She's the kind of daughter that says, ‘Our family is a democracy. And I'm the queen.’
I can't remember why my daughter said this.
Probably because we were having a discussion about what we would eat the next day, or where we would go on holiday in the summer.
Elly and I have seven children.
Your opinion as a daughter sometimes gets overlooked.
And your opinion as a father, too.
Often, even.
Why do you have so many children?
There's actually no reason for it.
Luckily, they didn't all come at once.
The last two came together. Then we decided that was enough.
From our perspective, every child is very welcome.
Although I'll never say to anyone: You should do that too, seven children.
Actually, I think it's not too bad. We have a lot more cars.
In that respect, seven children isn't a lot at all.
Children are quite expensive, aren't they?
Yes, that's correct.
Fortunately, we usually had enough tenants who had trouble with their own cars. They would come to us to rent a car. From the money those tenants gave us, we were able to feed our children again.
Can you then give each child enough attention?
No, of course not.
But that's not necessary at all.
In a large family, children help each other. And yes, they also get on each other's nerves. Just like in society.
Do you also have a daughter who thinks she's the queen?
I'm happy to help you with a delivery van., to move her to her palace.
Or to her new student room.
