Setting boundaries: Our topic in November
Children should grow up in a self-determined way, but this requires rules. How can we fulfil the balancing act between parental demands and children's needs? Editor-in-chief Nik Niethammer presents the dossier Setting boundaries and other topics in the November issue. The new magazine will be published on Wednesday, 2 November 2022. You can also orderthe magazine online.
An annoyed «Five more minutes» can be heard from the children's room. It's the response of our son, 13, to the repeated request to finally switch off the computer. What do parents do? Yell back an annoyed «No, now»? Storm into the room, pull the plug, confiscate the device? Or take a deep breath first?
«Parents should always check whether the boundaries they set for their children are still serving them or whether they are unnecessarily restricting them,» says psychologist Fabian Grolimund in the dossier «Setting boundaries». My colleague Birgit Weidt has written about how parenting can succeed between parental demands and children's needs.
Children accept our guidance better when they realise that our love and care is behind a «no».
Fabian Grolimund
Grolimund has a great tip for parents who, like me, are always struggling with this balancing act: «Children accept our guidance better when they realise that our love and care is behind a «no» and not just arbitrariness, habit or a particular whim.»
As a page turner, you're used to grief. For forty years in the business, many a person has rubbed against my work. Sometimes it was a comment that caused a rush of blood, sometimes a picture that drove someone up the wall (from which they didn't want to come down). This has been over since 2014. The reason is you, dear reader.
Understand me correctly: it's not that I miss criticism and abuse from the readership, no, it's just that when I read the letters to the editorial team, I rub my eyes again and again. As a journalist, you're not used to so much affection, appreciation and respect for your own work.
«Your magazine makes me feel picked up in our sometimes very turbulent everyday life,» writes mum-of-two Karin Herzer. "Sometimes I find confirmation in your reports that I'm on the right track, that I'm not doing it all wrong. Sometimes I discover a small, crucial tip, a new idea, a different approach that helps us move forward.
Thank you very much for your valuable work." You can't imagine, dear Mrs Herzer, how good it feels to read that. Feel honoured, your words go down like honey. A huge thank you to you and everyone who writes to us.
As we all know, praise is a boost - every piece of feedback is both a pleasure and a motivation for us to do even better. The latest reader market research figures (MACH Basic 2022_2) prove that we sometimes succeed in this. With a whopping increase of 20,000 readers within one year, our magazine has recorded the biggest growth in its history.
Fritz+Fränzi now has 233,000 readers - more than at any time since the magazine was founded 21 years ago. This means that Switzerland's leading parenting guide has gained 86,000 readers in the space of six years.
I would like to welcome you all to our joint expedition and promise that we will continue to dig for information, opinions and analyses in order to guide you as parents safely through your day-to-day parenting.
Enough «About us» at this point. I wish you and your loved ones an exciting read and a light heart. Get through November safely.
Sincerely,
Yours, Nik Niethammer
