How children grieve: Our topic in the November magazine

When a father, sister or best friend dies, nothing in a child's life is the same as before. The cover story of the November issue: How children grieve and what helps them. Also: What to do when teenagers scratch themselves and an interview with child psychiatrist Michael Winterhoff. The magazine will be on newsstands from 8 November. You can also order it online.
Editor-in-chief Nik Niethammer presents the topics of the new issue in the video.

There are around 23,000 children and young people in Switzerland who no longer have a father or mother. If you include the children who died last year, around 23,500 families in Switzerland are mourning the loss of a father, mother, child or sibling.
Grieving children are barely recognised in society. We can only guess how much suffering and pain is hidden behind the figures from the Federal Statistical Office. The Zug-based organisation familientrauerbegleitung.ch has made them public. The aim of the association is to provide every family with professional grief counselling together with specialists after a loss.
The dossier «Grief» by our author Claudia Füssler deals with the different ways in which grieving processes take place, why children grieve differently to adults (and sometimes offend us with their behaviour) and how parents can accompany their child when saying goodbye to a loved one.
If you, dear reader, find our texts as moving as I do, please think of this wonderful cartoon of Charlie Brown sitting on a jetty with his dog Snoopy and looking out over the lake. «You know, Snoopy,» sighs Charlie Brown, «one day we're all going to die.» «Yes, that's true,» replies his clever friend. «But not on all the other days.»

He is as successful as he is controversial: Michael Winterhoff, child psychiatrist and author («Why our children become bullies»). According to one of Winterhoff's theories, children do not have a personality until the age of seven. This development only begins at the age of eight. My colleague Florian Blumer met Winterhoff for an interview.
I would like to share a passage from the interview with you here: «Mr Winterhoff, there are things I have to teach my child ...» - «No.» - « ... that he brushes his teeth.» - «No.» - « ... to help around the house.» - «No.» - «And if the child steadfastly refuses to brush their teeth?» - «Then you're doing something wrong as an adult.»

«None of us are getting
out of here alive. So stop treating yourselves like souvenirs. Eat delicious food. Walk in the sun. Jump into the sea. Tell the truth and wear your heart on your sleeve. Be kind. Be silly. Be funny. There's no time for anything else. »

Anthony Hopkins, British actor

On our own behalf: We are still rubbing our eyes, a little proud and, above all, very grateful. For the third time in a row, our advice magazine has recorded an increase in readership. The MACH Basic readership study published on 10 October by
WEMF AG für Werbemarktforschung published on 10 October proves it in black and white: Fritz+Fränzi is currently read by 202,000 readers. That's a whopping 13.5 per cent increase on the previous year!
On behalf of the Elternsein Foundation, publisher of the Swiss parenting magazine Fritz+Fränzi, I would like to thank you very much for your loyalty. Please remain critical. And stay with us.
Yours sincerely - Nik Niethammer