By Robin Pascoe
This season’s big television hit is a series about a typical Dutch primary school called De Luizenmoeder – the nit mother – and follows the trials and tribulations of a new parent finding her place in the school and the playground hierarchy. Luizenmoeder is bottom of the list of classroom jobs, which is where you start off when your child is a newbie.
I can remember years ago, when princess Amalia first started school, nearly choking on my tea when I read that princess Máxima, as she was then, was doing her bit as school nit mother. The idea of having the future queen picking through your child’s locks looking for lice is still extremely bizarre. But nit mother is obviously one of those all-important jobs at Dutch schools – after all, someone has to do it.
