Maaike Timmerman was once so eager to prove herself as a presenter of Op1 that she was ‘completely broke’ the next day. “It was an opportunity I had to take.”
Good morning Netherlands (formerly Today) was the program in which Eva Jinek made flying hours as a presenter. She is therefore a great example for all those ladies who are here now; they also want to lie on a beach mat for half the year and collect 1.2 million euros for the other half.
Back to full time
One of those ladies is Maaike Timmerman. Before she had children, she went to the editorial office of Good Morning Netherlands five mornings a week at 3:30 am. “When Tom was born, I went to work for three days and suddenly I spent an entire afternoon with other people on a beach or in the playground,” she says in Parents of Now.
The TV talent has now started working full-time again, because she got the chance to do something on the radio. “I grew up with two older brothers, maybe that’s where the urge to prove comes from. But it is always on the condition that I see the children enough.”
Broke after Op1
That is sometimes one as a mother struggle, said Mike. “Once, after the morning broadcast, I was asked if I could cover Op1 in the evening. An opportunity I had to take. The consequence was that I did not see the children both in the morning and in the evening and a day later I was completely broken on the wheel making Roos’ birthday treats.”
Maaike, who was bashd by Coen Swijnenberg two years ago, no longer feels like it. “That is fine once, but never structurally: I want to have breakfast with my children or read Pluk van de Petteflet before going to sleep.”
Without prejudice
Maaike continues to hope for an Eva Jinek-like career. “Of course my family is the most important thing, but my ambitions are undiminished. (…) After my leave I was eager to start again. Every evening when Marten came home from work, I found myself telling myself again about Tom’s huge poopy diaper, his nap, his bottle.”
“Logically, that was my life at the time, but those aren’t stories, are they? I am more than just a mother, and I want to be one. That first morning at work I was really singing in the car at 3 am: yes, I can go again.”