Our highlights 2023 at Fritz+Fränzi Online
2023 was an exciting year for the online editorial team of the Swiss parents' magazine Fritz+Fränzi. We had a lot to do with our website, which is still fairly new, and we also developed a completely new social media strategy, carried out extensive research and worked hard on our newsletter. In this review, we focus on social media, our favourite online texts and the newsletter.
1. social media
Since the middle of the year, we have greatly intensified our social media activities. Since then, we have maintained a regular presence on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube. Visually, we have better structured, refreshed and standardised our posts in order to achieve a particularly high recognition effect.
We also have video content from time to time, for example by picking up on texts from the magazine or putting the short version of a long interview online as a video:
The number of users confirms that the trend has been clearly rising again since the third quarter. We are particularly pleased that we broke the 5000-follower mark on Instagram in mid-December!
Thank you very much for your loyalty!
You can access our social media channels directly here:
2. our favourite online texts 2023
«I often feel torn between children and my career»
In this interview, musician Jaël talks about the mental load of working mothers, their excessive demands for perfection, a sexual assault and why parents should face up to their burdens.
What prompted you to talk publicly about your exhaustion as a mother?
I waited far too long to get help. At some point I was just sick, had two slipped discs and was completely at the end of my tether. That doesn't have to be the case! I would like to encourage affected mums and dads to talk openly about it and get help early on. Feelings of guilt and a strong inner judge are counterproductive. A cry baby is not the parents' fault.
I know that being a «good enough mother» would be enough. It would be more relaxed for everyone.
Jaël
It takes courage to say that you are overwhelmed as a mother.
But it is the prerequisite for getting out of the quagmire. I thought for a long time that I just had to accept it. Images of mothers who had fled a war zone with five children were stuck in my head. Only they had the right to be overwhelmed. But not Jaël Malli with a great job, a helpful environment and a single child!
Click here for the full interview.
The turtle drama
Our columnist and her sons are still negotiating the purchase of a dog, and the provisional compromise is: better a tortoise than no pet at all. If only they weren't tied for life ...
An evening at the cinema with «Teenage Ninja Turtles» finally brings the decision. The animated turtle warriors seem to exude a certain militant strength, something like the invincibility of an eternal animal. While the earthly existence of standard pets normally comes to an end within one childhood, you have to remember that turtles can live up to 130 years! The oldest tortoise is even said to have lived to 190, which means that when Ben turns 40, these things will have just reached puberty?
Click here for the full column.
«Children should not be satisfied with simple answers»
The war in the Middle East is also being fought on social networks and is therefore not stopping at children and young people. Media expert Thomas Feibel talks about disturbing images, the right way to deal with anti-Semitism online and the role of parents.
How can parents prevent their children from coming into contact with images of war on social media?
Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. In my readings and workshops, I have been meeting children from the second grade upwards for years who have images of beheadings or torched pets on their smartphones. They don't want these images and content, but are sent them by older children. And they know no other advice than to quickly forward these images out of fear.
As soon as children have their own mobile devices, we will never be able to completely prevent them from coming into contact with bad content. Even if parents are connected to their child's network account for monitoring purposes.
What is the best way to talk to my child about it if they have seen such content?
Communication with children about such serious matters must above all be age- and development-dependent. Children must always know that they can speak to their parents at any time and inform them as soon as they come across disturbing content online. They will then help them to categorise what is happening. It is equally important to relieve children by allaying their diffuse fears and reassuring them that they are not to blame for receiving such images. Deleting them together can have a liberating effect.
If we convey tolerance and compassion, these are the best pillars we can place against prejudice and discrimination.
However, it would be illusory to believe that children can be protected from the horrors of world events. But in order not to overwhelm yourself or your children, I would advise them to watch children's news together, which explains the most complicated issues in a gentle and understandable way. You can then talk about it together afterwards.
Click here for the full interview.
What are you painting?
Many children lose the joy of colouring at some point. That's a shame. Expressing oneself freely through art encourages creativity, has a relaxing effect and can even help to process stressful experiences.
As with physical development, there are certain steps in drawing that almost all children take. For example, the first depictions of people around the world are shown as «cephalopods». Who doesn't recognise the circle with lines - the arms and legs - leading away from the round head?
Drawings are the best way to start a conversation with a child.
As children become more aware and develop emotionally and mentally, their drawings become increasingly precise. From around the age of five, social and cultural influences play an increasingly important role. Therefore, from school age onwards, it is hardly possible to generalise about which developmental steps are «normal». However, specific drawing tasks are often used for certain psychological assessments to supplement a conversation or a medical history.
Click here for the full article.
When a child dies: How bereaved families can find support
Losing a child demands everything from a family. A palliative care doctor and a funeral director experience every day in their work what a difference it makes when those affected are well informed and supported.
Mira dies on a Friday lunchtime. Peacefully and without pain, the two-year-old girl, who had suffered from a rare genetic disease since birth, fell asleep in her cot at home. «You chose the perfect time,» the parents write in their farewell letter to their daughter. «We were alone as a family and were able to say goodbye to you in peace. Your brother checked to see if you were still breathing. Mummy and Daddy bathed you for the last time and your sister chose your clothes. You looked beautiful, like a little angel.»
Information is better than suppression. Anyone who goes into the dying phase completely unprepared is usually much more overwhelmed.
Eva Maria Tinner, paediatric oncologist
In Switzerland, around 400 to 500 children between the ages of zero and eighteen die every year. Around half of them die in their first year of life. Accidents account for almost half of all deaths among schoolchildren and adolescents.
The fact that the last day of little Mira's life went so smoothly for the family cannot be taken for granted and is thanks to two women in particular: palliative care doctor and paediatric oncologist Eva Maria Tinner, 47, and funeral director Eva-Maria Finkam, 46.
Whether you consciously lived the days between death and burial and not just survived has a lifelong effect. In retrospect, people only regret what they didn't do.
Eva-Maria Finkam, undertaker
Click here for the full article.
3. high-calibre newsletter
Our newsletter has enjoyed great popularity for years and now has a sensational average open rate of over 51 per cent. In 2023, we went one better and broke the 60 per cent barrier for the first time. What a pleasure!
The newsletter is sent to almost 50,000 recipients every fortnight.
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