Everybody get in line

“Oh, sh**.” I roll over and fall back asleep.

A few minutes later:”F***.”

“Uuh…” My girlfriend reacts, still sleeping. She roles over, and pulls the covers up.

“C’mon, we gotta get up. It’s past seven.”

Friday morning, and we’ve overslept. Both kids have to get to school. But the youngest hasn’t been sleeping well the whole week, and the oldest came back from his school trip yesterday. He spent the night before last in a hotel room with three classmates. You can guess how much sleep they got.

I want to let them sleep, and keep them home from school. It’s the last day before a two-week holiday. My 5-year-old daughter’s class has a so-called toy day, with a substitute teacher. My son’s class will talk about their trip. A day they both can afford to miss.

Except: I can’t make that decision. Dutch law requires children between the ages of 5 and 16 to attend every single day of school.

A child can be absent only if he or she is verifiably sick, or a parent has requested permission from the school principal, in writing, at least three weeks in advance.

Fines for even one day of unsanctioned absence vary; around one hundred euros is pretty common, but in at least one instance parents were fined more than two thousand euros.

The Dutch civil service employs more than 500 truancy officers to keep everyone in line.

And they’re particularly vigilant the day before holidays.

So my girlfriend and I drag ourselves out of bed, prod the kids awake, and march them off to school. Against our own better judgement. Civil disobedience lessons will have to wait.

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