11–15 of 15 posts
What they forgot to mention: virtually all children in Germany have decent health insurance with extremely low deductibles (privately insured, due to well-paid or self-employed parents) or none (publicly insured, which would be the vast majority), neither of which is subject to the parents’ employment.
Neat. We have that in the US. It’s called CHIP.
My first kid grew up on carpet, spent a few months between crawling and walking. My second grew up on wood floors, spent a week between crawling and walking, before walking _all_the_time_. Definite eye-opener wrt risk competence.
I have let all my children play in ways that have minor consequences if they fall. Some parents definitely think I am too lax, from the reactions I see at a playground when our one year old has climbed to a height of 6 feet… I am strict about them putting themselves in a position where they would have major head injuries though.
My only restriction was that I'd always help him down, but I'd never help him up. If he wasn't capable of reaching higher ropes, or branches, then I'd not assist him at all. I'd just say "If you can't reach it's too much for you". But I'd always be on-hand if he said "Daddy I'm stuck" or "Daddy down! down!"
I didn't realize for several months that when his mother was taking him to the park she said "Not so high", and limited him quite significantly.
I know head-injuries can be very (very) serious, but I was kinda surprised at the number of parents who'd say no. (For that matter broken arms and legs are serious too, but I guess I figured they probably wouldn't happen.)
To his credit I've never seen him fall, although these days I wince at times when he jumps from higher distances than I think are prudent.
My first kid grew up on carpet, spent a few months between crawling and walking. My second grew up on wood floors, spent a week between crawling and walking, before walking _all_the_time_. Definite eye-opener wrt risk competence.
There was never any real stage of "crawling" on hands/knees. Unless it was so brief I missed it.
Please correct me (with citation) if I am wrong: The headline is complete BS / clickbait. The article refferences this story-piece from the uk-guardian about german certified playgrounds (by professionals from TÜV) that are assumed risky by people who don't do certifications in a mix with a study about kindergardens and accident types (yes, they have playgrounds, too, but kids spent their time there in various activi…