The Netherlands’ first minister with special responsibility for children and the family published his long-awaited strategy for making the country more family friendly on Monday to muted response in the press.

The minister, André Rouvoet from the orthodox Christian party ChristenUnie, said the aim of the package of measures is to create a ‘safe haven’ where children can grow up.
‘A well-functioning family has a positive effect on child development… every year 60,000 children go through a divorce. One-third of them suffer from anxiety, depression and aggression. We must take that into account.’
Policies are needed to help all sorts of families, the minister said: ‘from those with one or two parents, small families or big families, with a father and mother or two mothers or two fathers.’
All sorts
Rouvoet, long considered a supporter of the traditional family with a working father and stay-at-home mother, has gone out of his way to remove all prejudices, the Volkskrant said in its analysis.
In particular Rouvoet called for parental leave to be extended to 26 weeks for both parents and for employers to adopt more flexible working times. He also wants to set up a system of mediation and conflict management to ease the distress caused by divorce.
More controversially, he plans to carry out research into the risks of late motherhood. The average age of a first-time mother in Holland is now nearly 30. Well-educated women wait on average until they are 34.