In
‘I find the developmental phases of children very fascinating, each phase is different and little by little you see how a child becomes a personality. During my high school years I had fifteen babysitting families, I looked like a babysitting center. I prefer to babysit during the day, to spend as much time as possible with the children. I read all the magazines about parenting, attachment problems, and became more and more interested in what was not going well.
„Through the SPH study [sociaal-pedagogische hulpverlening] I was able to work with children in practice, to bring safety in family situations. I worked in child psychiatry for eleven years and then started my own company. By now I also had a family, and then it is easy if you can organize your own time. I have often been offered the opportunity to hire people, but I deliberately did not do that. With five kids and a job I have enough balls to keep up.
“I now work 24 to 32 hours a week and I have to monitor my boundaries well, because with those shortages in youth care, there is enough work. And it’s very hard to say no when you have a client who needs immediate help. My income is fine in relation to the work I do. The only problem is that I am paid from my clients’ personal budgets; sometimes things don’t go well and I don’t get any money. That is why I have a buffer to absorb these kinds of situations.”
Out
‘Our gas bill is not fixed and it has now risen from 250 euros to 600 euros per month. And the groceries have become 30 to 40 euros more expensive in recent weeks, while I buy the same. So I pay extra attention to the offers and try to buy smart. For example, I recently bought dishwasher tablets for a year because they were discounted. This saves me 120 euros per year. It does cause a lot of stress. We’re just getting around at this point.
“What we’ve been doing lately to cut back is to leave some of the groceries – we buy in bulk once a week – in the shed. Then I fill the fruit bowl halfway, and when it’s empty, I add some more from the shed. That way it doesn’t go as fast as if I put everything up for grabs at once.
“Our children, two girls aged 21, two boys aged 15 and 13 and a girl aged 9, do a lot of sports. This means that the washing machine runs every day and we have lost the necessary fuel to bring and collect. That also counts. Our oldest son plays football professionally and is with De Graafschap, so he has to play against Ajax and Feyenoord, but he also has matches in Groningen or Maastricht. In the beginning I was disappointed with that, but I see how much fun he gets out of it and that is the most important thing.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of March 28, 2022
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