Holiday care in the crisis: Parents ask for help and solutions!

Holiday care in the crisis: Parents ask for help and solutions!

The long summer vacation are just around the corner, and like every year they raise questions about childcare for many parents. Because while students in Germany have over 70 vacation days a year, the parents often only have 30 vacation days available. This discrepancy ensures real problems, especially in the case of single parents and financially weaker. Parents' representatives therefore vehemently criticize the lack of reliable care offers on vacation. Aline Sommer-Noack, deputy chair of the Federal Parental Council, emphasizes the gaps in the care and emphasizes how important adequate offers are to support parents.

in Berlin and Brandenburg, the summer holidays begin on July 22, 2025 and last until September 6th. The different holidays in the federal states often ensure additional tensions in the holiday planning of the families. Many parents feel left alone when organizing the holiday care, as a survey by Civey shows. Around half of the parents state that they have to use more than 50% of their annual vacation to look after their children. Over a third of the respondents even use over 75% of their vacation.

care offers and challenges

The situation for primary school children is often described as sufficient, but it looks different for older children. Children with disabilities in particular, especially at special schools, are often excluded from care. The Social Association of Germany therefore calls for investments in free, high-quality and near-home offers for holiday and all-day care. Youth associations also fight with rising costs to maintain the offers. The State Student Committee in Berlin is committed to closer cooperation between schools and youth leisure facilities to improve the childcare situation.

A positive initiative in Berlin is the “Berlin summer vacation calendar”, which lists non-commercial and sometimes free offers. Reference is also made to the practical "super vacation pass", which offers numerous advantages for only 9 euros. The passport applies for 100 days of vacation and gives access to over 500 prizes and raffles for Berlin children and adolescents up to 18 years. In addition to free admissions in leisure facilities, such as the zoo and various museums, the pass also offers discounts on workshops and sports offers as well as a bathing card for free admission to Berlin swimming pools.

invitation to use

The Super holiday passport is personal and can be purchased at several sales outlets. The coupons that are part of the passport offer great opportunities for excursions and leisure activities. These include free ice skating offers, theater visits and exciting raffles for excursions in climbing parks and other attractive leisure goals. These offers contribute to the fact that children and young people are very busy and experience a lot of joy in the holiday season.

The holiday season is a challenge for many families, but with good planning and the right access to information, it can still be for the whole family at a nice time. It is worth taking a closer look at the existing offers and exploiting the possibilities that the "super vacation pass" offers.

Whatever the individual solution looks like, it becomes clear that more support and better offers are necessary to close the big gaps in holiday care for parents and children. The commitment of initiatives and associations, such as parent representatives and youth associations, is essential.

For more information on support offers and the Super-Ferien-Pass, visit the pages of Tagesschau and Youth culture service .