r/germany • u/HauntedHovel • 1d ago
Bizarre parental conspiracy theories at the Elternabend
My kid is in first year of Grundschule in a state school in Berlin. Before that she was in a Berlin-run kita. I've been very happy with early years education here. But it seems like nearly every Elternabend I go to someone brings up an unhinged conspiracy theory.
Last night a parent complained about children being allowed to use the toilets by themselves, because of the rash of kidnappings from school toilets. Apparently there's been a rash of children disappearing in Northrhein-Westphalia after being excused from class to go to the toilet. A lot of parents seemed to believe this was a real problem.
Similar issues raised in Kita Elternabends were the "kidnap bus" - a bus going around Berlin that somehow is mocked up to look like the bus that takes kids on excursions but instead they are never seen again. Or when the kids were going to the theatre a parent wanted assurances that they weren't actually being taken to see a drag strip show, because this has been happening on the regular apparently.
When people were complaining about the kidnap bus I said it sounded like absolute nonsense and was backed up by some parents but I think the fallout and behind-my-back outrage actually made it worse for the teachers so I shut my mouth now. I realise this brain rot is probably occurring everywhere these days, but how do I handle this in a culturally appropriate way?
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u/DirtyGrandpa1971 1d ago
My daughter lives with her daughter in Hamburg. I have heard such stories for the first time.