A Land Without Children: Why Won't Germans Have More Babies?

[sysop]

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has pumped billions into Germans' pockets to encourage them to make more babies -- but they still aren't doing it. Is it even a problem that the government is capable of solving?

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...779741,00.html

[andreeasepi]

The German daycare system is a sinister joke for today's young, dynamic mothers. There are extremely few places available for babies and they cost a lot of money (300-600 euros a month). The situation is no better for children age 3 and older. Most kindergartens close at 4 p.m., even though most jobs last until (at least) 5 p.m. And even if you enroll your kid full-time, you are scolded by the teachers if you are not there to pick him up at 15:55 or earlier. The teachers look bored and cannot wait to go home themselves. Sometimes they will suggest indirectly that you are an insensitive mother to let your child spend so much time in the kindergarten. Do they honestly believe it is better for these children to spend their lives at home, cut off from the world and without any social interaction? No wonder so many German kids are downright anti-social. Where I come from, the situation is completely different. Mothers go back to work as soon as(or even before) their maternity leave ends, first of all because they cannot afford to stay home, and second because they too need intellectual challenges and a professional and social life. In Germany mothers are expected to be brain-dead caregivers with no life or needs of their own...