A plea for vintage pleasure

Schülihüli is my hero. Even today I still have to grin when the castle ghost howls through our Sonos box. Kasperli is a favourite with us. My eldest amuses, calms and inspires herself with the «Lusergeschichten» and the younger brothers also happily join in: «Tlatlatlatlallalla». Punch and Judy takes glee in the stupid Velochlaui and expands the world view: «Mum, are we going to Africa too? To the chief Krambabuli?»

Kasperli makes long car journeys absolutely bearable and even the Frenchman learns one or two Swiss German expressions.

Only my painstakingly kept cassettes have had their day, Kasperli is now on Spotify. In addition to my enjoyment of my children's vintage pleasures, there is always a dose of pity.

The children of today ... only in front of their mobile phones?

Pity for the children, that is. Pity for their image, to be precise. Too much screen time here, too much Disney there. Nobody plays properly anymore, they say, even babies seem addicted to Fortnite. I don't want to trivialise anything here - of course I agree that parents should practise responsible use of screen media and other new-fangled toys with their children. However, I do get annoyed by the one-sided demonisation and the idea that everything in the children's room now only takes place on a rectangular screen.

I maintain that every child still likes to play with the Briobahn, Lego and Duplos. And there's not only Paw Patrol on TV, but also Kasperli to listen to. The children of Schlieren and not just the Swiss goofs. Heidi? Papa Moll?

So many children's books are total classics. My old Globi books are also very popular again at the moment. As I tell the story, I experience a flashback to my feelings as a child when I leafed backwards and forwards through the Globis. Globi is my Mummy Botox.

I'm not advocating zero television or zero marketing articles from large American companies. I think we should be a little more generous towards ourselves and our children. Not everything is black and white, not everything is evil.

Sure, you might say, my children are still small. Of course they are. But I'm already looking forward to the Three?? and TKKG. Or to Ducksli times. The funny paperbacks, Thorgal, Yoko Tsuno and many other comics accompanied me through my teenage years and even in my early 20s I mainly borrowed comics from the library to study literature.

By the way: I'm not sure which rascal my children would choose if they were allowed to vote: Masha on the screen or Punch and Judy from the loudspeaker. But that's completely okay with me, it's not an either or, but a both and. And that's okay, too, because it's a bit wooden and all.