‘I was about 8 years old when I realized: there is a norm. And we don’t meet that standard. Until then I thought it was perfectly normal that I was raised by my mother alone. Where my father was, I have no idea. I didn’t care either. Of course, when I went to school and came into contact with other children, I saw that some children did have a father. That it was different there. But in the poor part of Amsterdam-West where I grew up it was nowhere really normal. Many fathers were absent, there was drinking or aggression. We were one of many. At that time – we are talking about the 80s – there was only children’s TV on Wednesday afternoons. While I was lying on my stomach on the floor watching children’s series, I thought to myself: apparently there is such a thing as a daddy and a mommy who take care of the children together. I only have a mom.
–
