried to lure you into their car when you were a child? I grew up in Houston, TX in the 70s and 80s and walked everywhere and no one EVER tried to lure me into their car. Maybe Germany isn't so safe after all!!!
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.
That is sad. In this video you've seen playgrounds in Berlin, which is the most crowded city in germany. Thus you can find playgrounds all over Berlin. In smaller towns in germany you will find less playgrounds, because children use to play more at home or in parks or in nature. So I think a good thumbrule might be: the more crowded a city is the more playgrounds you will need. I hope that in India people will plan their cities with more playgrounds in the future.
15M population for a single city is crazy.
Berlin is the biggest city in Germany with its 3.7M population, and its already too many people in one place IMO.
have you seen the youtube channel "not just bikes". its topic mostly about "stroads" in canada/usa
I grew up in a village with about 7.000 inhabitants in Southern Germany (*2005), the next playground is on the other side of our fence, the next daycare and elementary school are within a 100m, I would have gone by myselve to the daycare by four, but our mom brought us becaus of my littell brother.
From about 5 I was playing on the playground by myselve or with my friends all afternoon. We were allways climbing, at 9 I fell of a tree about 2,5 or 3m maybe even more, I broke my wrist and stopped climbing trees, a year or two later my aunt took me indoorclimbing for the first time, I'm climbing regullarly since I'm 14.
I was one of those kids who did a lot by themselve even for German standarts, I was told I am very brave for traveling 6h, home from my uncel in swizerland, by myselve on the train at 14. My longest travel by myselve were about 8 or 9h so fare.
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.
Not true in the big cities since 2015
@@nativefraulein5801 Still entirely true in 2024. Every statistic can tell you though if you care about facts rather than gefühlte Wahrheiten.
@@nativefraulein5801 you obviously believe everything the AFD is lying. Poor existence
@@nativefraulein5801I live in Frankfurt am Main and my son is already 6 years old. Were both just fine and i'm not worried about him.
How to say I am racist, without saying I am racist.
Percieved security and statistics might have a gap.
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.
I have lived in the Netherlands for a few years and yes it's wonderful, amazing playgrounds, safety...but one thing that wasn't mentioned is the persistent bullying and phone use that are traded in for knowing where your child is. You'll see kids here in Copenhagen as well, some of the most beautiful playgrounds but on their phones. So yeah having free range kids is great when they play and make friends, can explore or be independent but nowadays those same kids have their attention directed somewhere else than actually learning to get along and use the playgrounds themselves.
When I was a child we had so many great playgrounds right in the neighborhood - it felt like one every 500 m ^^ and all had different implements made of wood and sometimes metal; you could walk from one to the other all day and have the time of your life ^^ The greatest playground I remember was a so-called "construction playground": as a child, you could build your own huts out of boards and all sorts of other materials with a hammer, saw, nails, etc. There were 2 supervisors who paid attention to safety and helped when needed - the kids did everything else themselves... and what did we build! Even two-story houses with connecting bridges, that was absolute madness... every few weeks the houses (or whatever else they built) had torn down and you could let your imagination run wild again. Sometimes there were parents there (mostly fathers) who volunteered to work around with the children and were there to help and advise - whether the children wanted it or not, hahaha.. . This was by far the greatest playground we children have ever had - and certainly the one where we learned the most to recognize our own limits. Minor injuries were completely normal, no one made a big deal about it - on the contrary, in the evening the scratches and wounds were proudly shown at home and you received praise and recognition for what a great job you had done ^^ It's a real shame that there don't seem to be any playgrounds like this anymore...
Sounds like an awesome childhood :D!
@@dweuromaxxYes, indeed! We were truly "free" and allowed to experience and express ourselves in every conceivable way... We were trusted - and that was worth more to me personally than I can say... 😀
Unfortunately, parents in Germany are becoming more and more anxious. This is a bad development for children. People used to talk about helicopter parents. They always hover over their children, monitor everything and tell the child too often what it has to do. Nowadays, people talk about lawnmower parents who clear every blade of grass out of the way before the child trips over it. Young adults who grow up in such an environment are often very dependent and their physical abilities are getting worse.
I'm from the UK, and I'd say that the playgrounds in your u.k are similar to the one's in Germany nowadays. Calculated risks, designed to test the child and for the child to be creative.
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.😅
Part of the reason for this independence, I think, is due to the built environment, which is walkable and bikable relative to the US. For example, how can a child go to school along if driving is the only way to get there? I think urban planning plays a big part in individual freedom.
It has been like Germany just a few decades ago but then the government scared the Americans into a nanny state.
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...
So...und nicht anders! Großartig. Klingt nach meiner Kindheit (*1976)
I'm a German mother and when I first saw american playgrounds on tv I was very surprised that there is soooo much plastic. I also think Germany is safer because of less gunviolence. It is very strict here and I really like that. I guess some things are better in America and some in Germany. (:
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.
harm? it's simply not that safe in some US cities. Thus naturally, such "mental harm" isn't really a topic. And we Europeans shouldn't be arrogant about this since crime and safety issues are slowly creeping into our societies, too. When I visited Belgium this year, I didn't feel safe either in certain areas. I wouldn't let my kid roam around there, either.
@@NoctLightCloud the research was about the UK, not the USA.
@@jannetteberends8730 same response, though
A lot of german kids also use bikes,of course netherlands are extraordinary bike friendly,but also-flat.yet,amazing job.
As a German, I would also like to see more infrastructure for cycling. We are still really lagging behind the Netherlands in this regard.
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.
When it comes to way of living - I think Germany really has got it well covered.
USA is very Tech driven and its getting more and more online whereas Germany likes outdoors more.
It was like this in the US when growing up in the 60s. Not sure why it changed.
Little 6 yo Adam Walsh got kidnapped in 1981 and all they could find was his head. That is when it began. After that, all of us children were required to remain close to our parents or teachers. We were lambasted with safety lessons each day. We were constantly told of every little thing that could harm or kill us if we didn't follow strict rules. That was when everything changed.
I come from Tokyo and even German ppl were shockced/surprised, how independent small children (6yrs. old) are. Like, they take public transports to go to school every day.
It seems in many aspects Germany is somehow in the middle between the US and Japan. It often feels like that when I see comparisons between two of those three countries.
I live in a big city here in Germany and went to school alone at 6 years old (1988) and i see small kids walking alone or on public transport nowadays too.
@@CalmoOmlac its getting more rare / rarer?... you get what i mean.. since the school districts where removed and every child can go to school where ever the parents want them to, you see more and more children being driven to school by parents. because having the child going to school where you work is so much more convenient then having it go to school where you live.. how stupid would that be. having your friends close by is such a bad idea... you get the idea. sure there are still some waling / taking public transport,.. but its getting less
@@Brainreaver79 What? School districts aren't removed here in Frankfurt am Main. My son can only go to the school near his home. He's in elementary school now.
@@CalmoOmlac where i live (ruhrarea) that restriction has been removed. which sucks..
As a child in Germany (DDR/East Germany to be precise) I did not play at playgrounds. The village I grew up in and the fields and woods around were our playground. We played in sand pits, corn fields, went inside abandoned houses, climbed the cherry trees, and flew kites, explored old barns etc.. I had to be home at 5:30, that was all. In cities it was and is different I think.
I've heard many times that kids in the US used to grow up without being watched 24/7, being more independent, etc. I wonder what caused this to change?
During the late 80s and 90s the US and UK media would run stories about children being stolen.
24 hour for profit news, amber alerts and printing missing children on milk cartons. Stuff like that constantly makes people think how dangerous the world is. It makes parents think about child abductions every day. None of this stuff exists in Germany or Switzerland (where i live). So people only think about abductions like once a year when there is some high profile case.
Also the urban design in most of america just isnt suitable for kids to do anything on their own. That sure doesnt help.
I'd guess TV. In my lifetime I feel like I have seen the rise of "true crime" as a category of television show, podcast, and documentary. It's not that crime, kidnapping, or murder is more of a risk as much as the perception of those things is.
Another factor that has changed the philosophy of play in the US is law surrounding civil liability. For example I have friends who run a summer camp, they had a merry go round which has been at the camp for decades. During a recent insurance adjuster visit they got told they HAD to remove it unless they wanted a massive bump in insurance rates. It wasn't that the parents, kids, or camp directors got less risk tolerant it was that the structure of our legal system made risk tolerance too expensive.
Yes, it’s definitely due to the increase in child abductions or maybe just increase in child abductions that are reported. But I do understand why parents are so cautious, because even though stranger abductions are more rare than a child being taken by a non-custodial parent, they do happen. children are terribly abused and/ or killed. And even though it’s not likely to happen to your child, how many parents are willing to take that risk? I grew up in the 70s in Minnesota and as long as I was home by that time my mom got home from work everything was cool. But it is definitely a different world.
@@beckycaughel7557 is there an actual increase tho? General violent crime rates in the US definetly went down vs the 70s and 80s. So i think its all about the reporting and not the real situation.
Also are kids really safer if their risk of abduction by strangers is reduced from 0.00000000004% to 0.00000000001% at the cost of increasing their risk of obesity from 10% to 40%? And same with their social anxiety problems and such.
Kids should feel free to learn to solve problems and exercise their motor skills. Also learn to take some responsibility/ like going to school on their own.
Yeah you're right, kids aren't stupid or anything 😂😂😂
@@willfungusman8666 No, they aren’t stupid. They are inexperienced but not stupid. My kids went to kindergarten and to school alone, after a period of practice with me, like the other kids sid, my son went for drum practice using public transport at the age of 8 years. So did my daughter.
@@Visitkarte most adults are stupid. So are kids
@@willfungusman8666 they learn to not be stupid by taking responsibility and doing stuff on their own. Or you think that on the 16th birthday or something a switch in the mind of all children is flipped and they magically become smart that day?
My grandma liked to call me a stray because I always was outside with my friends from the age of 10 playing on large playgrounds with huge net constructs which were 5m high, or playing in the nearby woods on a small stream or playing football from after school to sunset. Best childhood ever. Yes, we came home once or twice with bloody knees, a cut above the eye or broken wrist, but those things would have happened most likely one day even under the eyes of our parents.
I'd give my kids the same kind of freedom I had and teach them the same lessons I was taught and experienced myself.
Children learn to calculate the risk, sometimes it hurts but they learn.
A 6-year-old German child is far more independent than a 12-year-old US child.
And the most essential difference, each and every German adult takes responsibility for any child, be it a bus driver, a person passing by, or a granny watching from her window.
Police are considered to be a friend, not an enemy.
It is called social behaviour, a thing Americans will never learn
This actually goes much further: In Germany (and most of Europe) you are _legally required_ to any person or significant property in danger.
Als Kind in Deutschland aufgewachsen, kann ich nur sagen: sei froh, dass du nicht die Spielplätze der 70er Jahre gesehen hast.
Wenn ich daran zurückdenke, wundert es mich, dass nicht mehr passiert ist. Ok, ich selbst hatte nen gebrochenen Arm. Aber naja... bis dahin hatte ich Spass. Und danach auch wieder. Es gehörte dazu, dass man sich verletzt. Das hat auch keinen Arzt interessiert, solange du nicht im Wochenabstand zum Arzt musstest. Solche Spielplätze wären heute undenkbar, selbst in Deutschland. Die Zeiten waren eben anders. Dennoch, oder gerade deswegen, hatte ich eine glückliche Kindheit.
Oh yes, our seventies playgrounds were simply brutal! Rusty sharp-edged metal everywhere, high towers, where it would make sense to think about the use of a parachute. The asthetical quality was highly questionable, too. But the simplicity was encouraging the imagination. These hyperdesigned modern playgrounds look actually boring to me.
@@anastasia12067 I agree to the fullest.
Being self reliant starts as kid and continues as student to the job. In the US you are basicly „guided“ non stop.
Czech playgrounds in the major cities are pretty amazing too. thanks for sharing the statistics, but the threat of litigation, although it might be very low, is enough to scare city planners to install the "safest" playground equipment. the US also has the american disability act, that requires that playgrounds need to accommodate wheel chairs.
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. ❤️
Finde ich echt süß, dass sie dir heimlich gefolgt ist 😊
I had pretty much the same experience, southern Germany in the 90s :) (Only about 1km though)
This is the way kids used to be raised in the US.
That's what Hallie said in this video about herself.
"used to be" sounds like past. Has it changed ?
@@holger_p From what I can see, yes. Parents don’t let their kids do the things I did when I was growing up. I noticed the change in the ’80s and it has gotten steadily worse since then.
Wir wohnen in Dresden in einer kleinen Reihenhaussiedlung. Hier kennt jeder jeden und selbst 5 jährige sind alleine draußen. Ist halt wie in einem Dorf.
In the rural areas of the USA kids are driving four runners and using firearms. Many of them have to work.
I was a kid in Germany and climbed up everything. My parents were American but my nanny was a German old lady that took me everywhere especially the park that I still remember.
I think the biggest difference is in the tendency to sue. Playgrounds in the US are that way to protect the creators as much as for the children.
My daughter and brother walked to school together. They walked to the playground and played alone. They had to be home when the street lights came on. My step father did spy on them occasionally to check up on them. They walked to the stables too alone. They stopped on the way to school to pick through the junking trash. My daughter came home with a baby buggy full of stuff every few months. Lol. My mom cleaned what she could and put some back out for our junking. 😅
American children growing up during the 1940s through 1960s were far more independent than today’s children, who probably will be known as the “helpless generation.” Parents can’t protect their children from every bad outcome in life. Thus, parents should consider the harm they inflict on their children by smothering them with oversight.
Cool video!
it really depends on the age but as soon as a kid hits school age they are expected to find the way around their immidiate neighborhood on their own. At least with a friend.
We trust our kids to be able to do this. which makes them more confident in their own abilities.
I can totally confirm that some playgrounds in germany are actualy built scary even for adults. I've seen some where I realy was afraid when I saw my kids climbing up without any safety or security but they are not only built to train the kids, but also their parents, too. As a german parent, you have to learn to trust your children that they know what they can manage and to let them go. Uowards in this case. And if they realize they were overconfident and they need you to get down again, well, you should learn to ignore your own fear of heights fast. :D
I'm Swiss but live in Africa on an international compound. Oh my... This helps me understand people from other nationalities better. They ALWAYS suprvise their kids and intervene in every fight etc. Now I understand better, why. Thanks.
When I was a kid in the countryside of Germany, we did´t even have playgrounds. We played on the street, in the woods and in the vast fields and gardens. We were out all afternoon and had to come back for dinner. We often had scratches from climbing trees, but that was considered normal. We wore old clothes when playing outside. The best playground to me is an exiting environment with trees, lakes, bushes, fields...
Nevertheless, I love, how creative modern playgrounds are. There have many difficult levels, swings and slides, for example. Kudos to the designers of these beautiful playgrounds, the are doing a great job.
This could have been about growing up in small town USA in the 1960s, as I did. Everything was the same then as depicted in Germany today. Children had much more true autonomy, clear and simple boundaries, and a sense of accountability. I think the change is why anxiety seems to rule for parents and kids today.
I'm a German living in Japan right now and I must say that playgrounds here are way better because they don't distinguish between age groups and offer facilities for all ages - even for adults. Also Denmark has this. That's very much missing in Germany.
But I understand that most things are already great if compared to greedy and superstituous US.
I recently read on reddit that the DIN EN for playgrounds (the German standard) regarding security measures was not designed for the purpose to prevent injury. The security measures may even be such that kids could break a bone in the worst case... The main design goal of the standards are set to prevent death or any other permanent damage from possible injuries.
To imagine that I grew up making bonfires, running through the woods, always a machete in hand, and me and my friends had the times of our life’s. I see kids nowadays and fell nothing but sorry for their super protected reality.
They brought same play park to the uk and kids here love it and the sand parks are our favourite
It is necessary to say that although it does not look like, still the German law has some requirements of safety for these playgrounds. For example the structure need very good foundations, the floor surface has to be soft for tall structures (there was tree bark small pieces in the video) in order to reduce impact in case of fall and they are yearly check by specialized companies.
Unfortunately some german places are getting obsessed with this hyper safeness. My old elementary school had a huge playground with lots of different and unusual play equipment and a bunch of trees. As i grew older i often passed my old school and they felled all the big trees you could climb on and got rid of all the cool stuff and replaced it with generic slides and swings. Really sad to see. Even as an adult i love big and creative playgrounds. I wish i was still small enough to play in them😅
I would have loved the German playgrounds as a kid!! Even as an adult, they look pretty tempting.
One example of this risk adverse society was shown on British TV recently when a Scandinavian pop star Aurora said that for every record bought she wanted to plant some trees to make a forest. The host beamed and nodded slavishly (probably thinking 'ooooh great, an interview with a trendy artist & an eco message'). She then said that the forest could be somewhere where you could take your kids- the host beamed wider and nodded in agreement.
Then Aurora added mischievously 'And leave them there...'
The host's face dropped and he looked like he'd just shat his pants and even while Aurora was continuing 'And they can teach themselves how to live in the forest'.
The host hastily added 'Not sure about leaving kids in the forest, don't try this at home'
But the thing is there are schools in Scandinavia that take kids out to the woods for all day classes in all weathers. Oh, yeah and there are bears and wolves in parts of Scandinavia. The kids are told to stay within a certain marked perimeter, but otherwise they are left to there own devices all day.
Petty much the way I was as a kid. I'd head out at 09;00 and not be back until I was hungry or it was getting dark (whichever happened first) - we'd run off to a nearby wood and spend all day just larking around.
Freedom? No armed guards? No electric fences? Not overweight to immobility?
German children are doomed……
I grew up in the 1960s/70s in Western Germany. We learnt where our limits are by hurting ourselfes. And it was OUR fault because WE went too far. My father always said: "If you get under the bus with that injury, you may die!" (means: Don't take it too serious). We learnt where our limits are and how far we can go!
Bei war es auch so! 80er Jahren in Guatemala 🇬🇹
I lived in the US for 5 years and happy i had my kids in Germany and they go to school here. Much safer, less bullying and in a small city , more country side is the safest place to have kids.
As someone who has lived in and visited Germany I have to say that I've never noticed the playgrounds in the past. The next time I go to Germany, I will check out the structures. They look interesting!
In Australia, I think we have a mix of both styles. We definitely have parents who watch there kids all the time, well into teen years. But there are also a lot more relaxed parents who let their kids take responsibility for themselves.
As a school age child of the 70s in the USA I can tell you that this sort of parenting was much more common. My friends and I use to roam all over the creek that ran behind our housing development.
In the 80ies and 90ies we went everywhere alone as children...there was literally no limit. Today's children don't even realize that their parents protecting them make them to scared little bitXhes.
4:05 I grew up in Germany and played at many playgrounds. And I was capable to master everything. When revisting the same playgrounds as an adult I almost shat my pants trying some of the jumps and climbs. I´ve clearly lost my confidence and skills due to a lack of practice. As an adult I was full of fear when inline skating came up and I tried them. But I was fearless when I was roller skating as a kid and teen.
Sadly, in Russia (Moskow), most playgrounds (like those in the yards of apartment blocks) are rather similar to those in the US - made from prefabricated plastic blocks in bright colours.
Some public parks have more "german" examples - unique, made from natural material and pretty interesting.
My and my sister's favourite as children was one in the Vernadsky park, built like a big wooden castle. Sadly gone by now...
Also it is a pleasure to see security officers in Germany regularly checking the conditions of the playground.
So here, all adults more or less look after other people's children. For example, I (male, 45 years old) take the bus to work every day, which school children also take.
Recently, a group of girls were getting on the bus with their bikes (there is space for bikes on the buses) and one of the girls had problems getting her bike onto the bus.
Of course, I helped her, one of her friends held the door open and I got her bike onto the bus.
At least here, as an adult, you naturally keep an eye on other people's children and help them if necessary.
As a 1948 model Canadian, it was always possible to escape excessive parental supervision. I remember the forbidden pleasure of paddling a raft on a pond in an disused gravel pit. When my wife and I moved to Norway in 1980 and had two children in that decade we tried to do things the Norwegian way. For example, we allowed our children to nap in their buggies outside in the winter (and other seasons), we allowed them to explore the neighbourhood unsupervised, including the forest near our house.
As a ruralist, I do not have much experience with playgrounds. One sport I am interested in is parkour, although some may regard it as an urban phenomenon.I addition, children living near water should learn to respect it, but have access to boats. Our neighbour told us that he had to row one to school, from the age of seven. I have tried to teach our children how to use tools, and to avoid injuring themselves. In particular, I think children should learn how to use knives, and be capable of making fires. It is appropriate to point out specific dangers, such as the cliff at the edge of our property. From an early age, we would encourage them to look up at our property from the road 15 meters below. I think they understood, that they should keep to the other side of the fence.
After a mere 44 years of living here, we almost feel more Norwegian than Canadian.
Our daughter is now living in California. Should she and her husband ever have Children, I hope they will consider moving (back) to Europe, because I feel the environment is better for children to grow up in. She is an EU citizen, so there are no restrictions in moving here.
BTW also in Switzerland children are going/coming to school at similar age as in Germany.
BTW I was going alone school at 11 (in Italy) I was going with my sisters 'alone' @8 years old. This is not possible anymore since ~15-20 years in Italy.
Till 10 years of age, children (In Italy) have to be brought to school and retrieved (parents may nominate friends or relative but their names must be filed with the school). After 11 children may be allowed to go home by themselves if the parents have signed paperworks with the school.
I miss monkey-bars (tall metal climbing structures)! Kids today seem to only have staircases to climb on-not fun!
There are quite a lot of projects in Germany where children (and their families) are involved in the process of playgeound-design. They care about other things than we might think. They want places to hide, picknick spots, benches for their parents etc. You can see magnificent differences in playground-design. Some playgrounds are standardized and boring and others are reqlly cool and Individual:)
In Sweden, I got my first commuter pass and a key home hanging under my shirt on a string when I was 9-10 years old
I remember that i so PROUD to manage to take the subway alone 4 stations to school and get home and make my own afterschool snack waiting for mom coming home..and even taking the bus 5-6 minutes to Karate practice and other activity's .
I did get really independent and selfgoing from that i presume
My kids were born in Denmark, and they have experienced play grounds in Denmark, the UK, and Taiwan. They like all of them.
Worst thing you can get from playgrounds in Germany is a broken bone or a concussion. Happend to me as well but it just taught me to be more careful next time! And I really really loved those playgrounds as a child because none is like the other 😊
It took decades for playgrounds in Germany to become more exciting. For a long time, they were reduced to boring swings and sandboxes, so that children sometimes preferred nearby construction sites, which aren't really safer. And, no matter how hazardous playground buildings may look, there's tons of rules and regulations behind them, in order to prevent serious injuries or death.
I grew up in Brazil in the 80s and after my 5th anniversary I was given the key to our house and could go anywhere with my bike. We didn't had fancy playgrounds like that, but we would just play around in the streets or venture for hours in the small patch of forest of the city.
But I had friends that would just be driven by car and were not allowed to go out, they were just excluded from our adventures.
I live today in Germany and have a 2 year old daughter, I plan to give her such freedom as I had, so she can learn to be independent.
yeah, but there are plenty of places in Brazil where that isn't a good idea.
So, my brother and I were dropped off at Grannies house when we were Kids, that was in the middle of nowhere compared to teh next village over in Schleswig-Holstein (only slight exageration, by bicycle it was like 15-25 Minutes into teh village propper). We we're not alone however, all grandchildren and a neighbourskid (from the fringe of teh next village) basically squatted at her place the entire summer and we basically WERE "Dorfkinder" for the summer and we made the woodlands etc. our stompingground after we were above 10, befoer we ONLY made the not so small property and teh two villages our stompingground, fun times indeed!
But from what I understand, letting your kids roam all over the place would be unthinkable in the US.
As a child, I would throw my school bag in the corner after school. And then I would leave the house until the evening.
We mostly played cowboys and Indians and shot at each other with homemade arrows.
And we climbed the highest trees
We mostly played in the meadows or in the nearby forest.
We despised playgrounds.
And there were no cell phones yet. So our parents couldn't harass us with calls *LOL*
We could do whatever we wanted all day long without supervision.
We only had to be home in the evening, when the church bells rang at 7 p.m. We didn't have our own clock, of course.
We enjoyed this freedom - it was a wonderful childhood.
Greetings from Germany:-)
Not living in Berlin, but when I was first grade I drove the 2+km to school on my bike through our town, crossing major streets... I guess, my parents just saw my responsible self and taught me well during my kindergarten time when I drove almost the same distance also by bike but with my mom behind me 😊
I was 5 and my sister was 6 and we walked to school several blocks away in 1975 in Cleveland Ohio.
Another big difference: Health insurance, in the US people are more or less forced to sue to recover the cost of health care if there's an accident.
I love to hear people from other countries saying something positive about my own country.
Cause we Germans are used to see all those negative things in our country.
It relaxes me to see that there are good things.
(I think there are a lot of good things but we forgot to look at them, cause we learned to look just at the bad ones.)
Young parents these days can't imagine that when we (born in the 1970s) were young, in the afternoon told our parents "Mom, I'm going outside, back by dinner" and from that point on, she had no idea where in town we were.
That was not true for me. I was also born in the 1970's, but my younger brother and me were looked after.
It's the same in the Netherlands. More so probably, because the bike infrastructure has been taken to a whole other level.
I‘m a mom of 4 living in Germany. We have a lot of different playgrounds even in our little town. But theres one thing I’m telling my kids: when you can’t get on the climbing frame (is this even the correct word?) by yourself it’s not ment to be for you and you won’t be safe up there.
And most of the time I am right 😊
What you and my people don't know or notice, the German players and the state place a lot of effort to construct a safe playground.
For example studies show the risk of live thratening injuries increase, if childen fall more than one meter.
There for high swings a place between earth walls, reducing the high of the possible Fall.
The high slides are in Tube, so nobody can Fall of it. And so one ...
Many playgrounds are encircled by fences or some kind of cattle grid to keep dogs out.
...
If you can get up - you can play on it! And honestly I even prefer the Danish way. (Where you do not even have to worry that your child goes missing) I am a German mother of four (very rare) and I let my kids do what they think they are capable of. I encourage them to do „dangerous“ stuff too. My now 15 year old went round Berlin (we live close) first time on her own when she was 12. My 15 month old goes up the slide. Just let them be!
And also there is no lawsuit unless the playground is actually broken and not closed.
Safe in America where children have to dodge bullets in school? Terrifying in my opinion.
@@epg96 And everybody remember his name. In America the victims are less than a statistic.
What a stupid statement … a nation of 330 million people, so that a school shooting is a rarity
On holiday I met two teachers who worked with 6-7 year olds from Philadelphia. Because of the threat of a school gun attack , they were paid very highly because it included danger money. 😖
@@wendywoohaslam485 Um ... no? I live in Philly and my wife teaches 5 year olds ... and she is NOT paid well. No teachers in Philly are.
Bro get over yourself
Another aspect is that the USA doesn't have free health care. If there kids gets hurt, they may go bankrupt paying to take care of them.
●When talking about his childhood it was kind of hard for me, an American, to accept that comedian George Carlin's parents let him play out in the streets of New York City with his friends. At age seven!
●In the 1970s & 80s our mom would have us small kids wait in the car while she went inside to the store or whatever. Now? A mother was arrested after her job interview for doing the same thing. _That's_ the standard now here in the States.
The greatest danger for beeing harmed for a child is his own family. That's the same in the US and in Germany.
But in Germany ist's much much easier for children to find help. They can find friends by there own on playgrounds and other parents see if something is going wrong.
Homeschoolong is't allowed so you have teachers and friends of your own.
In the US you can't get in contact with others if your parents don't want it.
Much more dangerous!
I'm from Germany so my English wasn't perfekt. But I am glad my childs can live here!
I think cultural, historical and anthropological factors play the main role. Here in Italy we have the not-so-false stereotype of the Mediterranean overprotective mum, but I have a feeling that it's still more relaxed than the average US mum - except for the mum I saw at a playground once, escorting her 7/8 yo around hand in hand the entire time and scaffolding her buttocks to protect her when climbing stuff, the way I would have probably done with my 2 yo, or not even. Things have changed dramatically in the last 20-30 years, and I think this is something US and Italy have in common. 20 years ago I was serving at a summer camp and even if I was underage I had responsibility of a small group of 7 years olds inside a huge amusement park, now summer camp trips to that same park are only allowed with a parent or caretaker up to 10 years old.
My super anxious and controlling mum would still let me play in the woods and in the sea with friends but no adults around since age 7 and go around the town alone since age 11, but I don't see that so much nowadays, and I am still not sure I will be able to get myself to do the same when my kids will be that age.
Yet, I would never ever consider things like baby monitors, leashes for toddlers, tracking bracelets or suing anyone because my kids got hurt at the playground. When they want to experiment something new I consistently cherish and encourage them, while still firmly standing my ground when it comes to actual safety and responsibility. It's always a delicate balance, and this is quite universal I think.
Thing about protecting your kids is: You mostly have to protect them from irreperable damage. The really bad stuff. For everything else, let them hurt themselves. You cannot protect them indefinitely and if they learn early, they will be much better at protecting themselves, and they will have years of experience with it!
I think playground are just kind of a „symptom“ of underlying cultural differences. As I understand it (and experienced it during an exchange year ages ago), in general americans want to protect their children and teens from harm by making sure the harm doesn’t come near them or is unknown to them (ie dont climb too high, or you’ll fall and get hurt, don’t use matches or you’ll burn, don’t have sex at all, or you’ll get pregnant, don’t talk about money or difficult things, don’t …)except in very closed, safe settings supervised by adults.
Of course not everybody is like that, US is huge, with many different people in it.
But, as a rule, in Germany we kind of protect our children by teaching them to protect themselves (like saying to our kids and teens: you won’t fall because you know how to climb, you won’t burn because you know how to safely make a fire, you won’t become a teenage parent because you know how how to be safe, sane and consensual and if you don’t know how to solve a problem yet, you’ll find a way to do it. I’ll be here if you need me)
Where y’all’s crazy gun and health care politics come into that theory though…. I really truly absolutely don’t know
But as a dad of three daughters i think that this "american parenting" style keeps getting popular in germany more and more especially due to social media. Carrying them to school in a 3 ton SUV, controlling every step they make, wanting to know what they do and were they are. German parents lose trust in the abilities of their kids to take care of themselves for at least 5 minutes a day.
German author Anne Kratzer has done research on this topic, which was published in Gehirn&Geist in 2019. It explored the influence of the long-trusted German parenting manual, "The German Mother and Her First Child" by Johanna Haarer. She theorized that this parenting philosophy had many damaging effects, too. Her writing is well worth a read.
I think it was either Sweden or Finland that have outdoor schools and kindergardens. Which i find goes into this direction pointed out here as a differance between german and US playgrounds. Training for independent and responsible thought and action.
@@kinngrimm Germany also has some Waldkindergarten where children are outside year-round.
@@ElkeLandenberger Yes, but as far i am aware in comparison a lot less than these other countries i named.
@@kinngrimm yes, but I think German educators are catching on, it's a good start.