Most German families have one or two children. Sometimes the grandparents will live in the same house or close by but that custom is becoming less common. If the parents divorce, kids will usually stay with their mother. In the city, families live in apartments; in the suburbs or small towns, they usually live in a town house or a duplex; in the country, a family lives in a single standing house.

Families have one or two cars and since most houses don't have a garage attached to them, people park their cars on the street or in a separate garage. If there is only one car, the father will often take public transportation to work, or the mother will walk everywhere to do the small errands with a rolling basket. A bakery, the post office, a bank, a small supermarket, a florist, a pharmacy and a butcher are all usually within walking distance. On the weekends, the whole family drives together to do the big grocery shopping.

Germans are famous for their love of nature and the outdoors so apartments usually have a small yard or a balcony. There will be a large, sliding glass door that opens up onto a Terrasse (patio) and the back yard and garden. There is usually an awning over the patio that can be retracted.

There are no school buses in Germany, and parents rarely drive their kids to school. Fortunately, school is typically a maximum of fifteen minutes away by foot. The high school might be a fifteen-minute bike ride away. In cities most kids use public transportation and get a subsidized annual pass to do this. Sports take place on most afternoons at the school gym or stadium and again, kids take responsibility for getting there by themselves. They also walk or bike to their music lessons or art classes.