Young people find family uncool and stuffy
Wrong: According to a large youth study, around 76 percent of young people say you need a family to be really happy. More than 90 percent say they have a good relationship with their parents, and three out of four young people would raise their own children according to the same standards they were raised with.
Lesbian and gay couples can adopt children
Wrong: So far, only stepchild adoption is legal. That means: The biological child of one person may be adopted by the life partner. Homosexual couples are not allowed to adopt someone else’s child, even from abroad.
Most women start their careers again after parental leave
Wrong: Around 77 percent of mothers with children under the age of three in West Germany and 67 percent in East Germany stay at home longer while the man earns the money. At the same time, for nine out of ten of these women, the job means “personal independence”.
Men are more likely to imagine life without children than women
Wrong: Every 10th woman thinks her life is great, even without children, thanks to friends, a dream job, happy relationships and leisure time fun. But only every 20th man has no desire to have children from the outset.
The declining birth rate led to an adoption boom
Wrong: Since 2004, the number of adoptions in Germany has fallen by almost a quarter, compared to 1994 by more than half. In 2009 only 3888 children were adopted in Germany. 459 of them previously lived in a home. Background: With the falling birth rate, the number of children that could be put up for adoption is also falling. And since unmarried mothers are hardly discriminated against in society and receive more financial support from the state, they are more likely to keep their babies.
The so-called new fathers change diapers and continue to look after the offspring after the marriage has failed
Wrong: If things go wrong, the main burden of childcare still lies with the mothers. Children of separation spend around 90 percent of their time with their mother, but mostly still keep in touch with their biological father.
The blended family has long been the most common type of family
Wrong: The vast majority of children in Germany are still growing up with their biological parents in a married family. This is true for more than 80 percent of children in the West and over 70 percent of children in the East. 2nd place goes to single parents, 3rd place to “patchis” with birth mothers and stepmothers, real and step siblings. Almost every sixth family is now made up of two failed nuclear families. However, more than half of them fall apart again after some time.
Children react traumatized to the separation of their parents
Wrong: In her study on separation and divorce, the American psychology professor E. Mavis Hetherington found that up to 80 percent of all children and adults cope well with the new situation.
In big cities, the one-child family is particularly popular
Correct: In Germany, three out of ten children grow up as only children. In big cities, even every second child has no siblings and only has to learn in daycare how to settle the dispute over the most beautiful sand mold.
Graduated women first conquer the executive chair and then the place at the cradle
That’s right: More and more women are having their first child over the age of 35 – after they have kick-started their careers. The statistics currently show almost twice as many late mothers as ten years ago; around 55 percent of them have studied.
