American reacts to 5 SHOCKING Parenting differences in GERMANY vs USA

Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to 5 THINGS THAT SHOCKED ME ABOUT PARENTING IN GERMANY 🇩🇪
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[@UlliStein]

In Germany we say: "Kids who are not allowed to do anything grow up to be adults who are not able to do anything". I believe that is true.

[@aRealAndHumanManThing]

had a friend from 5.-8. grade. We always compared his parents (didn't want to make him feel bad, so never told him) to helicopter like americans. He was barely able to stay on a bike when riding, didn't take the bus or train by himself, and never planned a short trip or so with friends (he is almost 19 by now). also, when he got accepted into a good University (worst score B+ in high school...), THE WHOLE FAMILY MOVED THERE. Didn't know shit about everyday life, will probably be absolutely overwhelmed by the responsibilities in his future work field, yada yada yada. In my opinion, a pretty high price for preventing sprained ankles and having A/A+ instead of A-/B+ as the average graduation score

[@piiinkDeluxe]

​@@aRealAndHumanManThingmy heart always breaks a little for kids like that

[@MomoPersikka]

@@aRealAndHumanManThing wtf?!

[@PatciProduction]

That is true for me. My parents had no trust in me and I am scared now and have myself no trust in me. It's very difficult. Pls let your child develop and makeing mistakes.

[@koenigkorczak]

It's wild to me that nudity is looked at as so unnatural in America. It's literally the most natural thing there is.

[@lhpl]

If we were meant to be naked, we would be born that way.

[@kitsunekaze93]

agreed, in sweden its not too uncommon to see kids running around naked on the beach, or even playing in the front yard jumping around sprinklers and such. its just natural

[@Aoderic]

@@kitsunekaze93 Same in Denmark

[@xxshiroxx4797]

@@lhplhuh

[@PDVism]

Especially considering that they are the biggest producer and consummers of p*rn. But a small infant being naked.... clutching pearls Then again, I remember reading about a 14 year old girl that took a nude'ish picture of herself inthe USA, this was found by a teacher or somebody and the result was that the teen girl was registered as a sex offender for having child p*rn *facepalm*

[@herrhartmann3036]

I said it before, and now I say it again: German parenting is based on the idea that Children Are Not Stupid!

[@christophkagermeier6417]

Wenn man Gebrauchsanweisungen für den USA Markt an sieht weiß man was los ist . Wenn Erwachsene für dumm gehalten werden. Dann wohl auch die Kinder.

[@YuraGacha]

Yea! And he also said 'taking a picture would be weird.. cause then you'd be a-" HOLD UP SIR!!! THAT'S ILLEGAL!!!

[@Hiafanao]

that was for several years ago. but since ~2000 ... how i can say it in friendly language? look at the actual pisa study..

[@kevinheimann7664]

and if they are its just natural selection

[@Auvas_Damask]

​@@HiafanaoThe Pisa study is just as much of a joke as our current school system. What we learn and especially how we learn it is completely outdated.

[@mizoompaloompa170]

We don‘t sexualize kids. So nobody bats an eye about small kids being naked on the beach or on a lake

[@DisturbedFox137]

also a lot of adults keep an eye on the kids, not just those the kids belong to but strangers as well. i'm always unconsciously having an eye on the kids around even tho i don't have one myself but it's kinda engraved in me since as a kid i felt like nothing could ever happen to me and so i want to do it myself so the kids can feel this safety too.

[@mizoompaloompa170]

Yes. Exactly

[@TheRealJanGrimm]

About speaking a foreign language: I once saw some nice comments here where two people were arguing. The first one (American) said “Your English is very bad.” and then the second one (a guy from Europe) replied “You speak English to me because it's the only language you understand. I speak English to you because it is the only language you understand." - I really liked that^^

[@YuraGacha]

That's a good comeback! And polite too! Somehow-

[@marleen237]

Very smart 😂

[@sophiebell4758]

Yeah i agree. I am From Germany, and i Had so many Americans complain about my english in comments... As If they would be Able to Form any sentences at all in German...

[@aRealAndHumanManThing]

@@sophiebell4758 I learned more english by programming and coding tutorials than in school, but smh never had those comments

[@sophiebell4758]

@@aRealAndHumanManThing that can be For different reasons :) maybe my english is worse than yours? I know for example that my autocorrect is totally messed Up after years of using it in english and German. Like it would capitalize sooo many words that should Not be in english and Stuff :) and i also argue in many comment section With themes that get quote emotional Like Religion or politics. So the "you cant even Type" is also often Used to Invalidate my comments :)

[@klarasee806]

What I found quite disturbing in the USA was the quite opposite: At a beach I noticed that all young girls either wore swimming suits (in one piece) or a two piece bikini: bottom AND top! No little girl on that beach went "topless" - almost as if a young girls’ breast was something dirty or forbidden. I found it quite disturbing to sexualize an absolutely innocent thing like a young girls‘ breast by feeling the need to cover it up. I don‘t know if that’s only common in some particular regions or throughout the USA, but from what I have read on social media, it‘s at least not unique to the beach where we were.

[@internationalexpansion_kr]

I was once spoken to by a North American Scout leader at an international camp in Austria because my "girls" (in a mixed group of 16-20 year olds) were wearing bikinis and he didn't think that was appropriate and told me he'd warned all of his (same age group) to bring one pieces...

[@blatterrascheln2267]

In Germany the outcry isn't about the small kiddos, but about anyone taking too much interest in that. 🎉

[@KrisThroughGlass]

I went to the playground with my friends without parents starting at around 4. I still remember how proud I was to be allowed to go alone for the first time.

[@mememoments2779]

my first way to school alone on my bike, i was 7 or 8 but im never gonna forget that! Edit: of course I was Alone outside before but this was just the most memorable memory i had.

[@santobenedetto]

Playground? How boring. We went to the woods.

[@ZealousIndifference]

​@@santobenedettoOh wow! I bet you were looking at trees a lot huh? Sounds really fun :) good for you buddy.

[@mememoments2779]

@@santobenedetto but surely not with 4years

[@WilmaWalma]

I was also 4 years old when I was outside by myself playing with kids that were around my age. No parents around. This was early 2000s in Sweden. Nowadays, I know parents in Sweden are more cautious.

[@no-elli2]

Holding a little girl to pee like a machine gun is such a father thing to say...😂

[@Attirbful]

as a kid in the seventies, I spent hours and hours playing with the neighborhood kids in nearby cherry orchards. For hours, our parents had no idea where we were at. We would frequent different playgrounds in the hood; buy ice cream and have it on the swings; go to a friend’s house; we would, again, for hours, roller skate around the sleek surfaces at a school in the neighborhood in the afternoons when no one was there. We were truly free and learned to be responsible at an early age…. When the street lights would come on at night, we knew it was about time to make our way home…

[@Carol_65]

Same here. To me childhood today in Germany reminds me of being a child in the US in the 70s.

[@user-nj1pu9qv8v]

Also the same in Austria. This was quiet normal to me as a kid

[@SuperPuddingcat]

During my childhood in the late 70’s and early 80’s I would go out on my bicycle on a weekend and be gone the entire day. Nobody at home knew where I was or what I was doing and no means of contacting me was possible. It was the same for me, when the street lights came on it was time to go home and no one at home asked where I was or what I been doing. Even in Germany now parents would get nervous if their child were gone the entire day and no one knew where it was.

[@thomasstroh-uu2mj]

I am a 49 years old German and still till today my best childhood memory's are when we (3 to 4 kids) played all day in the woods without adults. It was like exploring a fairytale in real. We where 7 or 8 years old when we first done it and it was great. Oh by the way we lived in a little town so there are always woods not far away.

[@jenswurm]

Ohhh yes...one used to find abandoned treehouses built by other kids. Exploring those was like being Indiana Jones...

[@kragiharp]

Yes, me too. On hot days we played at a pond in the woods. We also went to the playground or played in the streets. All kids (3 years and older) of the village (only 1000 residents). Hide and seek or a Schnitzeljagd in the whole village with all the kids was great! Nobody of us had a watch. When the street lights went on, it was the sign for everyone to go home. Happy days.

[@ida6950]

oh yes! I‘m only in my late 20s but I remember doing the same.

[@walkir2662]

41yo German, Grandpa was a farmer, so we went to play on his land near a small dam at a creek while our parents were gardening. As the oldest, I had to pay attention to the little ones while building a hut or something near that water. I guess screaming loud enough would have brought help if necessary, but not really quick enough.

[@compphysgeek]

even though I grew up in the Ruhrgebiet we did the same, just replace woods with abandoned industrial plant sites. I'm also 49.

[@jgr_lilli_]

When my parents went to the US with me when I was a baby, they went to lake Michigan with me and let me play on the beach naked. Immediately someone came over and reprimanded them. It was really shocking to them because in Germany (especially in the east where they grew up) kids under 6 rarely ever wore swumsuits on the beach.

[@johnaddicted]

"If it's a little girl, would you hold her up like a machine gun?"....me, as an European parent wondering how one would hold a machine gun.😅

[@Yotanido]

Something to keep in mind about kidnappings: The vast majority of kidnappings happen by people the children know. Maybe an uncle, or a family friend. Or, by far the most common, one of the parents. (Lost custody, or just wants to keep the child away from the other parent) That doesn't mean that kidnappings by strangers don't happen, but it is incredibly rare. You educate your child on strangers, they will still be too trusting, but overall the risk is very low.

[@duckyluci]

When it comes to kidnapping by strangers, something completely off-putting to potential kidnappers is simply the child being around other children. Too difficult to isolate one from the group by coercion, too risky to take one by force because adults/authorities will be informed in no time by multiple little witnesses. This is why playing outside without adult supervision was normal when I was a kid, but only before dark and never alone.

[@MorgainLafee13]

Kids actually have quite a good intuition about people if we dont kill it by teaching them not to trust it (by e.g. forcing them to kiss people they don't want to). Furthermore, not all strangers are dangerous and teaching kids that they are might actually have adverse consequences since they might not accept help from strangers when they really need it (imagine them being lost for example). We usually tell our kids look for adults with children if you need help. And as you said the overall risk of kidnapping is really low, so that traffic is really something more important to worry about

[@ftrueck]

Funny to hear that kids still go alone to the playgrounds nowadays. When I grew up it was quite the normal thing to roam around for miles and play with the kids of the neighborhood. I mean that was the best: no parents around "parenting" you all day. That was definitely a good thing. And you were safe, because the neighbors knew all the other neighbors and their kids. So parents definitely were not scared because there was always one who knew where a kid belongs and did a phone call if something was not the way it should be.

[@velvet6923]

I think in most countries it's like that, at least here ij Germany it's absolutely normal However i do think it's more difficult in America, not only because there are more criminals and gangs and who knows what kind of people walking around, but also because media in America uses it to gain money by making everything worse then it even is ans spread panic to a point where parents just are afraid for children to even leave the house and get killed or kidnapped or anything else

[@user-kn6bf9oz1g]

@@velvet6923 Also in the US this could be some kind of an legal issue, if they would freely let them roam on their own.

[@velvet6923]

@@user-kn6bf9oz1g seriously, i thought America was the country of freedom but i can't allow my children to walk around freely? I really hope you're wrong because otherwise it would be kinda sad

[@scofield321]

⁠@@velvet6923it‘s not a country of freedom. it never was.

[@labelmail]

@@velvet6923 land of the free is just a self-hypnotizing mantra as are all the other superlatives for themselves

[@eyekona]

When my daughter got into school, at 5yo, she was allowed to walk, use the bus or use her scooter to drive to school alone after some training. At this time she was also allowed to go to the playground alone. She also got a GPS watch, so she was able to call us, if she had an accident. I see no problem with that.

[@sm0k1nggnu_]

Back in the day (I sound so old) we didn't have GPS watches but I would prefer the peace of mind as well.

[@tanja8355]

Kids alone at the playground in Germany, I would say not under 5 years old. The rule here , when I grew up was, that we were allowed out and about alone, as soon as we were in school. Most of us walked to school alone or in small groups anyway, so this was just an extension of that freedom. But I had a phone with me at that age. I couldn't do anything with it, but call home or call mom and dad.

[@Xendrasch]

I'm German. The age I first was allowed to roam and walk around alone was 4. At age 4 I walked alone to kindergarden, that being around 1.5 km.

[@sun_up]

Sure could do that. But that was way before mobile phones. And I got sent to buy groceries alone all through primary school.

[@aRealAndHumanManThing]

@@Xendrasch started going somewhere alone when I got into elementary (6yo). But going to indoor playgrounds in kindergarten or similar day trips weren't really supervised. They just made sure we stayed there (and didn't venture into the mall next to their favorite indoor playground, happened a few times), we basically could do what we want. Smb always ran into a pole with rather thin cushion around it, but as long as there was no big injury, no one made it a big deal

[@starblossom05]

​​@@sun_upsame, i didnt own a phone back then my first was whenni was 12 And i needed do the same aswell getting my little brother from school as his was closer to our home meanwhile mine was in West. So i needed go from North to West with the connection Schoolbus ( in the Netherlands)

[@fangan4770]

Most of the larger lakes also have designated naturist zones for adults. I don't understand how you can get upset by children playing without clothes on.

[@aryna13]

the naturist (FKK) zones *arent* common. You can find some FKK grounds in eastern germany, but in other regions it isnt common and if you find one its excluded from the "normal" area.

[@julians.2597]

@@aryna13 it is common lol, even in the midst of Bavaria

[@neneger]

@@aryna13 natürlich ist FKK common, gefühlt jeder strand hat irgendwo einen FKK abschnitt

[@_pi3hree6ix]

@aryna13 it is common in Lower Saxony as

[@aryna13]

@@julians.2597 never seen one fkk beach in Bavaria 💀😂

[@JHenry-wv1xv]

It's not easy to bring up your parents, even in Germany. When my parents asked me at age of 12 to at least leave a note telling them where I had gone and when I would be back, it was impossible to make them understand that I wouldn't know this when I leave... I was able to accommodate them and from then on I left a note saying "I'm off, will come back!".

[@aRealAndHumanManThing]

didn't really have this situation until I was like 15 or so due to my two best friends being either really close by or 10km away with no bus stop near them. And when I was older and changed the high school to one in the next town, I was away often, but they got used to an unreliable shedule pretty quick (Deutsche Bahn we love you...)

[@CalmoOmlac]

My standard note at a kid was "i'm gone, will come back" :)

[@EEmB]

The American obsession with nudity I think is so incredibly unhealthy, and quite sad.

[@neb-taui-djeser1060]

Haven't you heard about mass nudity in US schools? It has to be prevented before it happens by demonize and forbid it.

[@alexia2189]

It is so funny to see your reactions.😂😂 I am Romanian and I lived in front of two rivers. Everybody from the neighbourhood would gather there for the whole summer. Until 6 or 7 yo I never wore bathing suit in there. 😂😂 Same with the other kids. The only time I wore one until then it was when we went to the Black sea. 😂😂😂

[@scragar]

When I was a kid we had a pool in our back garden that we shared with 3 other homes(it was a weird communal space thing). Anyone under the age of 8 or so just didn't bother with a swimsuit, it was also common after coming out to run around(still naked) for a little bit to dry off without needing a towel. The idea of it being taboo or whatever just seems weird from my perspective, it's just feels so creepy to be obsessed with preventing it when anyone under 5 doesn't care and anyone 5-10 generally just thinks bodies underwear areas are funny(lots of bottom/genital jokes told and laughed at as if it's the funniest thing they've ever heard).

[@DieGurke_]

Because children in Germany spend so much time alone outside, they learn to read the clock at an early age. And it's not unusual for a 6-year-old to wear a children's wristwatch. I remember my primary school days when I was out in the woods or on my bike with other children during the summer vacations, sometimes until 10 o'clock in the evening. Most of the adults in the neighborhood knew us and knew whose kids we were when something happened (This is not always an advantage. There were several times when I came home and my father was already waiting because he knew what kind of mischief I had been up to) And it wasn't unusual for us to come home completely dirty or with damaged clothes. I chipped a tooth more than once when I was playing as a child Once I even had to go to hospital because I fell out of a tree while playing unsupervised.

[@aRealAndHumanManThing]

Same. Most of my friends parents were of the "be back at exactly 6:47pm" type, but mine not really so we were almost always at my home or in the forest 100m behind it

[@123Baddy321]

Yes, we were playing outside and came back when it gets dark.

[@MrsZauberpony]

…and to recognize when it gets dark we got told to come home when the street lights turn on :D (because it feels bright way longer when you are inside than if you are outsode getting slowly used to the dark)

[@Melissa-bt9ux]

It was the ding dang ding from the church clock in my village 😂

[@compphysgeek]

Kiwi: "in NZ you'd be worried about child safety" Ryan: "Yeah" Washington Post: There have been 389 school shootings since Columbine .. with the last one in September. Wikipedia lists shooting more recent than September but includes universities and adjacent areas. So much about the worry of child safety.

[@leviquentin1134]

As a German born and raised, i remember running around naked at a beach in spain and I felt super uncomfortable, but I was a very early mature child and i'm autistic, so that was probably the reason why. many other kids i knew didn't care at all. Also yeah I too remember that when I wanted to meet up with a friend or run around the woods, town or the playground alone or not alone, the interaction with my parents went something like this: me:"mama, can I go out for a bit?" or "mamaaa, can I go to Alena's?" mom: "sure, but don't go too far, so you can still hear the church bell. come home when the bells strike 6, okay?" me: "okay" *proceeds to run out and wander around the area or meet up with a friend doing all kinds of bullshit only stopping to occasionally count the gongs of the church bell"

[@deano5756]

I taught my daughter English when she was 4. Very basic, teaching basic sentences, translating Dutch words to English etc... And don't forget KZbin. Its easier for kids to learn a second language at an early age.

[@winterlinde5395]

Her kids speak German with their dad and English with their mom. In their respective accents.

[@Why-D]

Usually from around the elementary school, the kids themselves want to have a swim suit. The difference is just, some parents protect their kids from the sun with a full suit, with long sleeves or if they do not, than there is no issue if kids run totally naked. Also beeing topless as an adult, is possible more often, like at the Isar river in Munich or in more and more public swimming pools. And yes, there are also some nude beaches.

[@DramaQueenMalena]

There is a whole pedagogical concept about sharing: Sharing is a bid for connection. Sharing is a vulnerable act because you open yourself to others, you want to share a moment and enter a relationship. The person you share with has to earn it at to want to. And as the one who shares you have to learn it, see the positive effect. Sharing takes both parts to participate. If you force children to share, they experience it as a loss. Especially, when they have to share with someone that doesn't want to share, just to take it away. Children have to learn to protect themselves from toxic relationships and if you encourage them to not listen to their needs they certainly are not going to learn when it's one-sided If you want your child to learn to share you don't force it before it's ready and to share only if they can experience the reward, not a reward you give them, but the beautiful experience of connection. Children also have to learn to recognize the situation where sharing is a beautiful thing. Sharing is not charity. That's something else. Giving something to someone who is in need is a completely different act. And even that cannot be tought by imposing it. It has to be tought by being a model. You can help your child to learn the internal process of getting a positive feeling. And you certainly do not create situations where the act of giving or sharing is experienced as negative.

[@juled79]

Thank you for perfectly explaining my own thoughts! Only one more thing in addition: we want our children to respect other peoples property. How could they learn this respect, if they are forced to give up their own property, even if it is "just" a toy?

[@vast001]

In Europe we are not paranoid about kidnappings and there are NO laws or rules about letting your kids alone to go to school, play with other kids in the nearby playground or even in the neighbourhood. In Europe you learn pretty quickly an other language then your own mother language. Like for instance in the Netherlands, in the eastern part of The Netherlands you had in the 80's access to German TV so when I grew up I watched a lot of German children's programs, we had also access on the radio to BBC News and in the Netherlands TV series and films in the English language are subtitled so that's also a way to learn English outside of school. When I was 13-14 I had French classes, so next to my own mother language Dutch I learned 3 other languages, 2 of them I speak fluently (English and German) French a 'petit peu'. The last couple of years I have been to Denmark and Spain for holiday so I have learned to read in those languages too.

[@aRealAndHumanManThing]

german here. I think we have a few (pretty loose) laws regarding children going somehere alone, but in reality they're just there so the police has sth to use against you in grey areas where you could get away with child neglect. Didn't have that much focus on languages, but english is mandatory and the second for me was latin. So now I know more or less what french road signs mean without speaking french. Education goals...

[@aryna13]

not paranoid but aware of nowadays. I experienced it in my closed village community, everyone knows who you are and every grandma is watching you from the window, knowing who you are and if its going late in the evening she will call my mother and inform me to go home because its late. Its not that germany is very much safer but there are closed communitys where you know that someone is watching everytime. In the cities its different.

[@APCLZ]

The nudism culture in Germany is quite normal and it's weird to us that you find it weird because we don't consider it a sexual thing while americans seem to. Obviously we don't all just run around naked everywhere but there usually is always a place nearby where you can... a sauna, a thermal bath, in some regions in the summer a lot of camping places and lakes. As for "public peeing"... yes even adults do it, mostly males though for obvious reasons. But you frequently see guys peeing in the woods or a tree if there are no public toilets nearby at certain places and events. 19:21: No, the "leaving babies in strollers outside" thing, that's not the Germans, that's mostly in nordic countries like sweden, norway, denmark that do it :)

[@MrsZauberpony]

I agree but I would also leave my kid in the stroller or at the bike in front of the bakery for example if it sleeps and I don’t want to disturb. But I would keep an eye and ear on it and be back soon, so in case it gets awake, I’ll be right there

[@korolevich1999]

When I was in first class (about 7 years old) I was already walking my sister to kindergarten and myself to school after, without any adult supervision. And was fully allowed to roam around playgrounds alone the only rule was to answer my phone and be within 10-15min walk distance from home.

[@hansmuller3604]

About the same here but in the 70ties without phone.

[@korolevich1999]

@@hansmuller3604 at first didn't have a phone but in such situation had to be closer to home.

[@ItsRayful]

Haha I even walked to the kindergarden myself, granted I lived rurally and the kindergarten was in eye-sight of my home, but still ^^

[@stewedfishproductions7959]

TBH: Growing up as a kid in the 1960's on the Wirral _(Northwest England),_ all the kids in the road played together and even at the age of 6/7 we would ride our bikes to the local park/playground and we just had to be back for 'dinner/teatime' _(about 6pm)._ We would get the bus to school and played in the farmer's field behind some houses etc. How things changed makes me very sad. 🤔😟

[@helloweener2007]

Abduction in Germany: 5.5 cases per 100.000 (2018) ""Abduction" means the unlawful detention of one or more persons against their will (including by force, threats, fraud or enticement) in order to demand an illegal sum of money or any other economic or material benefit in exchange for their release, or to force a person to perform or refrain from an act. Custody disputes do not fall into this category." This are all cases, also adults

[@jgr_lilli_]

I have a very specific memory of being left alone at the lakeside playground by my grandma when I was 6. It was February, pretty chilly outside, and she wanted to take a walk instead of standing around on the playground watching me. I just stayed there and played alone until another kid from a close-by neighbourhood came and joined me and we played together until my grandma came back.

[@patrickhuber8630]

From my experience, most swimming pools got a section specially for kids up to the age of 3-4. The water is about 4 inches deep with some mountains and even sometimes sand or waterpumps for the children to play with. There they run around naked while the parents, (more often the Grandparents) lay on the towel nearby and watch over their kid. Not all kids are naked ofc. But I haven't been to many swimming pools in germany. But it was the most normal thing. They seemed to think that those small children are like animals that just want to be running wild. But very peaceful.

[@blondkatze3547]

When children were six or seven years old growing up in the country side of northern Germany , it was completely normal for them to be able to play alone or with friends in the playground , the cornfield, the pasture,etc., alone with parental supervision . My children also have a lot of freedom grew up like that.🙂🌹

[@ftrueck]

Nudity in germany is more or less something normal. I mean, think of it: We were born naked, and underneath our cloths we are naked. Why should you make a drama out of that? We have several lakes where nudity is allowed and considered normal. As a person that does not like nudity you may not like to look at it, but making drama out of it is definitely not a thing. And to clarify: We have a law saying: If you upset other people with your behavior you are responsible for it and may get punished. BUT: The standard of what is considered as upsetting others is very high. So if you see 5 people being naked it could be upsetting for 100 others. But if you see 20 it is considered to be more common and being part of personal freedom.

[@manub.3847]

And based on the video context, you can say that "small children" usually around the age of 5+ are more likely to want swimwear on their own. At this age, children become more aware of physical differences and don't like it when strangers see them naked.

[@jtinz74]

Nudity in itself is never illegal in Germany. It only is if you're naked to offend someone. For years we had fully nude jogger in the center of Frankfurt. He was nicknamed "der nackte Jörg". The police caused him some trouble, but at the end a court decided that he was fully within his rights and the police let off. Edit: It looks like there wasn't a court involved. The head of the police in Frankfurt determined that it was ok for Jörg to be naked.

[@snurfli5605]

That's BS. People let their children run around naked when everyone else is not. WTF?! I hate it! And I would never do this on my kid.

[@ftrueck]

@@snurfli5605 you can do on your kid whatever you want. But calling it BS and judging everyone else that has no problem with it is just prude and poor. You should think about your position and think how you would like to communicate with the rest of the world outside your bubble...

[@snurfli5605]

@@ftrueck Spinner

[@JK-ot6ek]

My friends and I were supervised until 3 years old by parents. I was allowed to walk home alone from Kindergarten at age 4 after my parents walked with me and taught me the way and taught me where and how to cross the road. The people across my route knew (we are talking rural Black Forest village). And I was so proud when I made it. Then I was allowed to go to the playground alone or just with friends. Only rule: when the street lights went on we had to go home.

[@SuperEohippus]

Greetings from FInland. Here the kids still go freely around in the nearby area by themselves, walking or by their bikes. They are told a set of rules and advise by the parents, like "Don´t go anywhere with unknown adults, not even if they promise you sweets or ask your help in searching for a lost puppy, because they might be lying."

[@KrisThroughGlass]

We don't see naked bodies as only something sexual. And we don't think that there's anything at all sexual about a childs body. So why cover them up? I never wore a bikini top until I started to develope breasts with 12. There was no difference between my upper body and a boys before that, so I didn't see a reason for it.

[@dasten123]

Not being able to walk around outside as a little child without parents would absolutely suck! You guys had it rough, lol

[@ftrueck]

I appreciate that the kids today learn english already so early. In my kids days we learned english starting in the 5th grade, which was definitely also good, but earlier would have been even better. In 7th or 8th grade (Idk exactly today) we could start to learn a second foreign language.

[@alexia2189]

Really? So late? I grew up in Romania, born in '89 and we started English lessons from kindergarten. My brother was studying French. And since then until the end of Uni I never had a year without English lessons. Also I started studying French in 5th grade and Latin in 8th grade. My brother was in German class. And I studied French for 8 years. I want to specify that I grew up in a very small town and it was all public education. Nowadays I can speak 5 languages.

[@DisturbedFox137]

yeah germany is pretty far behind in those matters (as well as many others...) but better late than never. and even tho we started late there are a lot of germans that are pretty good in speaking at least one different language. i'm born '85 and i too started to learn english in 5th grade and then french in 7th grade (i forgot most of it cause i hated it but that was mostly the teachers fault...). i'm kinda envious kids nowadays are able to start this early but i'm glad for them 😊

[@ClaudiaG.1979]

@@alexia2189 iam born in 79 and i started to learn english in 5th grade.. i dont know when they start today

[@IZaubermausI]

@ClaudiaG.1979 - here in Lower Saxony they start in their third year at school…

[@maleboglia1775]

Hi Ryan, a little story to explain my thoughts; A few years ago I saw a TV series, I think it was on Discovery, where 2 US boys traveled through South America! They traveled without money, just hitchhiking or earning their next ticket with small jobs. One day they were walking through a rural area where simple people lived, a place your honorable ex-president would call a "shithole", they reached a small store when a young woman with a baby came up to them and asked them to hold her baby for a moment. She simply put the baby in one of their arms and went into the store. The two US boys were totally shocked and confused and didn't know how to react. A few minutes later the woman came back, thanked them, took the child and left! Well, what should this story tell you? Even in this poor, underdeveloped country, this woman could not have imagined in her wildest dreams that someone could be so horrible as to harm or kidnap a baby. WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY?

[@kunayalrecs]

sadly, this!

[@hurtigheinz3790]

"Holding a girl like a machine guy to pee against a tree" "Doing number two in a bird's nest" You really made me laugh. Imagine the look on the bird parents face when they come back and see a turd, that's as big as they are, filling out the whole nest! Hilarious!

[@ren_dhark]

I'm a fifty year old german and it was perfectly normal for me as a kid of six years to walk to school or drive by bicycle alone or with friends and the same was true after homework. I would go out and collect my friends to roam the neighborhood (up tp 3 to 4 kilometers roughly). When I started on the gymnasium in 5th class I had to drive by tram or train to school from the suburbs to downtown Dortmund and visited neighboring cities like Bochum to buy Fantasy RPG fanzines or visit the annual (board-) games fair (Spiel Essen) by train alone or with friends; this was perfectly normal, not like todays kids with their so called helicopter parents always circling around their kids like a satellite, so that their kids never learn some problem solving skills, because their is always a grown up near to solve your problems for you! But that's enough for my old man's rant this evening (-;

[@tygattyche2545]

Yeah, born and brat in 1970's! There were no "Babyfones" or mobile fones or trackers but our and previous generations did not have higher losts then the current one. And honestly, all this tech stuff protects you or your kid from excatly nothing. Can get lost still. Can get hurt still. The only point ist, that one may found the corpses earlier...

[@Winona493]

Letting children pee on a tree by holding them is called "abhalten" (keeping or holding off)😂 in Germany. And it goes with boys and girls. Easily. It is the most normal thing I can think of.😊

[@MrThomashorst]

Hey Ryan. Learning a language is all about your will to learn. I started learning english when I was 25 by watching KZbin videos. This opens up some great opportunities like jobs or interesting videos 😉

[@lisalottakrumelfee9048]

What this woman reports are things that happen today in upbringing. Back in my time, things looked a bit different. I am 45 years old and will turn 46 in April. When I was a child, I lived with my parents in a small village of about 200 inhabitants. We kids didn't go to kindergarten because most people living there were farmers, and the children never attended kindergarten. When we could walk, we were allowed to visit the neighbors. There, we played with other children. By the age of 4, I was already walking around the village alone, playing in that barn or on that farm. The toys of all the children were in the ditch by the road. We could play on the street; there were never any cars. Sometimes a tractor would pass by. When it was lunchtime, my mother would open the window and call me. If I was far away, one of the other kids would hear and come running, saying, "Your mother is calling you." If a child got hurt, the whole group of children would take the injured child home. I was out and about every day as a young child, no matter the weather. When I was older, around 7 years old, we moved to a bigger city. There, too, we kids were often alone. The parents were working, or sometimes they would go out alone. No one worried, no one was afraid that something might happen. And today? All the freedoms are gone. No child is allowed to roam alone anymore. They're all in kindergarten or school, which opens at 6:30 in the morning and ends at 5:30 in the evening. If you're lucky, you're allowed to go out alone when you're 14 or 15 years old. Things have changed so much over the years. I understand why it's like this today. I am a professional educator. But I feel sorry for the children. They don't know anything else except parents and school, or parents and kindergarten. Back then, we still knew about animals, trees, and bushes. We knew which mushrooms and berries were poisonous. We knew when different fruits were ripe, and much more. If you ask children about these things today, they don't know anymore. They're disconnected from nature, and they don't learn about the place and the environment they live in. That's very sad.

[@fckthelaw96]

I live in a small town (around 19.000 people). My son is going outside by himself since he is 6.. short time before his 7th birthday. I think it's very important to go outside by yourself, not scared, confident. It builds great Charakter.

[@jgr_lilli_]

I remember distincively learning English in Kindergarten. It was so fun! We learnt seasons, colours, numbers, simple songs, and basic introductory phrases. Obviously we couldn't yet read or write, so it was purely verbal.

[@dafacede]

I was out at my own with 4 years. I had friends, a Kiosk and a Playground within 200m. I was so confident, that I run away from Kindergarten to walk home and was another time at the Trainstation, leave to live on an Island nearby. ( we went there that summer and i knew the Train would get me there.). The friend who should come with me stopped it. I was free until my parent got me to Kindergarten and School, so i hated them. My friend wasnt in Kindergarten and could do what he wants. Today its more restricted for Kids, not all 6 year old can go out alone

[@KWG-ln4on]

Number 4, playing alone etc.... It's so odd. For me this is so normal, I wonder about how this could be NOT this way. On the contrary, I would find it quite peculiar, when a kid did not do it. I would think, there is something wrong with him and probably say: listen, don't you wanna go and play somewhere outside? I have raised 3 children and they were like: coming home from school just to leave their school-bag at home and eat something and then immediately go outside and play, exploring the whole neighbourhood. They came back only to have a drink or to fetch a toy and then run outside again. And I don't mean just in front of the house or only for half an hour. Outside was the whole hood with a radius of circa one mile. And coming back in the evening. Sometimes we parents had to go outside and look for the kids, because it was nearly bedtime. One of my sons loved swimming. Aged 9, he was going to the public swimming pool all alone by his scooter several times a week. And this was all during the last 20 years. Just by watching such videos I learned, that this is quite different in some countries.

[@TheDarthChain]

When you said four year old with the potty Training I broke😂 because I don't know any four-year-old that still doesn't use the toilet... my daughter turned 3 and she and everybody in her daycare doesn't need diapers over the day😂

[@sebastiansu2931]

I am a german father and my kids are 4 and 6 years old. My daughter is too young but my son managed yesterday: Coming Home from a friend, 17:30, all dark, only street lights, he needed to remember the way, all in the dark. All the way: approx: 800m, 3 crossings and he did great. Proud Dad i am now. Yeeeha! My Message: You may be scared or else..... but your kids are wiser in relation to parental supervision than you are, because: He/she trusts the enviroment you put it/he/she into it. You know what i mean. And all we can do is react

[@28Saryvo]

So from my experience of growing up in Germany, I was allowed to do quite a lot alone pretty quickly but it started with stuff that my mum would do with me together so I know the way back home and the location wasn't new to me. Same goes for going to school alone, first mum made sure we know a save way and I had to stick to that path and then I was allowed to go on my own, either on foot or bike or even with one of those scooter that you use with your foot to gain speed. Going out to play tho was tied to a time limit aswell where I had to say I am back home in X amount of hours or at this time and if I weren't home in time then I wouldn't be allowed to go on my own for a bit or the time I am allowed out on my own would be reduced or I had to go to bed earlier, stuff like that to make me feel consequences for worrying my parents cause allowing me to be on my own was about teaching me responsibility, punctuality and situational awareness and giving me a privilege of independence. Here parents would explain to you to not trust strangers, not take gifts, not go with anyone you don't know, that you would always be stronger in numbers so sticking with friends if you feel unsave because of something even to the point where you would go home with them and then call your parents from there, go to stores and talk to the cashier there so they can call your parents, basically we were trained to deal with weird situations and taught to do our best to avoid it. e.g. if we see someone we never saw before at the playground then if that person sticks around we would leave together and only split up once we can't see that person anymore and felt not followed. Our parents just have the sense of you can train your kids and do your best to educate them on possible dangers but you will never be able to protect them 100% so allow them freedom cause in the end they will have to and want to manage life on their own. Children learn the quickest so it just makes sense to start there and european cities are also build to allow this, I would find it quite difficult to raise my child like this in an average american suburb.

[@gameboy-nq7je]

As soon as we were like 6-7 years old we were even allowed to go to the neighboring villages by our selves (they were only like 3-4 km away). We just had to be back before dark.

[@gallomphrattlebone329]

I think of the long as you are willing and able to stay conscious about what is going on in the world and as long as you are a good and friendly human being, you can't do no wrong

[@germankitty]

You start by not helicoptering your kid on the playground. Take them there, show them where you'll be waiting, get out a book (or chat with other parents) and let them have fun. Kids can pick up languages easily while playing. When our son was 4, we spent our vacation on a campground in France; the little friends he made there were French, British, Dutch and German. They were doing great and only rarely asked for a translation.

[@monicanyhus5064]

all this is normal in norway too, kids play alone, pee at the tree, if you lack skis, skates, tent and stuff to use in the nature, its free to borrow, they start learning english when thay start in the daycare/kindergarten at age 1, and why do americans think nudity is awful, but kids with guns are ok ???? have you ever think about that ?? 🤔

[@nettcologne9186]

I don't remember my parents taking me to the playground or the forest. Or rather the other way around (I grew up on the edge of the forest in a big city). Neighborhood children of all ages and my older siblings also played there, so I wasn't alone, the latter would have been boring.

[@Eurograph]

5:40 There is a large park near me with a fountain in a central location. Every summer there are parents there with their children and some of them are unclothed. You see scenes like this in parks from time to time. It's a common sight. The same goes for peeing on the trees. I sometimes did this as a child too. Many adults still do this too, but not if there is a toilet nearby and you can keep the urge. But at rest stops on freeways, for example, because unfortunately some toilets cost money to use or when you go hiking or for a walk in the field and the nearest toilet is miles away, you often see adults peeing. I don't know if you've heard of that Ryan. Away from saunas, where people go in naked and often mixed, there is also a very large "FKK" (naturist) scene. This stands for naturist/nudist. There are areas at lakes, swimming pools, rivers and seas where adults are naked. There are even campsites where it is compulsory to be naked. Please don't confuse this with the swingers club scene, where the focus is more on sexual issues. Naturism is about the liberation of the body and is more directed against the sexualization of the body. There is also the movement to liberate the female breast. This means that the right for men to show their breasts should also apply to women. For example, there are some swimming pools that allow women to walk around and swim without covering their breasts on certain days. I think it's a very good thing that nudity is less sexualized. There's still a long way to go in Germany, but in my opinion it's the right thing to do. I think prudery has a lot to do with sexualization and the alienation of bodies. When I think about the fact that the Romans defecated together in public latrines and today we need almost hermetically sealed areas to defecate, it is sad to see that we have become so prudish.

[@kitsunekaze93]

nudity on the beach is pretty common in Sweden, if you are an adult it might be looked at weirdly as its much less common, but while drying off, changing, or sunbathing its pretty common. its worth to note that we dont have any laws against public nudity in sweden, its handled through "disorderly conduct" laws, as in its only a problem if the people around you report it as a problem

[@germankitty]

It's usually just toddlers that run around naked, also in one's garden. Kids have no shame -- shame is taught. My son started wanting to wear swimshorts when his buddy's older brother wouldn't go naked in the garden. I wouldn't have minded, but it was his decision, so I put him in his tiny swim shorts with no fuss, and everything was okay. Taking pictures of naked kids was kind of iffy back in the day before digital photography, when you had to take in rolls of film to be developed; you might not have got arrested, but possibly be put under observation.

[@supi3]

I‘m a german girl and as I was about 4 years old it was a normal thing for me to use trees in the forest as a toilet. Yes, its possible as a girl, just harder… but what else can you do as a kid in the middle of nowhere in a forest when you have to? Oh and btw as I was a kid we went every Monday in the forest with many other children to play in the nature etc

[@CynderNeko]

When I was a kid my grandparents used to take me to the sea for some weeks in the summerholidays. Up to a certain age it was absolutely normal to play or swim naked at the beach. A lot of kids did so and so did I. There are even still photos evident of my best friend (who was a boy) burying me (as a girl) in the sand up to the neck. I think we never really thought about it to be "strange". It's just a body.

[@aoeuable]

Cats absolutely can use toilets.

[@mizoompaloompa170]

Yes! The cat my father had when I was a baby only used the human toilet

[@fzoid3534]

Never really thought about it because I myself grew up running around the beach naked. Even at a lake nowadays the small ones are always naked. That's just how it is here.

[@txm2162]

I'm From Germany and I also think that we just trust that the most people are good and kind around us, so a 6 years old can go out by his self and even if there is a problem, we trust that all the people around would help him. And it's even written in the law that you have to help in a kind of emergency situation, otherwise you are guilty for not helping and there with be very hard consequences if really something happend and you didn't help.

[@klauskuhnast2394]

In contrast, there is no age limit for marriage in 5 US states (California, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Washington). There, an adult can marry a underage with his parents' permission or consent of a judge. I mean, that's shocking.

[@julimae6541]

I love how you try to understand more about the world and also recognize the fact that sometimes you have no clue. You're honest about the amount of your knowledge and don't try to pretend to know it all. Keep up the good work and greetings from germany.

[@oursoothingnature8154]

I was born in Michigan. My mother moved back to Nicaragua when I was 3 months. Later at 26 I moved back to USA. My child was born here. I always speak to him in Spanish and of course he knows English. I’m proud that from all the grandkids, he’s the only one that is bilingual.

[@ando5053]

to be honest, it doesn't matter how old you are to learn another language, the only thing that matters is spending time learning it. By the way @ryan your german pronounciation is quite ok

[@davidpelc]

Naked children on the beaches round lakes or see are absolutely normal in most of EU countries. I am from Prague, Czech republic and for us as children it was also normal to be naked on the beach or in grannys garden which was open to the street.🙂 And yes, its usualy pre-school age children🙂

[@diarmuidkuhle8181]

To any Americans interested in how the country became insanely over-protective of children, I can recommend the book 'Last Child in the Woods' by Richard Louv.

[@j.d.l._666]

I remember my childhood days (I'm from Germany) and we always where on the playground alone! All my friends and I where there the whole day when we had summer break. There where no parents around at all, except when there where much younger kids, like below the age of 6. Then there would be a parent or guardian around. But my parents always said: "you can walk to school alone, so you can go play outside alone. But be home for lunch at so and so o'clock" and that's what we did. We spent the whole day outside, in the woods, at the playground just fooling around.

[@knutritter461]

Holding a young girl like a machine gun peeing at the tree... 😂🤣

[@StrongKickMan]

The way you mimiced the little boy who went to the playground by himself. "Hey! Take your hands of me, I came by myself ahahaga".

[@bearofthunder]

I am norwegian, and I would say that a big difference between Norway and the USA in parenting is that we hardly raise an eyebrow over "bad language". By "bad language" I mean swearing and colorful expressions. Usually such language is taken with a humorous attitude, and there are even an competitive artform to swear in the most gross and inventive ways. Some expressions can be over the line of course, if they are too mean to spesific people or create too horrible visual images, but they leyway is much higher, and children are rarely reprimanded for it. When it is inappropriate it us usually just ignored. In general terms you can say that we take it in a very light way, and if we don't like it we ignore it. If a person is using a lot of swearing constantly we will usually just relate to what the person is trying to say, filtering out the swearing in the process. An american family visited me here in Norway, and I could not believe how much policing there was about language. This made it a lot of fun for their children to break the boundaries and get a lot of attention. Playing with trying to whisper it, at the edge of maybe being heard. Norwegian children can't catch any attention this way, beause unless it is funny, it will just be overlooked like nothing as said. I don't know why we have this cultural difference, but norwegians don't care much about HOW things are said. We do have a lot of humor around it though, but you know, it can quickly become old in itself, so timing and creativity is key.

[@aRealAndHumanManThing]

similar at my place in Germany, no one really cares. If you come up with a funny "monetization style" insult, there may be some laughs. But the only other reaction you'll get is an explanation from your parents why sth was inappropriate when you step over some boundary as a child

[@simtekgroup3080]

Same where I live in Italy, I think context is really the key. Americans often get offended by language because they focus too much on words instead of context.

[@nephistar]

I'm sure you're a great parent, Ryan!

[@crazyo7560]

Alright here we go😂 in Germany a court ruled that "a man(human) is in the same right to pee in the see, wald, ect., as the deer or fox."😂😂 But that's for nature places, like in the Forrest or on a hike, not for the trees in or next to the city!🫠😂

[@RustyDust101]

Technically Franconia is part of the Bundesland/state of Bavaria. Yet they are WILDLY independent and often vehemently declare themselves NOT to be Bavarians. At least that's my personal experience. It's a very easy target for a friendly ribbing.😂 This goes back quite a long way when Franconia and Bavaria were still two separate kingdoms, or even longer to the old germanic tribes before the Roman invasion. So 2000+ years of rivalry. Edit: my cousin in Belgium was born 18 months after me. In their family the christening ceremony was done at the age of two, so I was three and a half. I was already very independent at the time. In Belgium feasts for such ceremonies can go on for many hours, drifting from an aperitif to several main courses and desserts, right through to coffee and cake. That's a freaking long time to keep a kid entertained. I had seen a playground within a ten minute walk from the car as we drove to the restaurant. I pestered my mom to go there. She didn't want to leave the celebration. So my aunt gave me a slip of paper with the French and Valonian text on it where to find us and took me there, then she returned to the restaurant. Once I had walked that easy path once I found my way back after over theee hours of playing with the local kids without supervision by either my aunt or my mom. Because they knew I was both safe and independent. So yeah, even very little kids were given a lot of leeway back then. I don't know if that's still the case today.

[@ImInternetfalschabgebogen]

Hahaha, no, in Germany you cannot pee everywhere you want. Maybe kids do... and drunk people ;D But all the others (hikers, bikers...) we go into the woods where noone is around. Those spots are hard to find these days, I must confess as a hiker. :D

[@hansmeiser32]

"Those spots are hard to find these days" Yes, sometimes you have to look for a "good" spot but it's not that difficult. If I go on a 2 hour bike ride I usually have to pee at least once and it almost never happens that I don't find a spot.

[@Nikke283]

@ImInternetfalschabgebogen What a cool username!

Coming from Slovakia culture about kids being naked is the same, I would be deeply offended if someone would object to this and the basic instinct is to protect all the kids. It’s in the back of our mind to keep our kids and every other kid safe and aware who is with those kids and Iwould go ballistic if anyone was threatening to them

[@maddean3893]

Around my sons 3rd Birthday on a Saturday we hat a little argument and he was upset. So he decided to leave the house and go to the weekly grocery market. Took a jacket his Kindergarten Rucksack and off he was. I secretly followed him to see how he would get along. Was just fine, greeted people along the way, stopped at crossings to watch for traffic, had a chat at the market, got his free „Fleischwurst“ and went home again. I was so proud of him that I cried. 2 months later he fully mastered riding a bicycle, that was a different, so we had to put some restrictions to exploring freedom. I believe we should encourage and enable our children and make them believe in themselves and their natural skills to master everyday life situations.

[@georgr.6037]

The thing with playgrounds is that when your child is 6/7 he goes to school and comes back home alone on a daily basis, so it's not that big of a deal that they spend some alone time on the playground or go there with classmates after school

[@Gratiskeks]

About your question concerning abduction: in Germany there were around 257 cases in 2022 countrywide. in the same year the US had 359.094 so yeah...

[@Transautistic]

KIDNAPPING RATES. GERMANY : In 2018, kidnapping rate for Germany was 5.5 cases per 100,000 population. USA: Every 40 seconds, a child goes missing or is abducted in the United States. Approximately 840,000 children are reported missing each year

[@nettcologne9186]

In Germany there are 13.9 million children and young people under the age of 18 and around 15,000 are kidnapped, usually by a parent who is not German. “cross-border child abduction”

[@Kath-Erina]

That would mean 4500 cases of kidnapping per year. Idk that is way less then in the US, but still a lot 😢

[@MomoPersikka]

oh wow when I was in school we started learning English in 3rd grade (my brother was 4th or 5th) and then it got to nowadays 1st grade being common to start. I remember I was very excited to learn English and I had these learn with Disney-VHS-tapes :D that were super fun

[@prometheus4993]

she is a real wonderful new zeeland woman which decided to live in germany and found her love ;- )

[@haraldpeter5828]

We/I also rode my bike to school and back home after school, already from first year of elementary school (age 6). And of course in the afternoon we took our bikes to ride them through the forest to the different playgrounds and back afterwards. Often we spent the whole afternoon on our bikes and only came back for dinner at 6 or 7 pm.

[@sonicrolfo]

Nice, your slightly sarcastic nuances are becoming even more elegant. ;-)

[@esrohm6460]

the trick with all the "strange" things is that if everyone follows the rules no one has problems. trust returns trust. all of this would instantly crumble when one person steps out of line as then everybody steps out of line to be back in line

[@DieGurke_]

When a child pees on a tree, most people don't say anything, but when an adult does it, things can get expensive quickly. However, many people do it (especially men). “In Germany, urinating in public is not allowed. It can be considered a misdemeanor or even a criminal offense because it involves “causing public nuisance”. The fines range between 35 and 5,000 euros.” For adults: As long as no one can see it, it's (mostly) fine. Unwelcome in cities like Berlin. In rural areas, it's normal to pee in bushes or on trees

[@Auvas_Damask]

16:21 Four to six years old, depends on how mature your child is.

[@nullplan01]

Child independence data points from my own example: At age 6, I went to school on my own. Yes, it wasn't far, but everyone of my siblings did the same, and some of them had further to go. I also had a house key, and I only forgot it in school once. I also went to music school once a week, which was a lot further away, and I had to cross a tram way to get there. At age 8 we moved, and I still went to music school once a week, but now I actually had to take the tram to another city to get there. And from age 12 on, I biked to high school, 5km through busy traffic. We had a course on traffic rules in primary school and that was it. So no mommy taxi the whole time. And somehow I was never kidnapped or had an accident. Well, I tell a lie, I had an accident once. They called an ambulance and I was taken care of.

[@u3bertobt348]

Im a German teacher in the Kindergarden and i would never let a child Run around naked in public

[@frankgunold268]

6:24 I've also seen this in the middle of the city, for example in the middle of the zoo on a water playground! And no, the lakes and ponds are not private, they are open and wild swimming areas and sometimes entry is even forbidden by the owner, for example the Oberwartha reservoir or the Leuben gravel pit!

[@jancleve9635]

1:14 A friend of mine from the south (Swabia) intoduced me to a friend. His parents are probably from afrika or the middle east or short and simple the dude is black. As he introduced himself with a thick swabian accent he said: Hi, I bin der Flori. Der schwarze Swab. (Hi, my name is Flori. I am the black swabian.) I nearly died of laughter that day...

[@YuraGacha]

Sounds like a nice kid😂❤️

[@monstanna]

In Germany: As a kid in the 80s we strolled around the whole village by the age of 6, I mean… we had to walk to school anyway. Of course i met my friends in the playgrounds or just in the streets (we have streets that are designated for playing where cars have to watch out for kids). Now I live in the city and in 2023. my daughter (8) has like a zone around the house where she is allowed to stroll without supervision but only with friends, not on her own. In two years she will have to public transport to go to school so it’s important to learn to move around. My 4 year old rides everywhere by bike, and as he is much faster than I can walk. I let him ride and he always stops at the next street crossing and waits there for me. Sometimes he so far ahead I don’t see him anymore for minutes.

[@FrankSimon-lp8by]

When I was a child I always went to the playground myself. There we had a BR 81 steam locomotive that we could climb around on and play as train drivers.