Our editorial in June: Foster parents and an anniversary!

Our new magazine will be on newsstands from 13 June. It's the 125th issue of our parents' magazine. If you would like to know what the first issue looked like, take a look at our cover video!
The topics of our June issue, presented by our editor-in-chief Nik Niethammer.

«Fritz and Fränzi are school-age children. Homework, learning difficulties, pocket money, violence, drug use, leisure activities, nutrition - everything that can be a topic from the first day of school to year 9 is covered in this new magazine.»
With these words, Ellen Ringier, President of the Elternsein Foundation and publisher of Fritz+Fränzi, welcomed the readers of the first issue. That was in September 2001.
The key message of the cover story («Children as a risk of poverty: what they cost, demand and squander») was: «A teenager costs around 700 francs a month.» (Today, according to the Federal Statistical Office, the direct costs of children for couples with one child amount to an average of 942 francs per month). Other topics in the first issue: «Boys are different, girls too. Are these differences inherited or acquired?». (Modern behavioural research assumes that all behaviour has a genetic basis and is also modulated by environmental influences).
And the paediatrician Remo Largo denounced the pressure to perform that comes from school and parents. (Largo has just published his latest book: «Das passende Leben. What defines our identity and how we can live it». His criticism of education policy is unwavering: it is a planned economy that enforces goals such as Curriculum 21 or early French - even though this does not suit the children. «That's why young people are already suffering from burnout,» says Largo.
With this issue, you are holding the 125th edition of Fritz+Fränzi in your hands.The issues that have concerned parents of school-age children over the past 16 years have remained largely the same. Only the approach has changed over the years. Today, the desire for opinion, explanation and analysis, the longing for categorisation is greater than ever.
We don't manage problems, we never point fingers or promise quick solutions. We try to research seriously, carefully and sustainably, take you, dear reader, seriously and try to convey a message on every topic, no matter how difficult: Despite all the effort, being a parent is a great joy.
On behalf of the publisher and editorial team, I would like to thank you for your interest and loyalty. I hope you enjoy reading this double issue. The next issue of Fritz+Fränzi will be published on 15 August. Until then, have a pleasant time. Have a good summer. And stay lively.
Yours sincerely - Nik Niethammer