After decades of political inertia, the family is regaining the status of a key political issue. In view of the socioeconomic changes in this country, politicians have obviously recognized the urgent necessity to align individual cohabitation in the human microcosm with the social cohesion of society. The historical importance of the family as a central social interface between the increasingly globalized society, on the one hand, and individual lifestyles that are becoming more and more individualistic, on the other, is uncontested. At the same time, the social changes are not without consequences for the traditional family.
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Our country needs a new children’s culture – it must become more child-friendly. Young people who decide to have children must not be discriminated against for their life and family planning compared to those who do not want to have children. Germany is well on the way to becoming a country without any children. That is why we must give children more room in our society.
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We do not have any time to lose but we hesitate in Germany. For too long, as attested to by the great gap between parental wishes and justified political expectations and the actual reality in the area of early childhood education, care, development and care services: In West Germany, only eight percent of children under the age of 3 have a guaranteed place in a nursery facility– which parents look upon with great joy, as if they have won at Lotto. We are still miles away from a flexible and family-friendly offering situation. Excerpt from "About children", 06/2008, Verlag "Das Netz".
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Due to the growing societal changes operators of child day care facilities must deal with new and increasingly complex requirements. In the aftermath of the sobering results of the PISA study kindergartens as child care facilities are expected to provide children not only with care and instruction but also with early development and teaching services. At the same time they are called upon to orient their offerings to the individual requirements of parents and support them in the exercise of their educational responsibility.Download (PDF, 94 kB)

Many parents are uncertain about their children’s education. In contrast to earlier times, when values were passed on from generation to generation, parents are often left to deal alone with this task. In addition, the demands on parents to educate their children are growing and, in view of the increasing fragility of relationships and deterioration of traditions and religious ties, it is becoming much more difficult for them to fulfill the educational mandate. Many parents are uncertain, particularly when it comes to religious issues and communicating fundamental values to their children.
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“There is no such thing as a second-class God” (Brahms 2003, S. 55). This statement by Wulff Traugott Kruse, long-standing pastor of the Dietrich-Bonhoeffer congregation in Bremen and one of the founders of the system of joint education of disabled and non-disabled children in Evangelical kindergartens in Bremen in the early 1980s, not only epitomizes the Christian view of man but also the philosophical perspective of Evangelical day care center operators in the provision of instruction, education and teaching of children with and without any disabilities in their child care facilities.
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Our society has lost sight of children for decades – for their families, their development, and their educational chances. The result is that Germany as a teaching location does not stand up in the international comparison; it is lagging behind, exhausted and worn out. Other countries are already way ahead of us. The issue of education is an issue of the future of our country.The following information is only available in German

The term “need for reform” is a polite paraphrase for the disastrous situation in German education, especially in elementary education, relative to child development until school entry. If one were to speak frankly, the neutral and already somewhat freyed term “need for reform” would have to be reformulated with the sober realization that ”it is already five minutes after twelve!”
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The societal changes in Germany have led to a corresponding growth and parallel coexistence of different values. As a result, our society has a growing need for value-oriented education. Children need solid orientation through values and social rules for their personality development and the nurturing of their cognitive and emotional abilities.
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