Editorial in March

Dear reader

He is the best-known family therapist in Europe. But only a few people know about his serious stroke of fate. Jesper Juul suffers from an autoimmune disease that has inflamed his spinal fluid. He was in a coma, spent 18 months in a rehabilitation clinic and lost his voice after a tracheotomy. Today, Juul is paralysed from the chest down and sits in a wheelchair. But his creative energy is unbroken. You can see this for yourself twice in this issue: in the interview with my colleague Sandra Casalini on the dossier topic «Let's argue!». And in his column «Do war toys make children aggressive?». The euphoria of his fans sometimes goes too far for the family therapist. Juul has little sympathy for teachers who want to set up a «Juul kindergarten» and parents who always raise their children in the «Juul way»: «All I can say is: poor children!»

«In a family that doesn't just consist of mummies, conflicts are part of it.»

Reinhard Mey, German singer-songwriter

It's what every parent wants: a healthy child who masters life's challenges, develops good self-esteem and treats others with care and respect. «This makes children strong» is the title of a «Health Special» that is enclosed with this issue for the first time. Claudia Landolt, lead author at Schweizer ElternMagazin, worked on this issue for over four months. Her core message: «We parents are constantly challenged to support our children in discovering their strengths without being ashamed of their weaknesses.»
One of my favourite tasks as editor-in-chief is the dialogue with you, dear reader. Perhaps you can guess how pleased we were with the results of the recent reader survey. It seems that we are doing a lot of things right: three quarters of all respondents rated our magazine as «very good». Over 90 per cent say that our content helps them in their daily family life. You can readmore about the survey results here.
I hope you enjoy reading our March issue. It will be available from newsagents from Monday 6 March and can be ordered here.
Yours sincerely, Nik Niethammer