this book failed its topic

I bought this book with the expectation to learn about the differences about American and German way of raising a child.
however this book has a lot of assumtions and bolt statements underlined with a personal opinion. The author did some research however this book is way to politicaly involved with way to many German terms I as a German didnt understand (due to Pronounciation). there are also a lot of statements that do not fit to my experience living, growing up in Germany for 30 years and in fact being German und migrated to the states a couple of years aho. The information about Elterngeld and Elternzeit is partially true but a lot of facts are missing. I also have NEVER seen or heard about parents leaving their sleeping infant outside in the winter in the stroller while the adults are in a restaurant. I had to stop listening to the book when it came to the religious and historical part as well as political opinions as the author has a set opinion it sounds and I highly question her recources when she for example talks about teaching WWII in schools. Because you're certainly taught about this topic starting with the age of 10 until grade 13. so from a students perspective the topic for sure gets old and some get immune to it, especially when you don't have relatives that suffered from the war. its not only taught but you're brainwashed that you're never allowed to be proud of Germany and that its still your fault. students get resilient and you have 3 categories after that: the ones that keep researching and being interested in the topic, the ones that don't feel related but respect and honor the history and try to not make itself repeat and the ones that are getting upset because it's not their history and they want to be proud of their country and want to hang up the flag without being called a nazi. playing WWII down that some Germans were victims a huge nono because the author clearly has no idea what was going on in Germany during that time but I won't talk about that. Another topic the author doesn't understand are refugees in germany and this as well is a topic besides the ones above do not belong in a book that's supposed to focus on raising a self reliant child. I told my husband what this book is about and he said he thought its a political book over raising a child in Germany. My point is that the author talks more about her political view and understanding than how to raise a self reliant child. There are several research gaps and again the book seems to be filled with personal opinion than facts. Very disappointed as I was either was expecting a kind of humerous way of what the differences are or a guide that shows us the cultural differences in raising a child but not a 90% politically involved book.

11 people found this helpful

Didn't Care for It

What did you like best about Achtung Baby? What did you like least?

The idea of hearing another mother's cultural experiences abroad.

I had hoped for a more open telling and then to let the listener make their own conclusions. I did not like the constant tone of why America is the worse place for families and "what is wrong" with us. I ignored it for a few chapters, but got irritated as it continued. I also disliked the revisionist history lesson at the beginning about the Soviet liberation of Berlin which I found ruefully rose-colored on more than one detail; I felt quite angry at one point.

Got through several chapters after that, but didn't even finish it.

What could Sara Zaske have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Read about what the Soviets did to the Berliners they "liberated", how our forces were ordered to stop their advance to Berlin on the basis of political gains sought with Stalin, and the conditions under which the Red Army treated their soldiers.

What didn’t you like about Sara Zaske’s performance?

It was not very expressive or interesting to listen to.

Could you see Achtung Baby being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No, sorry.

7 people found this helpful

Biased account without evidence

While there are many ways in which German parenting is superior to American parenting, the author makes several leaps in logic without sufficient evidence. For example, that German playgrounds are superior because they’re more dangerous, or that ADD is due to children not playing outside.

1 person found this helpful

very inspirational

I can say, that it has changed my views as a parent . Now I am trying to rise my children in a german way.
I liked german style of parenting before and that's why I have chosen this book. I am very glad with my choice:)

1 person found this helpful

Excellent food for thought

Very interesting if you want to have an idea on how is parenting in Germany. As with many “cultural” books you may not agree with everything, but challenging one’s own values and ideas is a great way to make informed decisions and choose for ourselves what we want for our kids. Ultimately it’s an excellent source of information. Narration is of great quality.

3 people found this helpful

Everything isn't sunny in Germany

As someone who has lived and raised children in Germany much of this book is inaccurate and well is missing huge parts of the culture. Such as how Germans are horrible to those with children.Usually if you take a child to a restaurant in a Germany and that child cries or misbehaves you can and will get kicked out.
Also when talking about maternity leave she leaves out things like the huge pay dependencies between men and woman as a result of the long maternity leaves. Or how woman tend to have trouble finding a job because of this leave.

She seems to only focus on positives and to be honest it turns more into her own story than one on raising children and has more of her opinion than anything.
Its a good concept but not worth listening to past the first few pages.

3 people found this helpful

This is a must read for any American Mom

I love this book. Having grown up in Germany but living in the states as a mother. This book was a good reminder of how I grew up and what I might just deprive my son by protecting him in the Name of Love and safety. If it doesn't prepare them for Life Is it really protecting them? probably not! Thank you Sarah Zaske
love love love the book

1 person found this helpful

I want to move to Germany!

Where does Achtung Baby rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Achtung Baby ranks very highly among all the audiobooks that I have listened to so far. I have been listening to tons of parenting books since having my daughter recently. I love hearing about how other cultures/countries do things. I think that they have some great ideas in Germany about raising children. I plan on using many of the ideas that I got from this book in my own life.

2 people found this helpful

One of my favorite books

I keep coming back to this book time and time again because I enjoy hearing another mothers experience as an expat and how they raise children in other places

ahh, the before times

I was hoping this book would talk about how to go about raising a self-reliant child. I bought the book already knowing I wanted to do this. The author spends a lot of her time convincing you that it's a good idea. Well, I was already there, so that's annoying. As far as solutions, really she just wants us to have what is (in her perception) all the utopian social programs that she says Germans have, and if you don't have it where you live, just get political or something. Typical liberal nonsense, I want a solution I can actually act on, and she just telling me to go and be a political activist. What could be called practical advice that's in here is just common sense stuff that was not surprising to me.

Now, that said, the book was still very interesting. She paints the German education system as a well-organized autocratic machine that parents are not allowed to deviate from in any substantive way. A lot of the stuff they do sounds great, but there's also a fair amount that I wouldn't let them do over my dead body. It occurs to me reading this that these grand social programs can only really work if everyone is on the same page value-wise, and I suppose it's good for the Germans that they are generally on the same page. You could never do stuff like this in America because different people and communities have drastically different values. This is why liberals hate everyone who doesn't think like them in our country, they correctly assess that all the people who disagree with them on foundational values are getting in the way of their grand social projects. And they really are right about that, it's very hard to agree on how children should be communally raised when that community doesn't have shared fundamental values.

But whatever, sorry libs, this is supposed to be a liberal democracy, we're supposed to have freedom of religion, and just about every religion says that the most important thing for you to do is to raise your child in that faith tradition. That does not mean that you let the state give their own mealy-mouth rendering of your faith to your children. And it should be no surprise to anyone that religious people don't want kids sexualized at a young age and encouraged to engage in inappropriate sex acts as teenagers. The state dangling free sex to children and teens while parents at home are trying to instill a more austere approach is a sure way to sow discord between children and parents. Maybe the boomers in charge of things think that discord is the true fundamental value.

The book did a good job making me think about how amazing it would be to be in a community of likeminded people all working together in a serious to raise our kids :)