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On holiday with grown-up children: what connects me to Christine Lambrecht

2022-05-17T11:44:19.668Z


We much prefer to spend time on vacation than at work. And we love having our adult children around us. Is that a reason to be ashamed?


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Vacation – escape from reality or a way of dealing with it?

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Photo: Jim Erickson / Erickson Stock / plainpicture

I have some things in common with Christine Lambrecht, our Secretary of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

We were both born in 1965. We graduated from high school in 1984 and – if I may believe Wikipedia – the first state examination in law, an amazing number of years later.

We're both supposedly Evangelical Lutheran, and we probably both voted for the SPD in the last federal election, but of course I'm not entirely sure about Mrs. Lambrecht.

Above all, we both like to spend holidays with our adult children.

Everyone with their own, of course.

And in different places.

I prefer the Danish North Sea coast because I love the silence there.

But that's a matter of taste.

Not everyone appreciates the quiet.

Christine Lambrecht, for example, was with her son on Sylt, where it is known to be less quiet, and the way she arrived there also triggered considerable media coverage.

A few days ago, my colleague Melanie Amann added a socio-psychological question to the many questions on democratic theory, coalition arithmetic and fiscal issues that have been publicly discussed since then: “Why do you still go on vacation with your mum so often in your early 20s?”

I've often asked myself this question.

I think there are two main reasons: First, many parents today are very different from the people some remember from their own childhood.

Even if you still find some today that not even your spouse would want to spend their holidays with voluntarily.

I believe the majority is different.

More tolerant, more cosmopolitan, more loving.

The parents of most of today's 20-year-olds were no longer socialized in the "Third Reich", not in post-war Germany and many not even in Germany, which in my impression, apart from some disadvantages, has an overall positive effect on society.

No more "as long as you put your feet under my table."

No »When the lanterns go on, you'll be back here«.

And also no "You don't leave the house in this dress, Frollein".

Instead, open-ended discussions at eye level, doing sports together, shopping together, tolerance for the moderate consumption of narcotics and mothers who have their children's names tattooed.

In the prison of human existence, parents are no longer cell locks for many young people, but something like older fellow inmates who, out of pity, are not asked what crime they were locked up for.

With some, you develop something of a friendship over time.

You listen to music together - possibly the best hits of the eighties.

Draw lines on the wall.

And maybe they even forge joint escape plans.

With a helicopter to an island, for example.

Will Mother Lambrecht fly alone next time?

If you are romantic, then you should read no further.

Because there is a second reason why people in their early twenties go on holiday with their parents: the value for money is unbeatable.

Transport, accommodation and food are free - often also seasonal, local sports activities.

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Unbeatable value for money: Children number two (in front) and three with typical winter holiday sports

Photo: private

Regardless of time and place, beer and white wine are a) sufficiently available and b) cold, because parents, unlike the adolescents traveling with them, a) buy enough of both and b) put them in the fridge in good time.

Thanks to Apple and Spotify, you can avoid boring conversations, chat with whoever you want, and listen to music you like—maybe not the greatest hits of the '80s.

For parents, however, this form of travel organization is associated with considerable financial expenditure.

It is therefore no wonder that some try to involve their employer's willingness to fly.

Helicopters are especially useful.

They can take off and land almost anywhere, are extremely useful means of transport because of their ventilation function, especially in times of Corona, and are obviously much cheaper than I previously thought.

The trouble is, some parents don't even have access to being able to fly.

Not even SPIEGEL, which otherwise lovingly cares for its employees at every opportunity, is willing to fly.

As far as I know.

Supposedly someone was sent on a skiing holiday by private plane, but that may just be a legend and definitely a long time ago.

Let's not do it anymore.

more on the subject

The many mistakes of Christine Lambrecht: The zero-buck minister by Matthias Gebauer, Konstantin von Hammerstein, Veit Medick and Christian Teevs

When I look at how it is received by the public when business and private matters are flown from A to B together in a helicopter, I think that it may be more expensive, but it is also better to separate them.

I'm sure that the Lambrecht family now sees it that way too.

And I suspect that next time Mother Lambrecht will fly alone.

And if I can believe the assessment of my colleagues, it won't be long either.

At this point I'll include my e-mail address: stefan.weigel@spiegel.de .

If you want to write to me that Sylt also has quiet, very original corners or that you find this nonsense about unmotivated politicians and overpaid editors and their affluent children quite unbearable, firstly because there is a war and secondly many people in Germany cannot afford any vacation at all - with or without children.

I understand this impulse.

It doesn't seem right to me to go on vacation, book vacation or just think about vacation while other people are fleeing, suffering and dying.

Nevertheless I do it.

And I suspect that many feel the same way, because the sympathy is great, the willingness to help and the amount of donations as well, and at the same time the hotels in Mallorca are full and the rental cars are fully booked.

Is that cynical?

Is it escaping reality or a way of dealing with it?

A mixture?

Everyone has to decide that for themselves.

In any case, more than two years of Corona and a Russian who is no longer just standing in front of the door, but has already kicked it in at the neighbor's, have worn me down quite a bit.

I am happy about every minute that I can spend somewhere on vacation with my wife and children.

If mountains, sea and a refrigerator are nearby – all the better.

If my kids didn't just come along for reason number two, but also a little bit for reason number one, even better - but even if they don't, I don't care.

The main thing is that they come with me.

Should the statistically improbable event occur that the end of the world takes place during my vacation,

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-05-17

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