German Columnist on the Autumn Costs of Child Poverty and a School Photographer's 22.50 Euro Fee

A first-person column published by the German weekly Der Freitag describes how autumn strains a family living on a tight budget. The author writes that the season brings a hunt for suitable boots and the search for winter jackets, alongside colds and school events whose length and frequency cannot be predicted. Children outgrow shoes, burst out of winter jackets and lose gloves, hats, umbrellas and earmuffs, the columnist notes. Each autumn, the author says, a panic sets in that she describes as unusually intense for parents. The piece opens with a schoolteacher leading a song and the author's own internal groan about how it will all work out. The headline refers to a school photographer who asked for 22.50 euros and to something the author did that few parents dare. The column is framed around the rising costs of the season for people affected by poverty, noting that the author turns every euro over twenty times. The available text breaks off before the full account of the photographer episode is given. The article appears in the current issue of the publication.