Katinka, Author at World Moms Network

From Disappointment to Apathy: a COVID outcome

Katinka — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 13:09:14 +0000

Kids need to learn how to deal with disappointment I’ve heard this said time and time again, especially when my teenagers were younger. Most of the time, it was meant as general advice towards today’s generation of spoiled children but the advice has been directed towards me as well. I admit, I’ve been the kind […]

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Protecting My Darlings: a writer’s dilemma

Katinka — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 14:00:00 +0000

Writing and Deleting In Dutch, writers have a mantra, a piece of advice provided by one of our well-known authors about deleting words rather than protecting them: Schrijven Is Schrappen -Godfried Bomans The translation is, “writing is deleting.” It means, instead of holding fast to everything you write, writers must apply the common practice of […]

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Blended Family Rituals: about ice cream, mustard and goodnight wishes

Katinka — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:31:39 +0000

The Glue that Binds If you ask about the glue that keeps our blended family together, I could reply with classics like ‘unconditional love’, ‘reciprocal respect’ or ‘bonding through fun’. All those are indeed values we hold high in our family of two plus two plus two. But the special superglue which makes us a […]

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BELGIUM: Coucou, One Mom’s Battle with Depression

Katinka — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 15:08:09 +0000

Today is my birthday but I don’t feel the need to celebrate. It’s not about getting older. I don’t mind adding years to my curriculum. The years and some grey hairs might actually help to finally getting profiled as a mature scientist. It’s about celebrating life. My life. I don’t feel like I should celebrate […]

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BELGIUM: Keeping A Secret

Katinka — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 05:00:46 +0000

Secrets. I believe they’re important. Especially for children. When I think about adults with secrets, I mostly imagine sadness, nasty stuff or crime. Mostly sadness though. Actually, I don’t even know if I have big or little secrets myself. Probably not. I’ll have to think about it. But a child with a secret, I absolutely […]

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BELGIUM: Kungfu Adoption

Katinka — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:00:49 +0000

Despicable Me. Mr Peabody and Sherman. Meet the Robinsons. Annie. Tangled. Mowgli. Kungfu Panda. Adoption – or the search for roots and heritage – seems a very recurrent and strong theme in children’s movies and tales. I guess it has to do with the struggle each child goes through, when exploring her identity and finding […]

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BELGIUM: My Frame World

Katinka — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 06:00:57 +0000

Next to me in the coffee shop, an elderly lady loudly complains to everyone who cares to listen. How poignant it is, this refugees’ crisis. How she doesn’t understand how nothing can be done to help all those poor people. How entire families are torn for life. How her hair had cost 80 euros. Seventyninepointfive […]

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BELGIUM: Roots

Katinka — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 06:00:55 +0000

This time next week, I’ll be in Ethiopia with my daughter. My Ethiopian daughter. She is six years old, and four of those have been with us. Four years which have been wonderful and rough all at the same time. Before she was with us, we already spoke about returning to her birth country. Later. […]

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BELGIUM: Sunny Clouded Eyes

Katinka — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 05:00:08 +0000

Does that mean I get a cane now? And a dog? That would be sooooo cool! She was excited, my precious one. She skipped and danced, as we left the hospital. I had just explained to her, in careful wording, that she was now officially ‘disabled’. At the last tests, her eyesight was down to […]

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BELGIUM : Parenting – Keeping Them Close

Katinka — Mon, 11 May 2015 05:00:54 +0000

Times are confusing for a parent. Library shelves are filled with parenting guides. Tips and tricks for the perfect reward system are stacked next to the rant on why keeping rewards from a kid is essentially the same as punishing him or her. Online you can find the benefits of co-sleeping a click away from […]

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