

Twins: twice the work, the expense, and probably twice the number of stretchmarks. On the other hand, you get to cycle round with one of these specialist jobbies. It's just as well there aren't any hills in Amsterdam, as these things look heavy. You occasionally see them or the bakfietsen stuck at the bottom of a particularly steep bridge, the poor mother desperately trying to gain enough power to get up and over -- while the children are screaming in the front, oozing jam, and beating each other up. A recent newspaper article claimed that Dutch children are the happiest in the world, largely because of the child-centered nature of Dutch parenting. And they're probably right. After all, if you saw your mother sweating buckets "driving" you to nursery or to see Zwaarte Piet while you sat back like a little king in your carriage, wouldn't you feel loved?
2 comments:
In the same poll, British children were the least-well-beinged, for what may be reciprocal reasons. That is to say: parents kick them out into the traffic to gel their hair and hurl empty beer cans at each other.
What the Dutch call child-centered parenting, the Brits call "spoiling". Which is going to teach you to stand on your own two feet? To find your own beer money, rather than expecting the government to give it to you?
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