Are German playgrounds too dangerous?

DW (English)

Are German children given more freedom than children in the US? A comparison.

Transcript

00:00Is Germany safer for kids than the U.S.?

00:04Why do German children travel to school alone so young?

00:09And is it true that German playgrounds are actually built to be dangerous?

00:13Let's find out.

00:18I first came from the U.S. to Germany to work as an au pair,

00:21which is basically a nanny abroad.

00:23On the first day, I met my host family.

00:26And we all went to the playground together.

00:29As their seven-year-old, who would soon be my responsibility,

00:31climbed up to the top of this somewhat terrifying-looking playground,

00:34the parents asked me to join them for a walk across the park.

00:37Uh, shouldn't we ask little Niklas to come with us? I asked.

00:41Oh, him? Nah, he'll be fine up there. We'll see him when we come back, they said.

00:45That was my first clue that playtime in Germany is a little different than I was used to in the States.

00:49I've since learned that German parents just tend to be more relaxed about their children than American parents.

00:54For example, I was shocked when I first saw kids in Berlin around age six or seven

00:58taking public transport to school by themselves.

01:01This would never happen where I'm from, but it's pretty normal here.

01:07Unlike American children, German children are not typically watched every second.

01:11They're expected to learn life skills early and be independent.

01:14I'd always let her do things. When she said, no, Mom, I want to do it myself, I would let go.

01:23As they get older, they don't always want to be around their parents.

01:26They just want to discover the world for themselves.

01:28You'll be there for them, watching over them, but that's just a part of growing up.

01:32And they should be allowed to follow their own path.

01:34So-called free-range parenting doesn't exist here in Germany the way it does in the U.S.

01:39Because that kind of parenting is just the standard here.

01:42So is Germany really that much safer than the States?

01:48Growing up in Ohio in the 90s and early 2000s, I was allowed to run around alone with my friends.

01:52Now some of my friends are parents themselves and wouldn't think of letting their kids do that.

01:57Safety is a big concern for American parents today, especially with all of the frightening headlines about children being abducted.

02:10There were around 375,000 reported entries for missing children in the U.S. in 2023.

02:16In Germany, it was just over 90,000.

02:18Compared to each country's population, though, it works out to be about the same percentage of kids missing.

02:23But in both countries, the chances of a child being abducted by a stranger is actually quite small.

02:30And the person responsible is usually a parent or family member who doesn't have custody of the child.

02:36And in both countries, nearly all missing children are actually recovered.

02:40Here in Berlin, I more often hear parents worried about their kids crossing a busy road,

02:43or photos of them being posted on social media.

02:45So the difference in parenting styles between the two countries does seem to be cultural.

02:52It's simply more normal for German parents to let their children out of sight than American parents.

02:58Tori Buch, an American living here in Berlin, is adjusting to the German style of parenting after having her first child here.

03:03I think German parents are just a little more relaxed, a little more chill, like less obsessed with,

03:09I have to track everything, I have to know everything about my child, where they're doing things, when they did something.

03:15And there's a lot more of an attitude of kids will develop the way they develop,

03:18and we don't need to be so observant and so careful about tracking every little thing.

03:23Tori tries out her German-inspired parenting style on the playgrounds here,

03:26which look a little different from what we're used to in the U.S.

03:28I love German playgrounds, I think they're amazing.

03:33Like I think the problem in the U.S. is we have a very cookie-cutter notion of like,

03:37a playground has to look like this and have these features,

03:40and I feel like here the attitude is a lot more, kids are kids, they love to be creative,

03:44they love to explore and have different experiences, and so let's give them really varied playgrounds.

03:48I know what she means. My playgrounds growing up mostly looked like this.

03:51Colorful, plastic, not too high, no sharp edges.

03:55So I was shocked when I first saw German playgrounds, often metal or wooden with more natural features,

04:01and lots of character and whimsy. Some are downright terrifying, even for me as an adult.

04:07To be honest, the first thought in my American brain was that German playgrounds look like a lawsuit waiting to happen,

04:12but I learned that they're actually built with risks involved on purpose.

04:15The idea is that children who face risks while playing will learn to better manage tricky situations,

04:20and thus better manage their adult life later.

04:23In fact, studies show children who don't face these risks are more prone to things like obesity,

04:29mental health issues, a lack of independence, and a decrease in learning, perception, and judgment skills.

04:34So while Americans tend to build their playgrounds as safe as possible, Germans tend to build theirs as safe as necessary.

04:41Even insurance experts in Germany agree. They recommend playgrounds with calculated risks involved,

04:46balanced with safety features to promote problem-solving skills.

04:51You might think American playgrounds can't look like this because Americans are more likely to sue when their child gets hurt.

04:56But actually, despite the stereotype, Americans are less likely to sue than you might think.

05:00Only a small percentage of civil court cases in the U.S. actually involve personal injury,

05:05and most of those are related to car accidents.

05:08The difference is, Germans are less likely to win millions in a lawsuit against a playground where their child got hurt.

05:13That's because the sense of personal responsibility is strong here,

05:16and you're expected to accept the risks at the places where you go.

05:22But I was really surprised to learn all this, and I have to say, I prefer the German playgrounds.

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