Adults' Interaction With Children In the U.S. And Germany

I observed more than two places to figure out the differences and similarities on how adults interact with children in the U.S.. I watched children on the street with their parents, in restaurants, and stores. First of all I have to say that it was hard finding any differences, since the Americans treat their children almost as Germans would.

But I did realize that the children here are more free and independent from their parents. They let their children explore things even though they know that they might get hurt. I saw parents talking to other parents and allowing their children just to run around the area. Sometimes the children would walk very far away from their parents and I was wondering why they didn't look for them at least sometimes; not even a glimpse. In Germany the parents are very overprotective. They watch their children all the time and they are very concerned about them getting hurt. Even when they talk to an adult they still have an eye on their children and would call them back or go get them if they walked too far away. Most of the time you would see people holding their childrens' hands or carrying them so they cannot run away.

One similarity that I noticed was at the stores. The parents, both in the U.S. and Germany cannot say 'NO' to their childrens' requests and wishes. If they want to have something the parents will buy it right away. It didn't use to be like that in Germany but it changed into that trend. When I was young my parents were very strict and they would never buy me something in a store no matter how much I begged, but maybe this was the case because they are not German but Czech. Overall I have an impression that children in the Czech Republic are more polite and very strictly raised. They are not as spoiled as German or American children are. However, when it comes to food, parents in Germany are more strict. If their children want to have grease food or candies they tend to be more strict. Here in the U.S. children get everything they want.

Another similarity would be the supportive way of how adults interact with their children. Both in Germany and the U.S. parents are very concerned about the future of their children and they want their children to learn some kind of sport or instrument to support them in their development. However, I have to say that parents in Germany exaggerate with this 'support' . Many parents basically force their children to have piano lessons in the morning, then ballet lessons and in the afternoon they play the violin. Many children have a packed schedule like that. It is not, that they are interest in all that stuff but they just do it because their parents want them to. Maybe the parents always wanted to be a good musician or athlete and since their dream never fulfilled they will try to make it happen for their children. In America I think it is different. To my mind the parents let the children choose what they enjoy doing and they support them in any way possible.

German Families VS American Families

Families all over the world are very different. In the following I will examine some of the similarities and differences between German and American families.

In the United States many families hyphenate their last names when they marry. Their children, however, usually have the father’s last name. This also gets more common in Germany. However, the children get both last names, not only the father’s last name, which makes the names very long. The Germans also try to copy the Americans in many ways like giving their children 1,000 middle names.

In my opinion, families in the U.S. are very complicated. The divorce rate is one out of two marriages, which is a lot. The reason for this could be that the couples here marry very young and the words ‘Do you want to marry me’ just slip over their lips very easily and Americans always just seem to live for the moment and don’t think that much about the future. Later on they realize that it doesn’t work out. There are a lot of families with only one parent or with stepparents. That is also a reason why most kids spend their days in day care, beginning at a very young age. Even though most families try to eat their evening meals together at home, it is often not possible because of the parents’ work schedules or the children’s after-school activities like homework. Since divorce in Germany is very expensive most people that stayed together for a very long time and fell out of love just stay married out of comfort. Some people stay married but they live in separate homes or even countries like my parents. Ca 30% of the married people in Germany get divorced each year. But the divorce rate is increasing each year. Therefore it is less common in Germany than it is in the U.S. There are also a lot of single parents in Germany mostly women.

I also noticed that there are many couples living together without being married. Also homosexual couples with children are increasingly common but they rather live in larger cities where the tolerance is higher. This is also becoming more common in Germany. There are many partners living together for years without being married. Homosexual couples with children are unknown to me. I am sure it exists in Germany too but I don’t know a homosexual family.

From my point of view the families in Germany are more stable than the ones in the U.S.. Even though both parents work they might find a way to take care of their children by going to work at different times. The time management is more efficient in Germany. Parents always find time between work and the household to take care of their children. There are also exceptions but most people want to take care of their children themselves instead of putting them into day care. To me it seems that American families just don’t find the time and most of them are not capable of managing their time. For instance I spend one month at an American family in San Francisco, California. It was a single mother with three kids. She had a cleaning lady and a nanny for the kids. She had enough money that she didn’t have to work. Still she was too overwhelmed with the three kids and that’s why she needed help. My mother on the other hand is a single mother too and she goes to work and she also has three kids. She managed to cook for us, clean the house and go to work. This is just an example and I don’t want to imply that all American families are lazy or bad. There are always exceptions in every culture.

Voting Process in Germany VS U.S.

The election of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the State Elections were held this year. I was excited to experience the election process in the U.S.. Since both, Germany, and the U.S. are democratic countries, the voting process I observed was quite familiar to me.

First of all I would like to give a short summary of how the German political system is compounded. The ‘Bundestag’, which is the parliament of the ‘Bundesrepublik Deutschland’, based in Berlin, is directly elected by the nation and is held every four years. The ‘Bundespräsident’ and the ‘Bundeskanzler’ are elected secretly by the German assembly of the ‘Bundestag’. The candidates need to have the absolute majority. The election on the ‘Bundespräsident’ is held every 5 years, whereas the ‘Bundeskanzler’ is elected every 4 yours. The ‘Bundesrat’, which represents the different German regions, is also elected by the ‘Bundestag’. So the only entity which is directly elected by the nation is the ‘Bundestag’ (below you can see a picture of the different German parties, which can be voted). The exact date of the election is chosen by the ‘Bundespräsident’ and must be a Sunday or public holiday. Everybody over the age of 18 who has resided for at least 3 months in Germany is eligible to vote. The elections are held in the city halls of every town and little villages.

The election process in the U.S. is a very important event as well as in Germany. Posters of the different parties will be seen all over town and commercials will be seen on TV and the internet. To come to the actual voting process now, the voters first have to register with their ID’s at the front desk, both in the U.S. and Germany. After that they have to sit down at a covered desk so nobody can see who they are voting. On the desk there is only one ballot and a pen. In the U.S. they will be brought to their respective ward and ballot, according to their region, where they will also have to go to a covered place to vote. The ballot in the U.S. will be inserted into a machine and the machine will count their vote automatically. In Germany however, the ballots will only be put in a big box but no one really knows how they are counted. After this the voting process is done.

In Germany there are many people that do not vote. Their voice will be used to support the more ‘weak’ parties of Germany. So by not voting, some people, unknowingly, give their voice to the less popular parties.