Review: Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children

Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children by Sara Zaske
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is basically "Bringing up Bébé" (French children don't throw food), substituting Germany for France. Both authors moved to their new country with a husband and a daughter, and then had a son while there (I think Druckerman had twin boys in France, but otherwise it was pretty similar).
At first I was a bit annoyed at the book. The author introduced her different life in Germany by talking about her experience with its bureaucracy, which basically entailed waiting in lines, having to bring many forms, and having to speak German. She also happened to be 15 minutes late for an appointment (due to snow), so she had to reschedule. None of that seems overly bureaucratic to me, quite frankly. Maybe because I grew up dealing with Italian bureaucracy, and I just went through my wife's green card process for the US, which were both nightmares in their own way.

She then talks about how and why her family ended up in Germany, as well as a general history of modern Germany and German-americans. It was probably useful and somewhat interesting, but it took some time before getting to "the German art of raising self-reliant children". However, once she did, I rather enjoyed it.

I should say, here in Charlotte things don't seem to be as extreme as Zaske makes them out to be in the US. Children are playing in playgrounds all the time, including climbing, swinging and hanging off things. You don't see children walking to and from school, but that's mainly because everything is so spread out. No one walks unless they're downtown.
Some interesting notes (I'll skip through the ones on German healthcare. Suffice to say it's better than in the U.S., which is pretty much known):
Homeschooling is illegal in Germany
Every German child from ages one to six is guaranteed a spot at a child-care center
The atheist organization in Berlin actually prefers that religion is taught in schools
The United States is the only country in the world that has not ratified the United Nations' Convention on The Rights of the Child (CRC)
Takeaways:
Leave your baby alone when she's happy
Send children outside everyday
Give them time to play without parents around

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