Autumn on a football field. Three football fathers – one native, one of Turkish and one of Moroccan descent – discuss the progress of their sons at the edge of the field. Especially at school, because the children have been going to secondary school since September. The conversation is about the hell that is TikTok, and YouTube.
“Do you know what it is,” says the Turkish father. “I work in education and you can’t get those children from social media. Try to guide them as best as possible. There’s not much more you can do.”
My son scores. “Congratulations!” says the Moroccan father. His son is on reserve because they were late. “I understand that the trainer wants to be strict, but we were stuck in a traffic jam. And I still called him.”
The field is swampy, the leaves are turning yellow again, it is early in the morning and we are wearing jackets. “My parents had no idea about the schools in the Netherlands,” says the Turkish father. “They came from a village in Anatolia and were hardly educated themselves. We had to invent it all ourselves.”
‘I am pleased that my son does not (yet) suffer from fomo’
That’s why I realize that these fathers are on the phone every week. To support their sons on their way to adulthood in the big city. That is not always easy. The Moroccan father: “I had a colleague, good job, good family, good father. And yet his son went off the rails. Nobody understood how that could be.”
I picture my own son at his new, very multicultural high school. Everything is different. For him, for us. Many metropolitan problems. No idea how this will turn out. Then he scores his second goal. “Well, I’m looking forward to it!” I hear from the opponent’s camp, in bold Rotterdam. The fathers shake my hand: “Well played.”
End of match.
“See you next week,” I say.
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