‘How do you explain the world of prostitution to children aged six and eight?’
Image: Nine IJff
Mariëtte Middelbeek is a journalist and author, and a columnist for Kek Mama. She and her husband Erik have two children: son Casper and daughter Nora.
“Hey mom, look, a mannequin!” After we have let two pairs of children’s ears in the Concertgebouw get used to the sounds of Strauss and Tchaikovsky (resulting in a somewhat lukewarm review from the children), we are on our way to a nice tent for lunch. On the way we pass a few windows of the kind with red light and curtains in the same color. And, in Casper’s eyes, ‘mannequins’. “A mannequin in underpants!” adds Nora.
The next moment they get the fright of their lives, because the mannequins move. I don’t want the kids staring and we keep walking. “What was that?!” asks Casper and I read from his snout that we can’t get away with ‘oh, those people live there’.
So once in the restaurant we tell them that they have seen prostitutes and we brace ourselves for the deluge of questions: what do they do, why, do they want it, who are their customers, and their boss? “Ooo”, says Casper with all the wisdom of an eight-year-old. “So those are whores.” I almost choke and ask how he got that word. Oh, just heard.
Read also – Marike runs a high-end escort service: ‘It should be pleasant for the client and the escort’ >
Prostitution
In the evening, in bed, the children return to the subject. We told them that most prostitutes did not already think in group 4: yes, this is what I want to be when I grow up. But that not everyone has the choice and that it is unfair, but that one has more opportunities and luck in life than the other. Simplistic, yes, but how do you explain the world of prostitution to children aged six and eight? I find it hard.
As I go downstairs I hear the children talking together. “I’m really not going to be a protie student later on,” says Nora, still struggling with the word. Casper has some advice: “Then you should do your best at school.”
That lesson in classical music that we tried to teach them with the visit to the Concertgebouw, it didn’t quite stick with them. But maybe they learned a life lesson instead.
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