Judging by old family albums I didn't own any clothes for the first three years of my life.

Im Alter von 7 musste ich bis 19h daheim sein, zumindest im Sommer. Im Winter spätestens, wenn die Straßenlaternen angegangen sind. Würde nicht sagen, dass es an der Sicherheit liegt, eher am vertrauen, welches wir unseren Kindern entgegen bringen. Mein Sohn ist 5 und läuft in der Nachbarschaft selbstständig zu seinen Freunden. Er muss sich jedoch abmelden und bekommt den Auftrag, den Eltern des Freundes zu sagen, bis wann er daheim sein soll. Aber auf dem Dorf, wie hier, ist es sicher etwas anderes, als in einer Stadt. Des weiteren gibt es hier einen Spruch "den Hund erzieht der Besitzer, ein Kind das ganze Dorf" 😊

I think the reason children can go out unsupervised is that in Germany there's ALWAYS someone watching you and no hesitation when it comes to old ladies inserting themselves into anyones business. 😂

I remember being able to go to the playground on my own starting at the age of six maybe even younger. We were allowed to play in the street where we lived and go to the playground in groups of children or with my younger brother. We always had to tell my parents exactly where we would go and when we would be back. That’s why I got my own little watch at the age of six to be able to monitor the time. There was no such thing as a mobile phone involved, just a time set to be home and clear boundaries on where to go. It taught us freedom, responsibility and the fact that our parents trusted us.

When I grew up in Germany I had to wait until my mom woke up and then I left the house only to come home to eat and drink. I ate some fruits and vegetables in the yard so I didn't need to go inside. We also peed outside. I am thankfull I grew up under the sun and not over a screen.

That playground box thing is definitely something that depends on the area you live in, we don't have that in my area

I grew up in the States and I am raising 4 kids in Germany. What I love most here is exactly what you, Antoinette, have been saying. Showing the kids that you have confidence in them, and trust them to walk to/from school or even kindergarden, to spend time at a playground alone is such an important signal. How would we have turned out if our parents had never let us take steps that were unsupervised and not organized by adults? Many of my American school friends monitor their kid's lives, even their phone. How would we have felt if our parents had listened to our phone calls, read our letters, traced our whereabouts, organized all our ways, etc. ????? About the nakedness: kids are naked at lakes, rivers, etc., and normally not because their Moms forgot the bathing suits. Actually only the really small ones like toddlers are required to wear the swim diapers for hygienic reasons. All that is fine with me, but there is one thing I do not go to : European Saunas. People of all shapes, genders, and ages naked in one small room - Wow!!!!

As a kid there aren't many worse things than helicopter parents. ^^

I think it is the weird perception that bodies are somehow inherently and foremost sexual. We don't see it that way here. Bodies are first of all bodies. They are sexual once you use them in that intimate way.

Thanks for your kind video! As a child in Germany in the 70s/80s, I was biking with a friend alone through the village, fields etc - I guess I was 7 or 8. Now as a parent, we were driving our kids often from A to B (helicopter parenting). A father of my childhood friend recently said: "in those old days, maybe 1 of 10,000 kids would die compared to nowadays because of playing unsupervised, but the other 9,999 had a happier childhood than kids these days!"

At the age of 7 or 8 I really went with my twin to the playground and back. Our parents said to be early at home and we came at the right time back. When you are living in a small village, everybody knows everybody. When you go to the playground there always is a person you know. You also know not to take the public toys with you. Because nobody has to need to steal it. I am happy to had a such wonderful childhood.

I grew up in a small german village with a big forest and a lake nearby. For us kids (it was the 1970s) it was pretty normal to play alone (without parents watching) outside even at a younger age. I think I was about 4 years old when I was allowed to play on my own in front of my parents house where my mom had an eye on me. I dont know how often she stood at the window looking after me but I felt pretty grown up and independant those days :) Being about 5 years old my parents allowed me to go to the playground on my own which was about 500m away from home. It was near enough to call me home (for lunch or in the evening) but too far away to have eye contact. After "testing" me this way they further enlarge my radius of action but set some rules. I remember not being allowed to cross the main street on my own under any conditions. To go into the forest deeper than a few meters were not allowed and going to the lake without any adult was absolutly prohibited. The forest thing was not taken that seriously so sooner or later we kids became very comfortable playing in the forest with all the "adventures" coming with that. ;) I remember the last day my Mom came with me for bathing in the lake. Up to this day she always was on my side watching closely what Im doing there. But on this day we were on the beach beside the lake and a friend of mine was on the other side with his parents. So I asked my Mom if I can go and visit him. "Sure" my Mom said thinking I would run around the lake to see my friend. But I took the direct route swimming through the lake (about 15 minutes of swimming). We played there for a while and after my healthy return on the same way she said "Ok son, from now on I allow you to go swimming on your own. You dont need me here anymore to watch you." And boy was I proud. I was about 6 or 7 years old that day. Not an uncommon age because my friends experienced something equal.

I am from vienna, and yes my 7-year old can go to the playground on his own. Im usually not far away, like in the cafe or park nearby or so. But i trust him to run around on his own. I also trust other parents or people nearby. AND from the age of four onwards i have taught him not follow anybody home or into a car... He knows about bad people and the tricks they might use. He knows to shout and scream loudly if anybody dared to hold him or pull him away. “You are not my father/mother!“ is important here to say, so people will react quicker. I think he would even punch a guy in the face if harassed. 😊 When there are big crowds he always has my telefone number written on his arm. He knows he must go to a woman with children and ask her to call me. Very useful!!😉

Hi. When your child is six year old she goes to school. After the First Werks i went alone to school, every morning with my friends. This was great. So i think This is the perfect time to teach your child to Go alone to playgrounds, or buy Something in a little Supermarkt or visit the neighbour. IT depends a little where you Live but If you forget to train your children in that age to be Independent , i think you might become a Helicopter Parent. That is too much Stress for everyone;)

I’m in a small coal mining town in Canada and everybody in this town allows their children around age 5 to wander the neighborhood and visit parks alone. Is a fairly small town(about 4,000 people) and many mothers are stay at home moms, so you know that if something happens to your child and any mother hears them crying they will care for your child as if it were there own. I’ve bandages up scapes and cuts of neighborhood kids, watered and fed them, and I know other moms have done the same for mine.

Why shouldn't kids pee on a tree whe every dog can pee there?

I grew up in the 80/90 in the German countryside and I think once I had learned to ride a bike my parents didn't know anymore where I was half of the time.

My parents let me and my friends go play in the woods and by the river when I was young and we came back when it was getting dark or we were too tired to keep on playing. I think the main reason why parents here give their Kids so much freedom is because they are not that paranoid. Sadly though the paranoia is growing

I also learned to ride a bicycle the hard way. At the age of 8 I got one that was actually a little too big for me at the time, but parents couldn't afford buying a toy bike or a new one every other year, that's why I got a real one that would last some time. I crashed while learning because I couldn't get down fast enough on a stop, and hurt my knee badly - skin ripped off, bleeding, burning ... My interest was gone for about half a year. But then it bugged me I saw others riding and j couldn't do it. So I tried again and again. I learned that accidents happen, and what's needed to avoid them to the best of.my abilities. I learned that bruises hurt, so better watch out, mind your step and other actions, to avoid the hassle of treatment, having to stay at home injured, etc etc. I learned that bicycles break, need to be fixed, that it's costly, and I can't use it for weeks until it's fixed.

To be the perfect german 😋😂i have to mention it is technical forbidden to pee in public. Age doens't matter. But nobody care, especially the police when it comes to little kids.

You are such an adorable person!! I love to see and hear how you handle so positively to live in a "foreign" country. You don't build protecting walls around you, but you take so much as a chance to grow. That's amazing and in my eyes you are a role model. :)

I guess once Emilia goes to school and starts walking alone it will be easier for you to let her go to the playground on her own, too. The first steps into independence are never easy, especially for us adults and more so with our firstborns 🙀. Our son demanded going to the bakery on his own when he was five. Since he always watched carefully when crossing the streets, we just let him. But yes, we died waiting 🙈. He was six and a half when we allowed him on the playground on his own. First he just went ahead so I had time to get his two sibblings dressed. Over time he went earlier and earlier. Eventually we were so slow that he came back on his own, too, asking where we are 😅. He turns 8 this summer and is allowed to go freely when the weather is ok. I don't however let him go alone when I'm certain that noone else is on the playground or in the park (i.e. bad weather or when it gets dark). I don't let him go then, because in case of an accident noone can help him get home or call help (he already had an accident, he slipped while climbing, he couldn't walk anymore, luckily I was around). Our daughter (almost six) is allowed to go with her older brother since recently. They have to cross the street together and she has to tell him, when she wants to go home (it's really only across the street). When he wants to go home, she has to come with him. Since he never wants to leave, that rule hasn't been a problem so far and 'helping' her across the street doesn't bother him either, so both are fine with the current setting. Our daughter will start school this summer so I guess it won't take long until I feel comfortabl letting her go on her own, too (I'm glad she never really wants to so far 😅).

Kids on playground all by themselves: I remember at some age my parents would increase the distance I could be away from home very slowly. And when the time came that I was allowes to go to the playground alone, after staying there for too long and missing lunch a couple of times, I was gifted a watch. Mechanical, hand windable and also automatic. And with a day date complication. It wasn't a really expensive watch but for my parents it must have been quite an amount and not easy to afford. Anyway, I learned reading the watch and also monitoring the time, and keeping in mind I had an "appointment" I couldn't miss. I also list the watch one day because one of the springbars broke and it fell off my arm unnoticed. I managed to find it by walking back the exact same way again and again after hours. Man was I relieved. And so I learned to pay attention and care about my stuff.

Wow I have never ever seen such kind of boxes at the playgrounds😳😍

Both my parents needed to work, my mom worked half a day like from 8 to 14, during this my granny looked after me, she was living round the corner of the block. My dad was a truck driver and at home only on the weekends. I was mighty proud I was given more and more freedom bit by bit, I was let loose for a limited time, and the distance and locations I was allowed to go to was slowly increased. So my parents kinda knew where to look for me in case I was missing. I could go to granny, to a playground friends home, to the playground, to school unattended after my parents had walked with me and waited to pick me up a couple of times. They would occasionally follow me secretly to see if everything went ok, and after gaining trust, I only shouldn't miss being home at the said time at latest. Else my rights were drastically limited again. That way I learned.

There is actually not a lot to fear for children from strangers, if something bad happens it’s 99% from people they know.

I just wanted to congratulate you on your video! It warms my heart that coming from another culture and being used to things being done differently you are still so open to learning new things especially regarding such a sensitive topic as parenting! Some people get really ideological about that which makes your openness especially wonderful! What a benefit to your kids and KZfaq viewers alike!

When somebody is scared of being naked, a common German retort is "Hast du Angst, dass dir jemand was abguckt?"

As a kid of the 1960's I was always free to roam the streets. But you knew your own boundaries... you wouldnt cross a dangerous street or venture too far. After school we would stay out to play until dinnertime or sundown. in summertime, we'd cycle to the river with a lunchbox full of sandwiches and a thermos with cold lemonade and be happy. Life was so much simpler.

In my childhood during the mid 60and beginning 70th my parents and other parents from my friends too wants us to go out and play to become self reliand .and so to speak it worked well.and about learning english in kindergarten ist pretty cool and in my eyes its an advantage for the entire life.i ve only learn english for4years about 39years ago and thats way not enough .by the way like the work you are doing whith your channel !its my favorite one

At the age of 6, we spent whole days playing outside without adults. Climbing rocks, going into the woods, building dams at smal creeks... we had wounded knees, bloody noses, broken arms... and the next day we did the same again. I think its absolutly correct to take care of your children and show them their boundaries, but its also really important that they learn a lot by theirselfs. To get more independent, to know what they are capeable of, to learn what are their own limits and to grow self-confidence. Thats the reason why my kids are growing up the same way as i did and i can see it is the right decission. Because nowadays, i encounter so many teenager and even young adults who are not able to manage any problems when they are out of their comfort zone. (I have quite often interns, apprentices or holiday workers.)

I love your channel, it's so interesting! ❤️

I'm so proud of you, especially as I am raising children in a foreign country too and sometimes it is a struggle just for the reason you have been raised in a different environment and sometimes you're just not aware of the ways things go

Going home alone from schoOl started at age of 7 cause in first grade older pupils led us a huge part of the way which was in total about 3 km and with a huge crossing leading to the railway station. The freedom for adventures are part of german parenting, growing and conquering the world starting with the neighbourhood.

I think the "playground thing" depends on the area you live in. I grew up in the village and I remember walking like 1 kilometer to the bakery on the weekends together with my best friend when I was like 5 I think. We were three kids from my street in our group in kindergarten and when I was like 6 we would even walk home from kindergarten by ourselves (a little more than 1 kilometer). Same thing when we started school. For the first few weeks a parent would come with us to show us away and after that the three of us would go by ourselves or with the older kids from our street. And we would be out in the street by or on the playground by ourselves all the time. I live in a big city now and I would love to be able to give my future children the same liberty that I had as a kid but my living situation does not only depend on me. Here I would definitely not want to let my future kids run around the neighborhood by themselves. There are just to many alcoholics, drug dependents, and other really strange people hanging out in our neighborhood (sometimes they even scare me as an adult) and I think that sometimes people also find things like syringes at the playground. During the last three years I have been working for several kindergartens in all kinds of different neighborhoods of the city I live in and there has never been a child being allowed to leave kindergarten without an adult.

Love your videos!!!

I think it depends on the area you are living but in my childhood (closer to the country side; small village vibes) we always played alone. It was common to meet at a park, going to the forest or playing in the fields. We only had the rule to be at home before it´s dark. Parents even encouraged us to play outside when the weather was nice.

I’ve been learning english in kindergarten too ^^ It also was voluntary but we had to learn English in school since 3rd grade. In 7th grade kids normally learn a second foreign language. So if you leave school (and learn hard ^^) you can speak 3 different languages and I think that’s amazing :)

I think the most effective way to build a save society/environment is give the children an authentic conviction that the society/environment is a save place. Societies are becoming unsafe if people act out of fear. No one thinks he/she/it is a villain. Where does violence come from, if no one thinks he/she/it is a villain? Because they think the others are villains and so they have to defend themself against this imaginary villains. The only way to get out of this circle is by convincing as many children as possible that the environment is a save place. And like magic, the environment will inevitably become a save place. The Status Quo is not a broken system. The Status Quo is that everyone is happy. And if something isn't fair, then that's a problem that have to be solved. That's of course just my humble opinion. And that doesn't mean that society isn't a much more complex thing, but the basic concept is an important pillow of a solidary community.

I also remember I was sent to the local grocery stores and butcher to buy certain things my mom needed for cooking etc, so she had the time to do other chores while I was waiting until it was my turn in the queue at the butcher or at the grocery shop.

Also in Kindergarden we were allowed at the age of six to walk home alone if the parents gave their agreement. Before that someone had to pick you up. I remember one time, when i didn't walk home, instead i went with a Friend to her home to play but nobody knew. My parents weren't that lucky about that, they were really scared not knowing where i am, but i think that never happened again. They told me about their feelings and what i have done wrong and after that i always told them where i would go. Actually i have a really great relationship to my parents, i am 22 and live in an own Appartement in their house and still mostly tell them where i am going. I also did that when i was around 16, so i really had a lot of freedom in this time, because they always knew where i am, with who i am and that someone would bring me home in the Night (at an acceptable time).

Hi! This is a great video. So much of what you share about New Zealand culture is similar to the US! We are thinking of moving to Munich with our 4 kids and it’s so nice to know how family friendly it is there.

Are there also Things that shocked you in a negative way? Or parenting habits that shocked your Husband in new Zealand?

To me Parents refuse to not let their kids go on there one as they become very self-confident at a young age. That gives the kids a feeling of self-responsibility and leads to a easier Timemanagement for the mother. Especial when there is more than one kid to care for.

I would be shocked to see a six year-old playing alone at a park here! Really interesting video, Antoinette. :) That sounds so cute when the kids approach you and want to speak English.

I remember that I had to wait until I was 6 Years old to be allowed to walk from my Grandmother's House to the Kindergarten alone, because my said it was to dangerous traffic wise to walk alone from Home to Kindergarten and so I had to wait until I got in to the 1st first Grade of Elementary School and had to listen to the Police Man and the Teacher, when they tought us the Rules of the Traffic, for example to look left, right, left and then cross the Street! And then I was allowed by my Parents to walk alone or with Friends to School and back Home and also to the Playground!

Hi, Antoinette, I love your videos and your cute kiwi dialect. I find it great that you speak with your children only English and obviously your husband German. Never again it will be so easy for the kids to learn 2 languages at the same time. My daughter in law is American and they live in Australia. My son speaks with their son only German and my daughter in law only English. The kid is three years old now and it is amazing to see how he speaks with his parents in their different languages. He turns his head to his father and speaks German and then turns his head to his mother and speaks English, incredible! And on Skype he speaks German with us, his grandparents. Warm greetings from Hannover, Germany

In New Zealand we went camping at a camping place which had a toaster and cooker. And once a day somebody came and collected the registration and money. In Germany after a week the toaster and rubbish bin would have been stolen and the money box as well.

The age when children start school (5-7) is usually when we start encouraging some independence in them (not forcing of course, each child has their own pace they feel comfortable with). They get shown their way to school and, depending on the difficulty of the way, may be accompanied by their parents for the first days to weeks, but after that, children will usually go to school alone (and most schools also encourage that over stuff like dropping them off by car). They'll come back from school alone as well, and since they'll be forming a tight net of friendships at school normally, they'll soon be asking to be allowed to go play with friends after school, at the playground or the soccer field or the like. That's usually not meant as a "Can you come watch over us as we play" but as a "I'm big now and can do this myself". It's always gonna be hard on parents to allow that first really big step into autonomy, but it's so important for self-confidence, later self-reliance, and so on :) Of course rules apply, like not being allowed to leave a specific area so parents can easily find them, being home by a specific time or, if they own a cellphone already, call home once an hour and stuff like that.

like1, Hello Mrs Antoinette, very long not chat with you. Thanks for your information about parenting in germany.

Hi Antoinette! Been raised in the 80's of last century I totally agree with your present experience. Since we lived in a middle sized village I was brought and fetched from Kindergarten last time considering my age and dependence. But still we were allowed to play even before visiting school to play in the garden on our own or with friends while my mum did housework or whatever in the first floor. Sure, the neighboors from the ground kept an eye on us as well and mum could see us from the window as well but we were relatively early starting with those habits encouraged to develop a selfawareness and self-responsibility. When starting grammr school at the age of 7, which was located at the complete opposite end of the village we went there by school bus in the first step. Fairly soon we started to raise our independence travelling by bike there and back. And when we could do this safely and secure on our own we were engaged to do some procurement like grocery shopping, getting rolls from bakery in the morning on weekends and this sort of stuff as well. Finally this way of been educated and getting acquainted with responsibility from younger age onwards we became exactly this sort of adults my parents and other educationals intended to form.

I grew up in Germany in the 90's. Sine I was about 7 years old I went to school on my own (15 minute walk) and was allowed to go to the playground near by or go visit my best friend on the other side of the hill. But I was prepared to protect myself because of the way my parents raised me and I also remember being taught how to deal with traffic, crossing roads safely and so on by a policeman in kindergarden for a whole week, having to pass a bicycle test in elementary school aswell as several training sessions by policemen and child psychologists on staying safe when on your own and recognising/avoiding potential predators or strange situations, around the same time. Same for all my classmates. And to be honest we always felt safe, even on our own.

I was always at the playground the whole day long. its normal😂 when its getting darker I headed home and since first grade i was alone on my way to school since it was 10 min away

My son goes to the playground on his own all the time. It is just a very very short bike ride. He loves it! It gives him much convidence to do that ride on his own. He has been going since he was five.

It's normal for kids to start going to the nearest playground alone in the spring/summer before they start school. It is a "training" because they are supposed to go to school allone later that year.

I love your videos Antoinette! 😊 I think it‘s funny that you were „shocked“ that kids are at playgrounds alone.. When I was a little kid my parents went to the playground with me and I always wanted to be more independent and go to the playground alone just like the older kids. So we made a deal: I had to learn how to read the clock properly and be „trustworthy“ enough to always be back in time- then I would be allowed to go to the playground alone. When I was five years old I always was at the playground just with my friends. 😊 We also went to school together (1 km) every day a year later: no parent ever escorted their child- that would have been „embarassing“ for the child 😁

I had to smile a lot while listening to your points. I grew up in a small German village and from a very young age my mom told me and my brother: go out and play with the other kids. be back by dinner or when it gets dark. we had a great time playing in the streets, the forest, a nearby little river, on the playground. in a village I guess people think, there will always be someone nearby who has an eye on you or can help if something happens.

I remember being allowed to go to playground ever since I could safely cross the two little roads leading up to the playground. So I think I was like 4 years old back then and even before that my parents let me go with my sister who was three years older. I don't really know what problems might go along with that as long as the child knows to be careful around roads and not to go with strangers. If they get hurt, they will find their way back home and if they were to hurt real bad, there is probably at least one adult who knows as good as you do what to do. You might want to write your phone number on the back of your child's hand or let the child learn the number.

I never saw toy boxes on playgrounds in Germany. But a cool idea. My kids were all allowed to walk around in a small area from 5 on, area growing as the kids did. The first time you let them explore a new area gives you not the best feelings, but your kid us proud that you trust him to have a bigger area to explore. Having to solve problems out there by themselves makes them trusting in their abilities and get self-confident. I as a child in the 80s loved to stroll around all over town - and there is no way I could take this fun experience from my kids. So I just ignore my silly mother-fears and let them go, without phone and only knowing which area they are allowed to and when they should be back. Up to now none of them ever disappointed me. Nor did society, to whom I trust then, too.

Apart from topically commenting on your videos, I also want to say that you really are such a sweet person. I watch a lot of political and intellectual videos on youtube, and whenever I watch your videos, I just get a smile on my face.I love your energy and the way you can get excited about things.

Technically, taking a leak in public is illegal (ordnungswidrig, I guess). It's hardly enforced, though, and probably never with small children in "emergencies". But although adult males frequently also pee against trees after a pub night, this could get one into trouble. As others have commented, almost everything was even more free and "dangerous" in the 1970s/80s. 5-6 year olds would walk to and back from kindergarten on their own, I think this has been restricted by now.

You are great!

I think it’s pretty normal for kids to play outside alone , as a kid ( i must have been around 5 or 6 ) I used to go to the playground alone or with friends or my little brother ! When I was around 8 years old I rode to a friends house with my bike and we used to drive to a castle that was around 5 km away and play in the Forrest or at a lake . And I guess when I was in 5th grade my classmates and me drove to a see that was around 15km away on our bikes without a parent or teacher and it was pretty normal for us ! My mom used to say that I had to be at home when the streetlights went on or in the summertime around 7 pm .

When I moved to Faroe islands I was nervous about putting my baby to sleep outside in her pram. Now I love it, she is dressed warm and I can do cleaning while I heat her sleeping in the monitor. Nordic and Scandinavia have some good ideas for babies and toddlers. Also what shocked me was seeing kiss go by themselves to the center of town at 6 years old and taking the bus alone. They go play until 12 or 1am in the summer because it is bright out and we only get a bit of darkness in the summer.

Hi Antoinette, what u just said about the toys that belong to the playground- ur exactly right by recognizing the idea behind it that kids are encouraged sharing toys. it is not so that Germans are honest all the way round but these concepts help opening the people's and kid's minds to somehow be better persons by sharing and playing together etc. We liked these concepts when our son was little, and he 4 example is sharing things and is not one of those keeping and crying " no, it is mine" :-) greetings 2 ur husband and ur adorable kids from Mathias and fam Jena, Thuringia

What shocked me most about Germany is the amount of books they have to cary to school at a young age. And the amount of homework. In the Netherlands they have a bit of homework starting from six, but it only really starts at 12.

We have playground boxes here in Vancouver Canada too. Many apts are small so we don't want to waste precious space on sand collectors. Also then you don't have to carry them around and can easily stop by a park without planning. We even have tricycles, bubbles and ride ons in there. I've personally put frisbees, bubbles and chalk in there too.

Those toy boxes sound great, but they really must be a regional thing. I moved from the Palatinate Forest to Hamburg and I never saw those on any playground. Maybe on supervised playgrounds, but I've never been to one of these with my daughter yet. Growing up in a woodland region, peeing behind a tree was always a normal thing to me. So I was puzzled when the city put a portable loo in front of one of the playgrounds we often visited. My first thought was, where's the rest of the building site, until I saw the signs, that said that peeing in the bushes is now prohibited and the kids should use that plastic privy. One look on the filthy inside and I knew my kid will not sit on that! It was removed a few weeks later anyway.

My son just turned 4 two weeks ago and is already going to the playground with some kids from the village, on his own ;-) But they are 8 years old and picking him up. And we normally spend our holidays camping in former East-Germany, where it is absolutely common to be naked. There are even family-friendly-nudist sites. Nudity is natural. And children need their space and freedom. I have spend my childhood being outside with friends on our own.

Not just a matter of trusting your kids at the playground without a parent there, but trusting your fellow adults too. Obviously the parents would have educated their kids too. Quite refreshing!

I grew up in a small village in the middle part of Germany, and as far as I remember, my parents (and the parents of my friends) at starting about age 6-7, they would let us run around the village as we see fit (once we finished homework), the only rule being to come back home once the "church tower bells are ringing", which would be 6pm. So yeah, it's pretty common

It's great that kids learn english in Kindergarten nowadays and they already start to get a feeling for other languages at a young age. My first encounter with the english language was only in 2nd grade, so at about age 6. But then in 4th grade I took a french class in school, that was pretty cool, too.

Saw you for the first time. You are lovely. I subscribed and hit the bell.

So when I was a child growing up in Germany, it was totally normal for me to go to the playground alone or with my friends with an early age of 6, but I was only allowed to go to the playgrounds nearby, which was like two streets away from my house. I loved it, even though I was one of the children who’s mother was a little more, let’s say „ worried“, which means that I wasn’t allowed to go that much more far or even to the woods nearby. Of course I did it anyway sometimes, but I think it’s important for children to just go and explore things outside on their own, with some limitations ( not going too far or being at home when the streetlights turn on). Nowadays children learn English in a younger age than when I was young ( I learned French in kindergarden) and I think it’s a gift to be raised bilingual or even trilingual or to have the opportunity to learn another language in kindergarden, because my parents for example could only speak German.

I lived 1km away from my first school in year 2-4 I had to school and home alone, I was 7-9 years old, my parents were ok with it but they had no choice, they both had to work

At age of six I was cycling 20 km far away alone (happened to be exactly the same street we moved to two years later), going km:s into the woods alone/with friends, playing in playgrounds in other districts, ... (I am a Finn). Apparently at least my younger son shares these genes. At age of seven he had bicycled to next town alone and he was catched for it by slipping that he bicycled to the church there once (the round trip is about 50 km); luckily his mother was not hearing it.

my son walked over to the playground with bis friends since he is five years old. but its quite 50m, we live in a very save naibourhood and there is always someone near who might hear him scream, when he is hurt. in other ways I wouldn't allow it... I think, it depends on the neighbourhood and the distance.

My son is 8 and we live in a smaller village. He can freely roam the village now on foot or on his scooter to visit his friends. In spring and summer you see little groups of kids band together and roam the neighborhoods and sneak ice cream and drinks from various families. I'm always well stocked with food and drink in the summertime in case there is a "holdup". Thank goodness for the "wild peeing" being allowed for smaller kids. There are not that many public toilets around and you would never make it on time. Starting around school age of 6 you stop seeing it, usually. As to the safety, I think New Zealand is probably no less safe than Germany but it's a matter of being realistic about security statistics and not giving into the media frenzy and paranoia that every child alone is at risk of being abducted. I refuse to restrict my child's freedom based on unfounded fears.

native german here, i confirm all of your points and agree. in my area we did not have public toy boxes in the playground and public toys were either not available or fixed to the playground in some way such as chains but we had sufficient access to public or semipublic toys, and toy boxes may be a thing in my area now, too. regarding nakedness, yes. i was running around naked in the garden even at age seven to ten with my younger siblings, we took dips in an inflatable pool without clothes in summer in the garden. regarding the trees, it is not just small children rellieving themselves there but also dogs, so everyone knows that trees and bushes, especially in certain areas, are such places. if we had emergencies, in my envirenment, it was also totally ok to use certain bushes for more than just pee pee, and also as an adult. this could be the case on a motorway parking space without toilets. so we knew that the bushes around that parking would be used for emergencies. or even just anwhere next to a highway with no toilet in sight, an emergency would end up in the bushes. of course, for children and adults alike, finding a proper toilet always is the priority and such public relief was the absolute exception and not the priority solution. i remember from my childhood and that of my siblings that we had such emergencies primarily on long highway trips to holiday locations with no public toilet in sight. i cannot remember my earliest days, but i must have been between six and ten on some of the later trips and remember about two such emergencies. regarding sharing, i think very strongly that forcing to share is harmful to the child and that sharing should be decided by the child themself when it is their toy. regarding running around on my own without my parents in sight, i remember very vividly that we started school at age six and naturally, we all had to walk to school on our own. nobody was brought to school by their parents. this was a school rule. the rule was that children had to walk and had to walk on their own. for riding a bike to school or for a drop off by parents you needed an explicit permisson from the head master of the school, and those werre hard to get, and you had to present a really compelling reason for why your child could not walk on their own. i am not sure whether the school s reason for this rule were to increase autonomy or simply the lack or parking space, bike spaces and drop off space. whatever the reason, the rule was strict. i remember that to get a permit for riding a bike to school, you had to proove that you lived more than two kilometers away and could not walk that distance. this would not entitle you for a drop off, though. in any case, walking on your own to school and back and of course carrying the key to open the home door and often even having to make your own lunch was totally normal in my childhood for us primariy school children from the start of school at age six. we did not have any school lunches and primary school finished before lunch, and working parents could neither pick us up nor open the door nor prepare food for us. this was normal. we never thought or complained about it. it was just natural to us. i am not entirely sure about the same primary school today after our area has become one of the most crimeridden in the hamburg neighbourhood with organized crime flying in through hamburg airport, doing their dirty work and flying out of hamburg airport the same day, but as far as i can judge from the children s voices passing my window every school day, the majority if not all children in the area still walk to school and from school on their own as before. we were encouraged to walk in groups, and this seems to be the same today as well, but of course if you do not find a group to walk with, you go on your own nevertheless. i do not remember from what age i was allowed to go to a playground on my own or to other activities but i think it was all from age six. it might have been earlier if we had had ülaygrounds closer by but the closest was some three or four kilometers away, i think, so that was just too far for under six, i guess. however, if playcrounds are closer, it is totally normal for kids to go there on their own like playing in the garden on their own. we did have a very strong education to never ever accept anything to eat or drink from a stranger, to never ever follow a stranger or a stranger s instructions and to return immediately as soon as we feel something odd or uncomfortable and also to always return on time. this education was very vividly in my mind when i went to school on my own for my first, actual school day.

Studying to become an elementary school teacher has taught me that it really is necessary to put trust in your children, so they learn at a young age how to solve problems on their own. Parents that like bring the children to school every day and always go with them to the playground make their children so dependent on them. Also especially the walk to school and going to the playground alone should cause the kids to learn social interaction, because usually even if they walk without their parents, some kid always lives nearby so the two of them share the same way and they'd always walk together. Walking the way to school or going to the playground by themselves let's them explore the world further. They touch house walls, leaves hanging onto the sidewalk, can smell flowers, all of which they cannot do when they're driven to school by their parents. With solving problems I meant something like what happens when work on the sidewalk is being done and they have to change the side they're walking on. Or how to manage time by being responsible to not come too late. What you said in the video about learning English in kindergarten is very interesting. It's not the rule to teach children a foreign language in kindergarten, but the number of bilingual or even trilingual kindergartens is rising. (Where I live there is a kindergarten where they speak German, English and Turkish.) To become an elementary school teacher, I have to study two subjects, one of them is English. There I learned that children don't actively learn a new language at that age. They just have a sense for what is said in a different language. This way they're able to acquire the language rather than simply learn it. We as adults lose the ability to differentiate between similar sounds, that is why it's so hard for Germans to pronounce the th-sound (usually it gets pronounced as t-, d- or s-sound so thinking sounds more like tinking or sinking and that is because these sounds are all produced similarly having your tongue touch the back of the upper teeth), when they learn the language later in life. Children have not yet learned to filter the "unnecessary" sounds (of other languages), which makes it easier for them to learn the pronounciation of different languages. So I think it's pretty awesome someone offers an English course for the kindergarten kids.

In France my children were being taught basic English phrases from Kindergarten age. Of course they also get a dose of English from me. Using the word shocked suggests you have a worried idea about something. I would have said things that surprised or more strongly astonished..

Ich und alle die ich kenne waren nicht nur für eine halbe Stunde alleine im Spielplatz, sondern meistens den ganzen Tag. Der Spielplatz war direkt vor unserem Haus, aber auch zu den anderen Spielplätzen in der Nachbarschaft die nicht in Sichtweite waren durften wir hin gehen. Oder im Sommer sind Ich (ab ca 9 Jahre) und meine 2 Jahre jüngere Cousine alleine ins Schwimmbad am anderen Ende der Stadt mit Fahrrädern oder dem Bus gefahren. Da gab es auch nie irgendwelche Probleme...

For me it was normal to play on my own at 4-6 or later walk to school.

I like how you always try to be neutral and not judge the one or the other way of thinking about things!

Certainly our kids run to the playground all by themselves - at least when they reach school age. I personally walked to my father‘s shop starting the age of 5. It was a walk of 2 km to his shop downtown and I remember being quite nerveous, because I only knew how to continue my way, when I reached the next corner. My little sister would always ask me, if I now knew, where to turn to next and I always found the way! And I would have become cracy with my own seven kids, if I had to bring them to a playground and watch them play!!!! But we do train our kids not to go with strangers!

The toys on playgrounds are usually from children who got to old for them and the parents did not know any children who would want them. So they do not really belong to the playground and it does not really matter _that_ much if someone takes them.

It is technically forbidden to pee in public and it depends where you are at. You wouldn't pee on a tree on an other persons property or at the side of a street. In parks or forests however it's pretty much fair game, just do it a row or two behind the first tree line :)

I grew up in a village and here it was common for the children to be able to play outside without being guided. Of course we made bullsh*t too, but that rarely remained a secret in the village :D My mother accompanied me to school for a week and afterwards I was allowed to go alone. I was 5 years old when I went to preschool. That is quite normal in Germany! I am 31 years old and in my time they taught English from the 5th grade. A second foreign language could be chosen from the 7th grade (I had two years of French lessons). My cousin is four years younger and she already had English lessons in 1st grade and I think that's brilliant!

I am Austrian, but all these things you said are common here too. When children become school kids, they are allowed to go by themselves. I live in Vienna and my kids have to go by train and by Tram to their school and they nailed it after a few weeks. Going to the playground: As they have to cross two pretty dangerous streets without lights or else, they were allowed to go there on their own together when they were 7 and 9 years old. There is this thing called elimination communication, where babys don’t wear any nappies. You just go to the toilet with them. I did this and my kids went Pipi EVERYWHERE, as they were just a few months old. 😄

When i was like six years old i was allowed to not only walk to the playground alone, i was allowed to roam pretty much the entire village alone. The only condition was to tell my parents or (after i learned to write) leave them a note. I remember walking to the playground at the egde of the forest with my little sister or spending an entire afternoon kneedeep in the "Erbsenbach", the little brook that ran through the village. I even remember walking with my friends and little sister to the spring in the forest when i was about ten. When i was like twelve my sister and i decided to follow the "Erbsenbach" to it's spring but we lost it at the entrance to the next village a couple kilometers away from our homevillage. At that time i had my first mobile phone and called my mother to pick us up, partly because we were pretty exhausted after the long walk and partly because i wanted to use the mobile phone^^

I remember that my Brother in first class picker me up from Kindergarten.

Hi dear Antoinette, I just found your video and really liked it! I'm a primary school teacher from Franconia currently doing a year abroad in Aussie looking after kids here, so I can relate ;) where are you living in Franconia?

I started learning my first foreign language (French) in 3rd grade. Since we were so young, it was mostly fun and games though. I haven't studied French since, but I remember some songs and the numbers from 1 to 12 to this day :D

Nice video, rendered me laughing. If the kids can walk to school by themselves they can also go to the playground. Most kids know their geographic boundaries (Don't go beyond the big bridge) and time limits. Last week a kid from my group was involved in a minor accident when walking to church. Within 10 minutes more then 5 people acquainted with the kids family had called the parents and taken care of the kid and the bike. Couple of days later the kids was back to cruising the neighbourhood:)

My generation grew up wild and free. In the morning we got up early, wemt to school, back home in noon, had lunch, did out homeworks and then, we went out to play with our friends amd had to return for dinner at 6pm, in winter when street light were on. And my generation, most of them, is able to think clearly, act like an adult and brave enough to drive by car through a city where we have never been and use google to find out what we need to know. Lots of us saw how kids of heli parents behave. They are often not able to grow adult. I met some... terrible memories! One should bake some frozen (your favourite word...😄) Brötchen for the crew. Not too difficult. Get the bag out of the fridge, get out the buns out of the bag, put them into the oven which was switched on at a temperature which is found on the bag and also the endurance to let them bake in the oven, right? This guy opened the fire place, did not remive the covers, switched them all on and put the plastic bag onto it. What he did was noticed by a crew member when dark smoke was coming out of the kitchen. This guy was not stupid. He even had the Abitur (he finished Highschool) but he never learned to help himself and how to get informations he needs. He even was not aware that he was missing informations...🙄 I met lots of his kind. A result of heli parents who did everything for them and did not let a child make it's own experiences, even when they sometimes hurt. People care for each other's kids and parents amd kids in neighbourhood know each other. So kids can go out for playing for 2, 3 or even 4 hours on their own and explore their little world and make it bigger and bigger the more they grow up. When I was 5 my territory was our little street and the gardens behind. When I was 7 it was an area of about 500m. When I was 10 it has been about 3 villages around. With 13 it was a little town and some villages around and when I was 15 I explored Hamburg (1,8 million cizizens) with my friends and sometimes on my own. It made me brave enough to try out things I never did and learn new things like cooking my own dishes without burning down the house which was helpful to my busy mom. Heli kids are not able to do such things. And when German parents saw how divided the kids became in able and unable, some of them said that they force themselves to let them their kids grow up as free as they have grown up. Others cannot let go and they always want to be im command. So, if someone wants to harm a child, for examole sexual abusive, they find kids everywhere. They can break into houses. They can grab a kid in kindergarten or whereever. And most abusive cases happen in the own family. So no guarantee to grow up a kid safely by being a helicopter mom. But it is a guarantee that exactely this harms a kid in behaviour. I am up to 50 now and I see kids play at the river, in the woods, on the fields and in the streets. And I mostly know which child belongs to which house. And if I see someone strange walk through the street while I work in my garden or walk ma dogs I take care what he is doing: searching for a house number or talking to a kid? I have two big dogs who alert every stranger. So my beighbours kids are safe! 😁🙏🏻😉😂 By the way: lots of kids are out with dogs. Best natural protectors and fantastic friends! Ma guide Ulysses, an Irish setter, made strange people walk around me in a large distance. 😂😂😂

Als ich klein war mussten wir zu Hause sein wenn es dunkel wird. Im Sommer konnte das dann recht spät werden 😇 Und wenn wir nicht grade auf der Wiese vorm Haus gespielt haben wussten unsere Eltern in der Regel auch nicht wo wir uns rumgetrieben haben. Später (so mit 10) sind wir mit den Fahrrädern oder der U-Bahn auch einfach in die Stadt gefahren.

Hi Antoinette, first: your Videos r great! I'm a German and I love your Videos! Second: I have no children, but my sister has 2 girls. They're playing on a playground alone too, but in that case my sister can watch them from home through the window and the Kids know the rules. Also the playground is away from streets. And often, the neighbours Kids go out too and play with them, so everyone knows the other and can trust in each other. Three: I didn't know that Kids can learn english in that age, but I'm not surprised. In my oppinion, the German language melts more and more with the english language. It's called "Denglisch". You can Listen to it everywhere. For example, my husband loves playing videogames online with other people he doesn't really know, they use teamspeak, and it's Denglisch. They say "Ich geh mal looten!"... Englisch is becoming a part of german more and more... Nice greetings! Alex

In the Netherlands, nudity of adults is also more open, not just the kids. Not sure if the toys thing would work in The Netherlands. :-) Kids on their own is also pretty common I think in The Netherlands, the little boys and girls are send to school on their bike pretty early. Love that in The Netherlands we don't overdub movies, but use subtitles, I think this really helps with learning languages as well. I wonder if in The Netherlands we would have a use for that, seems they do it pretty early in Germany. Interesting !

Hi Antoinette, I really like your videos. I think you are very fun to watch. Where do you live? I'm curious because I can not relate to those things, except for the playground toys. So maybe the costumes depend on where you are located in Germany.

As long as it isn't too far away and you can do it by foot, bike or public transportation, parents probably bring their kids to school on the first day of school. After that: " you know the way." My mother worked about 100 meters away from where I went to kindergarden. She took me to her work, where I stayed for about half and hour. Then I went to Kindergarden at age 3... alone. It was only 100 metwrs down the street, so no problem. Also, having lived in a small town of about 3000, going alone somewhere as a child wasn't ever the problem. Not to school, not to the lake, not into the woods and not even into the town 3 kilometers away or drive by bus 20 kilometers into the district town at age 8 to visit a museum all by yourself... but it was the 80s and that was a different time.