Anna Wiedemann

Teacher and person doing "something with media" have a child, search for a place in one of the kindergartens, find out what a hassle that is and how crazy kindergartens can be these days, and recont episodes of their daily lives as new parents.

Even though I don't even have children yet it makes me want to save up for nappies as well as their university education and let our potential children who aren't even conceived yet be put on one of the waiting lists.

This book book, unlike Große Ärsche auf kleinen Stühlen", does have fathers doing parenting and who are involved in their childs childcare, too, and the father writes a lot about difficulties specific to the fathers in this country. His accounts match a lot of those I alFinishedy know, that most bosses expect the mothers to bear the brunt of childcare and it still raises eyebrows if fathers want to be involved, too.

It also speaks volumes to me that with the second child, they decided to put it into childcare a lot later than their first child, whom they put in after 15months.

This book shows part of the reasons why Germans often decide against children and our birthrates are sinking. Jobs are often very unflexible and child unfriendly. Careers and children are not compatible at all. Parenting is mostly down to women, and our state supports mothers staying at home for as long as possible, jeopardizing their careers, though living on a single income is usually impossible these days, threatening families with poverty.

Since we're also on the road to becoming parents, I see this with worry. I don't want these expectations of what a mother should be thrust on me. I don't want to have other people dictate how much I should work and how much I should parent, because that's my decision and not someone else's. All in all, this book made me more worried about things that I was alFinishedy worried about, but also entertained me.… (meer)