Germany for Kids

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After school and homework, I meet my friends and go out to the movies, cafés, shops or discos. I love sports, too. I play soccer and go skateboarding whenever I get the chance. On the weekends, I spend much of the time with my family because that's about the only time the entire family is together.

I have friends from many places because Germany is a diverse country. Beginning in the 1950s, people from various nations began arriving in Germany looking for work as my country rebuilt after World War II. Now people from all over the world live in Germany, especially people from Turkey and southeastern Europe. In terms of religion, the majority of Germany’s 82 million inhabitants are either Protestant or Catholic, but we also have a large Muslim community of 3 million people. Jewish communities are also growing in large German cities (more than 100,000 Jews live in Germany again).

In general, Germans look and act much like Americans. For example, children in Germany dress much the same as American kids. What's hot in the U.S. often quickly becomes popular in Germany, too. One difference among school children is backpacks. In Germany, most kids carry Schulranzen, colorfully decorated square bags that are smaller than the backpacks most American kids use.

On the weekends, my friends and I often meet at a café or youth club. There are more bakeries, sidewalk cafés, parks and playgrounds in German cities and towns than in the U.S., so there are plenty of places for us to go on our own. Sometimes we go to youth discos. These are designed for teens under 16, and are usually open until the midnight curfew. Just like "normal” clubs, youth clubs play the latest chart breakers and dance classics, so we feel pretty cool there. We spend most of our weekends playing games at a friend's house, or watching a video and ordering pizza. In the summer we usually meet in a nearby park and have great barbeques. The world's biggest techno music festival, the Love Parade, takes place every year. Young people come to party for a whole weekend. When we are a bit older, my friends and I will go, too.

In Germany, the minimum age for going to bars and music clubs is 16, though 16 year olds are subject to a midnight curfew. 18 year olds are considered of age and are therefore allowed to stay out as long as they like, and may buy and drink alcohol. Unlike some states in the U.S., in Germany, alcoholic beverages can be purchased at night. Since many German grocery stores are open only until 8:00 pm, it’s the gas stations that sell alcohol.

Sports are a favorite free-time activity in Germany. There are more then 87,000 sports clubs in the country, involving a quarter of the population. The best-loved sport by far is soccer (Fußball). Children, still mostly boys, take up the game at an early age. Soccer is also a hugely popular spectator sport, attracting hundreds of thousands of people to professional games each week during the regular season. The German national soccer team has won the World Cup three times and holds the No. 2 ranking worldwide. In 2006, Germany hosted the soccer World Cup at sites throughout the country.

Handball, which is similar to soccer, except that the ball is thrown, not kicked, is also popular. Football and baseball are not typical German sports, but basketball, inline skating and skate boarding are very popular. In fact, in all big cities in Germany there are “blade nights” once a week, where hundreds of inline skaters can skate through the streets, which are closed to normal traffic for the event.

Children are introduced to track and field events at a young age. Skiing, snowboarding, skating and sledding are favorite winter activities. Like American children, German kids enjoy horseback riding, swimming, tennis, (ice) hockey and volleyball. During the summer season, beach volleyball tournaments are set up everywhere and championships are held at beaches. For people staying at the seaside, windsurfing is becoming increasingly popular, too. Sylt, a fashionable island in the North Sea, hosts world cups in windsurfing each year.

In Germany, it is much more common to play sports as part of a club than it is in the U.S. In just about every town, you'll find several clubs offering a variety sports from which to choose. FC Bayern Muenchen, one of Germany's biggest sports clubs offers soccer (FC stands for Fußball Club) as well as table tennis, basketball, handball and chess. At most sports clubs, participation is not very expensive; the fees are modest because most of the people who run the clubs do so on a volunteer basis. There are approximately 2.6 million people working in a volunteer capacity as coaches, trainers, physical therapists or officials in the German sports club system.

For more information go to:
www.dsj.de
www.dfb.de
www.bayernmuenchen.de
www.hsv.de
www.dsb.de

I enjoy spending time with my family. On the weekends, especially in the summer, we often take trips to the countryside, where we go on hiking or biking tours and have picnics. Sometimes, if my sister Franziska and I can talk our parents into it, we also visit a theme park. There's no Disney World in Germany, but there are other major attractions, such as Heidepark Soltau , Fantasialand near Cologne and Legoland near Trier. Fun fairs that travel from town to town are very common.

On Sundays, my family usually prepares a great dinner, with a roast and noodles or dumplings. It’s delicious and a good way to end the weekend, before I have to think about school again.

During summer vacation, I usually travel with my family. Summer camps for kids are much less common in Germany than in the U.S.