I like watching parents with their children - on the tram, on the street, in a restaurant. I look into the children's eyes and see familiarity and a sense of connection. These moments make me happy.

Unfortunately, I also experience situations where this tender bond between parents and children seems to be missing. I see parents who are impatient with their children, treating them like an annoying appendage. They press their smartphone into their offspring's hands so that they can talk undisturbed or occupy themselves with their mobile phones.

"But you don't know the circumstances", I hear you say. "You don't even know how exhausting the day was for these mums and dads, how little time they had to juggle work, shopping and picking up the children from nursery or crèche. As a parent, you can get annoyed." You're right, of course. I don't know the circumstances - but as a father of two now grown-up children, I know only too well how complex and demanding being a parent can be.

Ellen Ringier recognised this early on. The lawyer and mother of two was certain that bringing up children would place ever greater demands on us parents. In 2001, she founded the Elternsein Foundation and single-handedly set up a small publishing house. The foundation defined four goals: To support parents with information in their diverse tasks, to make the topic of "parenting" heard in the public sphere, to improve the dialogue between parents and teachers and to help initiate the discussion on the topic of "reconciling work and family life". Fritz+Fränzi is her "printed social project", Ellen Ringier once said.

With issue 12/19, you, dear reader, are holding the 150th issue of Fritz+Fränzi in your hands. The fact that this anniversary falls on the last issue of this year gives us a special year-end. However, the other highlights should not be forgotten. 2019 was an intense year, a year of big and small changes.

Print media has been losing circulation and readership to digital media for years. Not so our parents' guide. We were able to increase our readership figures for the fifth time in a row. According to the MACH Basic readership study published on 10 October by WEMF AG für Werbemarktforschung , 204,000 readers now regularly read our magazine. This makes the Swiss parenting magazine Fritz+Fränzi the most-read parenting guide in Switzerland - a unique success story.

We are particularly proud of our extensively researched, up to 30-page dossiers. Our authors examine a topic from all sides, evaluate the latest studies, talk to experts and those affected, analyse and classify.

Each of this year's ten dossiers deserves to be mentioned and honoured by me. Allow me to emphasise two in particular: The June issue featured "100 Questions - 100 Answers". This was not a conventional topic dossier, but a collection of 100 relevant questions for parents, which were answered by 30 experts. Our author began her research in February 2019. Three months' work for one dossier! Believe me - hardly any other media organisation today allows itself that much time to compile an article of this scope.

The second dossier I would like to mention is entitled "Generation Smartphone". There are thousands of articles, books and recommendations on the subject of media literacy. I asked myself: "What is there to write about this topic? Our author has provided a convincing answer. Her approach: the smartphone has arrived in the centre of our society. There is no point in demonising it. But it's high time we thought about how we parents can manage a mindful approach in order to set an example for our children in the self-determined use of digital devices. A great and incredibly inspiring dossier.

At www.fritzundfraenzi.ch, you can now find over 1,500 curated articles on the topics of family and parenting, school and education, nutrition, health, puberty and sexuality. I'm sure you're already aware of this - at least that's what the steadily increasing number of clicks suggests. Compared to 2018, we have increased the number of page views by 100 per cent and the number of users by as much as 160 per cent. Around 18,500 people now follow us on Facebook, and around 5,500 more follow us on Pinterest and Twitter. 27,000 people have subscribed to our newsletter, which is published fortnightly.

If you read Fritz+Fränzi regularly, you will know Stefanie Rietzler. The psychologist and author runs the Academy for Learning Coaching in Zurich together with Fabian Grolimund. The two of them have already written several dossiers for us. Since September, Stefanie Rietzler has also been writing as a columnist for Fritz+Fränzi - alternating with Fabian Grolimund. (Read her latest column here: How does your child react to praise?)

The two psychologists have published another book this year. "Geborgen, mutig, frei" is a collection of the best columns from five years of Fritz+Fränzi. The guide is illustrated with impressive black and white images by French artist Alain Laboile.

On 25 July, our long-time columnist Jesper Juul passed away in Odder, Denmark, at the age of 71 after a long and serious illness. Caroline Märki, founder of familylab.ch, a counselling network for families and professionals, had known Jesper Juul for many years. She wrote a touching obituary for Fritz+Fränzi about a man and friend "who changed my life and enriched it immeasurably".

We are grateful to Caroline Märki that, since the October issue, we have been publishing a chapter from Jesper Juul's now out-of-print book "Wir sind für dich da. 10 tips for authentic parents". Even after his death, Europe's most important educational therapist lives on in all those who have learnt from him.

Important personnel decisions were made at our content partners in 2019 that will have a lasting impact on the Stiftung Elternsein. Beat W. Zemp was in charge of the Swiss Federation of Teachers for almost 30 years. He stepped down as President in August. We bid farewell to Switzerland's most charismatic teacher with a major interview in Fritz+Fränzi.

In the 12/19 issue, we welcome his successor Dagmar Rösler. The primary school teacher and mother of two says that she does not want to follow in the footsteps of her predecessor , but wants to blaze her own trail. We wish the new President all the very best! And we are delighted to welcome Beat W. Zemp, with his immense wealth of experience, to the advisory board of the Stiftung Elternsein as an advisory member.

There was also a change of leadership at the Swiss Association of Head Teachers VSLCH in August. The new President Thomas Minder gave one of his first interviews to Fritz+Fränzi. In the coming year, you will be able to read about him and his headteachers on a regular basis: from February 2020, the VSLCH will alternate with the LCH in writing a column for Fritz+Fränzi.

Do you know our campaign "When words hurt"? Launched in 2018, this year's campaign against cyberbullying was aimed directly at children and young people. They were directly confronted with the consequences of cyberbullying in workshops that we organised at numerous schools. Due to the many positive responses, we are continuing the campaign in 2020. We are convinced that we will achieve a greater impact with our on-site campaign than with a poster or flyer campaign.

In addition to the production of ten regular issues, the sixth career choice booklet and four further issues of our kindergarten series - which is now in its third extremely successful year - the Elternsein Foundation has set itself a project for next year that is particularly close to my heart. It concerns disadvantaged children, most of whom are alone and unsupervised at home during the holidays because their parents can neither afford to go on holiday nor have the money for childcare. These children miss out on cultural and natural experiences, sensory experiences with their parents away from the stress of everyday life. Moments that are important for a child's development and physical and mental health.

For some time now, I have been thinking about giving at least some of these children the gift of a holiday experience. In summer 2020, the time has come: together with the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation, we are organising a holiday camp for disadvantaged children in Trogen in beautiful Appenzell. We will inform you in detail about this event in due course.

We don't want to stop there. A project group from the Parenthood Foundation has been working on these issues, among others, for months:

It is a process that is as exciting as it is challenging. I hope that in the coming year we will be able to enrich and support the lives of many families in Switzerland with additional programmes.

Parent education is one of those things. When the child is still small, most mums and dads are highly motivated to exchange ideas with other parents, read specialist literature and attend parenting courses. With the second child, this motivation often wanes, partly because the stress increases.

But the fact is: as a parent, you never stop learning. My two children, who are now fully grown, have taught me that.

At the end of this article, it remains for me to thank you, dear reader, most sincerely. For your loyalty. And your attention. In addition to your tasks and duties , you take the time to develop your parenting skills. That cannot be taken for granted.

I wish you peaceful moments and a loving time together with your family this Christmas. The most precious gift you can give a person, and especially your children, is your time.

I'll see you again next February. Take care!

The Parenthood Foundation aims to support parents in their educational and school-related issues.

Parents of babies and small children are usually looked after by a close-knit childcare network. Later on, this childcare provision dissolves and parents are often left to their own devices when the actual work of bringing up their children begins. The Parenthood Foundation promotes and develops parenting skills and supports mothers and fathers in their challenging task of raising their children to become independent, happy and empathetic young adults.

After its establishment in 2001, the Stiftung Elternsein initially focussed on publishing the Swiss parenting magazine Fritz+Fränzi. The foundation has been developing its portfolio for several years and now publishes a career choice special and four special issues for parents of kindergarten children in addition to ten issues of the parents' magazine every year. It also offers a comprehensive online service, a newsletter and its own parents' video programme, which now includes 37 films. The Stiftung Elternsein runs its own campaigns and fundraising activities and organises annual parent events as part of "Talk im Kulturpark".

www.elternsein.ch