Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
1280px-Am_Wall_(Bremen)_01 (1)
Children playing (Photo: Immanuel Giel/Wikimedia Commons) Children playing (Photo: Immanuel Giel/Wikimedia Commons)
Health
Margrite Kalverboer
children's ombudsman
happy
unhappy
financial problems
Youth Care
Wednesday, November 21, 2018 - 08:28
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

A tenth of Dutch kids unhappy with their lives, Children's Ombudsman says

A tenth of Dutch children are dissatisfied with their own lives and give their lives a failing score of 3.8, according to a study by Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer. The difference between happy children and unhappy children in the Netherlands is also growing, she said on Tuesday - the International Day for the Rights of the Child, NU.nl reports.

Kalverboer analyzed nearly a thousand questionnaires filled out by children and spoke to a number of children in various living situations, from top young athletes to kids living on the street. 

Most children in the Netherlands are happy with their lives and give their lives a score of 7.7. Children who say there are problems at home give their lives a much lower score at 6.3. This also applies to children who are in touch with youth care (6.4) and children with little money at home (6.9).

Kalverboer is concerned about these big differences. "We do a lot of good things in the Netherlands, but there are children we leave helplessly out in th cold. Children who keep falling through the cracks. So we're not doing well enough", she said, according to the newspaper. 

Many children find it difficult to get help, the Children's Ombudsman said. "For example, there is a counselor at school. But you have to specially sign up for that." According to Kalverboer, many kids won't do that because it puts them in a position that they can be teased about. Another problem, according to Kalverboer, is the increasing pressure placed on children in today's performance oriented society. "Children who have problems do not dare to show it."

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Supermarket starts petition to lower VAT rate on fruit & veg
  • Amsterdam tenants' rent lowered over lead in drinking water
  • "Peepshow on wheels" sex workers' plea to reopen
  • 5,048: Most new coronavirus infections in over a month
  • Five Rotterdam cops reprimanded for racism in WhatsApp group
  • Tickets for festival experiments sell out within an hour

Top Stories

  • 5,048: Most new coronavirus infections in over a month
  • Dutch less satisfied with life in Covid pandemic
  • Pandemic hit NS harder than expected
  • Amsterdam limits access to Vondelpark after massive party
  • Nearly 50K more Covid vaccines administered; Infection average rises again
  • €600 million in cocaine headed to one Dutch address caught in busts

© 2012-2021 NLTimes.nl, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact