The text of the book was written by children’s book author Joke van Leeuwen. “She helped me a lot. I couldn’t write a book with my lung covid head.” Beforehand, Beerda had compiled a list of what she wanted in the children’s book. And Luuk made the drawings.
Luuk: “I just started thinking very carefully about how those drawings would look. My mother read the text aloud. It was difficult with some drawings, but it worked.” Nicole: “Those drawings worked therapeutically for him. I didn’t send him what to draw. Then it comes from the child itself.”
Luuk says he doesn’t like the fact that his mother has lung covid. It has quite an impact on the family. For example, Nicole suffers a lot from stimuli. “Children are quite exuberant, enthusiastic. That’s how children are, and that’s okay.” They play games, play with other children. “They laugh loudly, have fun, run around the house,” she continues. Those are all stimuli that give her a headache. Or as she calls it herself: “Fog in my head from war.”
A way has been found at home. The children are quieter, quieter than in the area. Champion silence is Luuk. “We have to be quiet very often when mom is in bed.”
That affects her son. “I noticed that Luuk was not feeling well. He was very angry and sad. There was a feeling of impotence in him.” She also felt that way herself. “But as adults I can put things into perspective better. That didn’t work for him.” Luke bottled it up. “I saw it, but I couldn’t solve it. Because of my inability I couldn’t. I couldn’t get to him.”