News Flash

Nothing gets more consistent coverage in German media these days than: childcare. That’s new. And that alone makes it noteworthy.

Like anywhere else, childcare traditionally is a mother’s problem and, hence, generally overlooked. Who really cares about how the next generation makes it through the first years of their lives? It’s a dirty job some idiot has to do – preferably done quietly and with a smile, right?

In a country without school lunches, where children generally appear back on the doorstep at 1:00 pm, and toddlers toddle at home, the prospects are bleak for many mothers. Part time work often remains the only ungrateful option. Well, thanks but no, many of them say these days, “Why ruin my life so that this madness can continue?” But mind you, it’s not voiced that way because the radicals can lean back these days and enjoy.

With an average rate of 1.3 children per women, the tables have turned. The idiots are those who look the other way now. Ah and, voilà, suddenly childcare is one of the main topics in German politics and media.

It’s fun to watch as one front page after another pinpoints issues around formerly scorned topics such as family, parenting, education, and women. That’s new. The role of the state in childcare now is hotly debated by panels of educators, faces are turning red over the principles of quality childcare and voices of panelists reach falsetto level as family values are debated.

Of course, there are always those atavists who declare that everything was better before and the world would be such a better place if only women were to return to the ‘Three Ks’ of Kinder, Küche and Kirche (children, kitchen, and church). But their days are so obviously numbered it almost makes you want to hear them say it one last time for old times’ sake.

This turn of events is good not only because it refreshes and broadens public debate but also because it’s crucial. Locking women out of public life and limiting their choices is not the way to go. It’s still the way most societies are organized, mind you, but most of them share one facet: Low levels of development. Go check it out.