Yes was born in 1978 - obviously a good year!
I would say it is true that people are very family orientated here in Munich (in the south of Germany), with lots of facilities for the whole family and very few places that you're not allowed to take children. And children use the facilities too, they cycle to the playground with their ping pong bats and play table tennis; no drunk intimidating teenagers, no graffitti, it's wonderful! I'm not sure if Munich is the same as the rest of the country though, I have heard it called "Germany's biggest village" as it is so safe and friendly. And my language skills aren't good enough to read the local papers so I'm sure they have their fair share of problems here too.
No idea how they feel about weight gain in pregnancy though - hopefully not too picky as I'm sure I'll be the size of an elephant by November!