How Fritz+Fränzi learnt to walk

My daughters were ten and eight years old when I celebrated my 50th birthday in 2001. There was nothing to suggest the adolescent crises that my husband and I would have to overcome in the not too distant future. Our world was (still) intact! And yet it seemed to me that being a parent was becoming more difficult with each passing year - more difficult than becoming a parent.

In my children's schools, the number of children with behavioural problems increased at the same rate as the number of stressed teachers. The parents' evenings became better attended with each year and it seemed to me that some parents were extremely demanding - because they were overwhelmed.

Loss of millions forecast

What, I asked myself at the time, should be done? As so often in life, chance came to the rescue. In the form of a much younger advertising expert, single mother of two daughters the same age as mine: Sabine Danuser. «Let's publish a parenting magazine together,» she suggested.

A guide that should answer the really pressing questions of parents of school-age children and teenagers. No birth-related topics, no answers to children's sore bums, no recipes, puzzles, children's fashion and the like, as they were and are to be found in all commercial magazines.

The search for a name was difficult. The choices were «Saugoofen» and «Max and Moritz».

The publisher was to be a foundation, a zero number was created. I consulted a publishing professional who promised us an annual loss of millions. But Sabine and I only had one concern: what should we call our parents' magazine?

It was Hermann Strittmatter, a well-known advertiser at the time, who helped us get started after a brainstorming session: «It's about children and young people who would be called suckers, so that should be the title!» On the way home, Sabine and I talked ourselves into a frenzy: yes, we would call our children suckers under certain circumstances, but what do parents think when their children and teenagers are called that? We had to come up with something else. «Parents' guide» seemed too staid to us. Perhaps «Max and Moritz»? It may well be that in Wilhelm Busch's day (he wrote the book in 1865) only boys were in the mood for pranks - in 2001, girls were definitely on an equal footing when it came to parenting problems. And so we looked for two names that had a cheeky sound for both sexes: «Fritz+Fränzi» was born.

20 years later, I can only marvel at how we managed to publish six issues a year from 2001 to 2009 with just three full-time employees! As editor, I was responsible for distribution and advertising. We managed to convince the cantonal education directors that the schools should give our parents' magazine to the parents. Later, Beat W. Zemp, the then long-standing President of the LCH, became our distribution partner.

Raiffeisen, Manor, Amag, Otto's and Coop were among the first advertisers to support the magazine - some even made a financial contribution on top. My telephone efforts to scrounge advertisements proved rather difficult. A frequent response to the question of who I was: «Yes, from Ringier, I got that, but what's your name?» Many people initially dismissed the fact that the wife of the well-known publisher was soliciting adverts herself as a joke.

And I shamelessly pretended to know something about publishing. Or even about education!

Right from the start, we were able to rely on contributions from our content partners SVEO (Swiss Association of Parents' Organisations), Pro Juventute, MMI (Marie Meierhofer Institute for the Child) and S&E (School and Parenting). Their expertise in parenting issues quickly made Fritz+Fränzi the right parenting guide. And I shamelessly pretended - my profession is law - that I knew something about publishing. Or even about parenting!

Cheeky titles by the metre

«Children as a risk of poverty - what they cost, demand and squander» was the first title in September 2001. - When children push us to our limits" was the second. To this day, I don't know anyone who could write such a cheeky title as Sabine Danuser. What do you think of «Eat or die - eating disorders in children and adolescents» or «Stupid and cheeky - school weaknesses and behavioural problems» or «Incident child - couples with school-age and older children report on their development»? Want more examples? «Fathers - competition between family, career and me», «Grandparents - old friends», «Raven parents - balancing act between career and family», «Class and race - factors in equal opportunities» or «Legal, illegal, don't give a shit: young people get high».

In the 20 years of the foundation and magazine's existence, we have often had to fight for every cent.

We often shook with laughter, also because of the cover photos! The «Money guzzler» or «The enemy teacher» are unforgettable. Once we had obviously gone too far. Our cover «My last will - When young people no longer want to live» showed a young girl with an imprint from a rope around her neck that could hardly be interpreted as a necklace. The topic was youth suicide. The number of booklets that teachers and parents sent back to us in anger almost overwhelmed us. We learnt a lesson from this.

In the 20 years of the foundation and magazine's existence, we have had to fight for every cent more often than we would have liked. One deficit year followed another! All too often the nights turned into day, Sabine Danuser and I took holidays only to continue working day and night at another location - the holiday resort.

Giving up was out of the question

And to make matters worse, our daughters started puberty. My cheerful colleague, who couldn't be «brought down», and I were now also really struggling at home ... The circulation of Fritz+Fränzi stagnated, the income from adverts was not enough, deficits made life difficult for me despite donors and sponsors. The start-up was in danger of failing. But giving up was not an option.

I finally realised that I needed a professional publishing director, because otherwise the Fritz+Fränzi project was in danger of ending in disaster. In September 2008, I found the rescuing publishing director (and later managing director of Stiftung Elternsein) in the person of Thomas Schlickenrieder. Suddenly there was circulation management, a human resources department worthy of its name, an editorial budget that wasn't considered waste from day one. And much more.

We have grown up

When I go over to my husband's publishing house from time to time, I realise how many company services the employees have to do without. A start-up like our parents' magazine could only succeed because everyone was fully committed with a pioneering spirit: a lot of work and little pay!

Today, Fritz+Fränzi has grown up (as have my daughters, by the way) and our staff under editor-in-chief Nik Niethammer are full professionals. I may have gained a great experience, but I am substantially poorer financially, at least 20 years older and obviously grey-haired - and happy that our parents' magazine has become an indispensable guide for so many parents!