Achtung baby An American mom on the German art of raising self-reliant children

Sara Zaske

Book - 2018

"When Sara Zaske moved from Oregon to Berlin with her husband and toddler, she knew the transition would be challenging, especially when she became pregnant with her second child. She was surprised to discover that German parents give their children a great deal of freedom--much more than Americans. In Berlin, kids walk to school by themselves, ride the subway alone, cut food with sharp knives, and even play with fire. German parents did not share her fears, and their children were thriving. Was she doing the opposite of what she intended, which was to raise capable children? Why was parenting culture so different in the States? Through her own family's often funny experiences as well as interviews with other parents, teachers, a...nd experts, Zaske shares the many unexpected parenting lessons she learned from living in Germany. Achtung Baby reveals that today's Germans know something that American parents don't (or have perhaps forgotten) about raising kids with 'selbstandigkeit' (self-reliance), and provides practical examples American parents can use to give their own children the freedom they need to grow into responsible, independent adults." -- Amazon.com.

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Subjects
Published
New York : Picador 2018.
Language
English
Main Author
Sara Zaske (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
ix, 239 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-225) and index.
ISBN
9781250160171
9781250189936
  • Introduction: Modern Germany
  • Beyond the Stereotype
  • A Short Historical Update
  • The Culture of Control
  • Why German Parenting Matters
  • 1. Leaving America
  • A Cold Arrival
  • Everything in Order
  • 2. Berlin Babies
  • Where Midwives Rule
  • The American Disadvantage
  • A Berlin Birth
  • 3. Attachment Problems
  • German Parents and Attachment Theory
  • Independent Infants
  • Mother Knows Best?
  • 4. Small Children, Small Worries (Kleine Kinder, Kleins Sorgen)
  • The Kindergarten East-West Legacy
  • Early Kita Skills
  • Quality of Care
  • Child-Care Benefits
  • 5. The Democratic Kindergarten
  • Faster or Better Learning
  • Children in Charge
  • Discipline
  • Kita Trips
  • Teaching Kita Skills in the United States
  • 6. Starting School
  • Play School
  • Educational Priorities
  • Homework, Food, and Protest
  • 7. No Bad Weather
  • America Inside
  • Germans and Free Nature
  • Taking Away the Toys
  • 8. The Freedom to Move
  • Why German Children Walk Alone
  • Freedom to Play
  • 9. Dangerous Things
  • The Art of Fire
  • Tools
  • Adventure Play
  • Necessary Dangers
  • A Celebration of Fear
  • 10. Tough Subjects
  • Death
  • Religion
  • 11. Facing the Past
  • The History of Memory
  • Historic Crimes and Responsibility
  • 12. Big Kids, Big Worries (Grosse Kinder, Grosse Sorgen)
  • The Space to Be Young
  • An Extra-Long Adolescence
  • The Academic Question
  • Achieving Adulthood
  • 13. Coming Back to America
  • Starting American School
  • Fourth-Grade Blues
  • Freedom for Kids in the Land of the Free
  • Epilogue German Lessons
  • The Rights of Children
  • Freedom of Ideas
  • Bibliography
  • Acknowledgments
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Zaske does what any American journalist would do upon moving to Berlin with her husband and with a two-year-old in tow-she starts noticing and researching how Germans raise their children. In doing so, she makes a case for the country's relaxed approach to child rearing as a welcome alternative to the more hands-on American style. With both parents able to take up to three years of partially paid parental leave, childcare in Germany is seen as a manageable task for working parents, and not as a touchstone for guilt, shame, and longing. Moreover, German parents, Zaske notes, are generally hands-off at the playground and otherwise, and children begin to walk to school unsupervised in second grade. Children also aren't sheltered in the classroom, where they learn the facts of life at seven. The book is more than a memoir. Supported by statistics and research studies, Zaske makes a strong argument that German parenting practices are creating smarter and more productive parents and children alike. Agent: Terra Chalberg, Chalberg & Sussman. (Jan. 2018) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Channeling readers of Pamela -Druckerman's Bringing Up Bébé and Alison Gopnik's The Gardener and the Carpenter, Zaske's work describes how the author moved from Oregon to Berlin after the birth of her son and, in the midst of the transition, found herself expecting her second child. In comic tones, Zaske shares the thrill and tumult of adjusting to a new culture, vastly different from her expectations. As opposed to the stereotype of strict, overbearing German parent, Zaske found "free-range" was the norm for childhood. In Germany today, children are encouraged to walk to school on their own and talk honestly about the Holocaust and other painful moments in the past. The priority is raising children who are self-reliant, independent, and responsible; a stark contrast, says Zaske, to the results some experts see from American children in the "helicopter" parenting era. From the birth process (in which midwives are the most common attendants) to early childhood (child care is considered a right, and "kita" schools provide playtime instead of the more rigorous American-style education) to elementary school (where topics such as sex, death, and nudity are a part of everyday conversations and outdoor time is enforced daily), Zaske compares American and German parenting culture and gives the U.S. reader inspiration to explore new methods. VERDICT A compelling cultural study that will interest all those who wish to learn about German culture, as well as American parents and educators. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review

Channeling readers of Pamela -Druckerman's Bringing Up Bébé and Alison Gopnik's The Gardener and the Carpenter, Zaske's work describes how the author moved from Oregon to Berlin after the birth of her son and, in the midst of the transition, found herself expecting her second child. In comic tones, Zaske shares the thrill and tumult of adjusting to a new culture, vastly different from her expectations. As opposed to the stereotype of strict, overbearing German parent, Zaske found "free-range" was the norm for childhood. In Germany today, children are encouraged to walk to school on their own and talk honestly about the Holocaust and other painful moments in the past. The priority is raising children who are self-reliant, independent, and responsible: a stark contrast, says Zaske, to the results some experts see from American children in the "helicopter" parenting era. From the birth process (in which midwives are the most common attendants) to early childhood (child care is considered a right, and "kita" schools provide playtime instead of the more rigorous American-style education) to elementary school (where topics such as sex, death, and nudity are a part of everyday conversations and outdoor time is enforced daily), Zaske compares American and German parenting culture and gives the U.S. reader inspiration to explore new methods. VERDICT A compelling cultural study that will interest all those who wish to learn about German culture, as well as American parents and educators.-Julia M. Reffner, Richmond, VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.