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Germans urged to be more child-friendly

A multimillion campaign to encourage Germans to be more friendly towards their children was launched across television stations, billboards, and the Internet on Saturday in the country’s biggest-ever push to improve the mood towards children and boost the birth rate.

At 7.57 p.m. television viewers found themselves tuned to the first of a series of advertisements showing children through the eyes of their parents.

Around 30 million people were expected to see the slots, accompanied by statements, such as: “Making you cost nothing — it was afterwards that you got expensive.” Another slogan ran: “You were a mistake. Hurray! We’re to blame.”

The six-month campaign to encourage more kinderfreundlichkeit (child-friendliness) in a country better known for its kinderfeindlichkeit (animosity towards children) is being led by ambassadors from the world of sport and media, such as model Eva Padberg and the former Wimbledon tennis champion, Michael Stich.

“Germany is not a child-friendly land, and we want to change that,” said Gunter Thielen, the initiator of the €35-million campaign and head of the publishing organisation Bertelsmann.

“Everyone speaks of demographic change [the falling birthrate] and about the importance of children, but the truth is we fail to treat them accordingly.”

A recent study showed that only 25 per cent of Germans consider the country to be child-friendly, while in neighbouring France the figure is 80 per cent.

Germany has been struggling to boost its birthrate, one of the lowest in Europe.

The introduction in January of a financial incentive for the parents of newborns appears to have had a positive impact.

Germany ranked 11th in a study earlier this year by UNICEF into the child-friendliness of industrialised countries, which compared aspects of their lives from their material wellbeing, health and education, to their relationships with parents and peers and how wanted they felt. — ©Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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