«The tight daily schedule makes it difficult»

Everyday life on a farm is turbulent, with many different people coming and going. Because the daily routine is tightly planned, it is always difficult to find islands for family life and for conversations between us. The weekend is not free, work goes on. There are three meals together every day, but an apprentice always sits at the table with us. That means it's the wrong place to discuss private matters. That's one side of it.

On the other hand, we spend a lot of time together this way. As there is always someone at home, our two girls Erin and Irma always have a trusted contact person if they have a concern. I grew up like this myself and really appreciated this security. When we have a little less work, we suddenly have opportunities to really spend time together. On family weekends like this, we prefer to take it easy and see what topics come up.

Every Sunday, we all meet at the dining table and discuss the week ahead.

It's very important to me and my partner to know what's on our children's minds. That's why we always work on making time to talk to each other. This works very well at the family meeting we hold on Sundays. We all meet at the dining table and discuss the week ahead.

I think it's good for the children to have our full attention there and to discuss their concerns. These are often things that have to do with planning. However, it also allows us to show that we are really interested in our children's lives. This is otherwise lost because, although we see each other physically often, we are often under time and deadline pressure or there are other people present.

If we have made agreements at these meetings, we as parents can refer to them later. This gives us clarity in our communication with the children. We have a little ritual in the evening : we parents take turns telling the girls a booklet. We usually also talk about other things that have been on their minds that day. This half hour is incredibly valuable, and we hold on to it.