1 Children for Children tune (1980)
In the 1980s, VARA organized a toy campaign for children in need. Flory Anstadt, program maker at VARA who died in October at the age of 95, devised Children for Children as part of that campaign. The ‘wanting to do good’ philosophy is reflected in the well-known Children for Children tune. “Children for Children, a child here is so rich, Children for Children, it is so unequal. A child below the equator is usually just a beggar. Children for Children, for Children today.” The text now hurts many ears. There is an ugly sense of superiority.
In the early 1990s, the toy promotion stopped and, according to the makers, the songs became less heavy. In the mid-90s, the lyrics of the tune also changed. “A child still has an open mind / a child understands the most.” The song is now mainly about music bringing connection. “Even if you don’t speak the same language/we all understand music.”
2 I had such a crazy dream (1980)
In the first interviews Flory Anstadt gave about Children for Children, she said that she thought most children were done with bears making sandwiches. There had to be fresh new songs for children. She had to fight for that idea, the bosses at VARA were not immediately enthusiastic. But the first album by Children for Children immediately became a resounding success with more than a hundred thousand copies sold. ‘I had such a crazy dream’ became the biggest hit and is still popular. That’s probably because it’s an uptempo song. 45 years of Children for Children has shown that fast songs are much more successful than ballads. Ballads have also been made much less in recent years.
3 Not in love for now (1996)
Founder Flory Anstadt believed that a song could effect more change than a documentary. But not all songs had to change something in society, many were simply written from the experiences of children. Songs are therefore often about being in love. About that feeling of butterflies in your stomach, daydreaming in class and not being able to sleep. That overwhelming feeling was often not experienced as positive by the singers.
4 Innkeeper Gerstenbier (1984)
In the dozens of articles written in newspapers about Children for Children in the early years, it was almost always about the Gooise r. For logistical reasons, the choir from media city Hilversum mainly consisted of children from ‘t Gooi and you could hear that. Children for Children responded to that comment in 1984 with the song ‘Herbergier Gerstenbier’. That contains the sentence: “Why are you laughing at my r, isn’t that going a bit far?” The statement shows that the Children for Children team was tone-deaf to the real criticism: that Children for Children was not a good reflection of Dutch society. You also see this in interviews. For example, the makers in the 1990s proudly say that they eliminated the children’s nonsense pronunciation in songs with exercises. Only when Lucia Marthas, known from the popular dance school, joined in 1999 did the choir become more diverse.
5 When the lights go out (1984)
Yet you also see that the makers of Children for Children have been advocates of a more tolerant society from the start. They did this by specifically naming discrimination and racism and thus holding up a mirror to society. A noble idea, but nowadays the lyrics of those songs sound quite tactless and clumsy. For example, comedian Nabil Aoulad Ayad now talks in the theater in the show with Rayen Panday and friends about the song ‘When the lights go out’, which was sung at his primary school at Christmas. That was in the time of Hans Janmaat, so as a little boy he heard here and there that he had to return to Morocco (even though he was born in the Netherlands). When he listened to the Christmas song with the sentence “Turk and Greek and Moroccan, can they stay here, can they also exist here, or will they be expelled?”, he was really shocked and he thought ‘yep, packing suitcases’.
Nowadays the songs are more subtle and positive. The recent ‘Come to me’ sings about refugee children and that they can always come and play with the singers. In any case, differences are celebrated at Children for Children. Everyone has to be who they are.
6 Girl group (1983)
The inspiration for the songs of Children for Children has come from the children themselves since the very beginning. They can submit topics that professional songwriters will work on. One of the most popular themes is wanting to be famous. There are dreams about becoming a rapper, drummer or singer. The most famous song is of course ‘Girl Group’.
7 Daba That Daba Daa (2024)
The King’s Games song ‘Daba Die Daba Daa’ was viewed 12 million times on YouTube this year. The song even finished in second place on the list of most viewed music videos in the Netherlands in 2024, after ‘Europapa’. Since the first King’s Games in 2013, Children for Children has created a special song for each edition and thus kicks off the year much earlier than before. The songs often have a chorus with made-up words that rhyme and are often repeated, in combination with cues from a dance. The music is exciting, also because it is intended to get children and parents dancing and moving.
8 Hello World (2012)
Children for Children has produced many hits, but its popularity declined in the early 1900s. That changed in 2011 when Tjeerd Oosterhuis took over production. The choir scored another hit after almost 26 years with ‘Hallo Wereld’. Where you used to listen to a song from the children’s choir with your buttocks clenched together because not everything was in tune, the songs from 2011 onwards sound pure and beautiful. In that context, an interview with Flory Anstadt from the early years is very funny. That said in it Dagblad van het Noorden: “They are just nice children who sing more or less in tune.” It more or less has disappeared, also thanks to autotune.
9 If I were Prime Minister (2011)
What if children ruled the world? Then there would be no more war, no animal suffering, no plastic soup, no unkind people. The most famous song about it is of course ‘If I were in charge of the news’, but over the past 45 years many more songs have been produced with children’s dreams about a beautiful world. In 2011, the song with that thought experiment was similar to the 1980s song: ‘If I were Prime Minister’.
10 Save the Bee (2018)
Animals have always been an important theme at Children for Children, but in the past it was mainly pets that were in the spotlight. In recent years, it has increasingly been about wild animals that are having a hard time: sharks, whales and therefore also bees. It is striking that Children for Children do not often sing about cows, chickens, pigs and sheep. In 1985 they did sing the song ‘Sluit je aan’, a song about the suffering in livestock farming and with criticism of the butchery industry. This caused controversy, butchers felt they were being treated as abusers.
A recording for the 30th anniversary of Children for Children in 2010.
Photos: Marcel Hemelrijk/ANP
11 Boy things, girl things (2015)
Many songs from Children for Children attempt to break stereotypical gender roles. Already in the 1980s the choir sang about a boy who was in ballet, in the 1900s about having two fathers. This song is from 2015. Children sing that there is no difference between boy things and girl things.
But something strange is going on. If the songs are not about breaking those gender roles, they seem to subtly confirm stereotypes. For example, last year the song ‘Bij mij Thuis’ was on the Children for Children 44 album with the chorus: “Today we are eating roti chicken. Prefer vegetarian? That’s fixed in no time. My mother will prepare it in a moment!” Shortly before that it is sung: “See my father thinking: there goes my peace.” The mother takes care while the father tries to rest (from a hard day at work?).
It is also interesting that the number of female copywriters at Children for Children is remarkably low. In Children for Children 40 to 44, the share of female writers in songs did not exceed 15 percent in all five editions. Only this year the share is just above 20 percent. This raises the question of whether more is being sung about and from the experiences of men and boys. The numbers are particularly striking for a program that wants children to believe that you can be anything.
12 The Tits Song (1996)
If you say Children for Children, millennials say ‘The Tits Song’. A song about a girl who grows breasts and is ashamed of it. It is a typical Children for Children song, because it discusses things that seem taboo. Yet such a song is no longer made these days. Children for Children now only focuses on primary school students.
13 Hey y’all! (2009)
Songs from Children for Children have always been about the environment and the living environment of children. In the early years, for example, the song program had a song about a tree that was being cut down or about a backyard where vegetables were grown without insecticides. But about fifteen years ago, the tone of songs about the environment changed. They became protest songs. Not descriptive or narrative, no alarmist and angry. The earth is being destroyed, adults should do something!
14 Pocket money (1990)
In 1985 the singers sang that money was not necessary, in 1986 they recorded the well-known song ‘I am certainly not Sinterklaas’ with Edwin Rutten in which the actor addresses the children that they cannot just get everything, but in the years 90, several songs were about making a lot of money and buying things. You could almost see the advance of global market thinking in it. After the 1990s, the theme of money disappeared.
15 Friends with the monsters (2022)
Ghosts and monsters exist, Children for Children have known that for a long time. The children in the songs are often not afraid of the monsters in their room, they are even sometimes their friend. It is striking that that one other disembodied being, which also plays a major role in the lives of some children, is hardly sung about. God is only referred to in the song ‘Life lasts a lifetime’. “You know exactly when it starts/ but the end is not known/ Only the conductor knows that.”