Stef Bos reflects on fatherhood: “When my eldest child fought for his life, everything changed”

This time in ‘Through the Trees’ Stef Bos is sent to stay in the forest for three days. The Dutch singer became the father of three children later in life, and reflects on this in the program.

It was not until he was 49 that Stef Bos welcomed his first child with his South African wife Varenka, with whom he lives alternately in South Africa and in the Flemish Wachtebeke near the Dutch border. Kolja is now almost fourteen years old, and two more children followed: Lorelei (11) and Vonkie (6).

“My fatherhood is my shortest route so far,” says Bos Through the trees. “It’s only now that I feel like I’m getting there. Before that, I was far too hands-on with those guys to keep things afloat. That’s how it went for the first ten years. I was a caring father, and I was there and always sang them to sleep. I did all the things right, but did I really have an emotional connection with it? Then, just like here, I hide too much in my head.”

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The big change came in January 2022, when his parents-in-law had a serious car accident, with two of his children in the backseat. “It was on the way to Hermanus,” he said earlier. “A beautiful coastal road, but it goes steeply downwards. My father-in-law had an acute heart attack while he was driving, and they went down the rock in their car to the edge of the sea. My mother-in-law died, but my children survived.”

Very happy

However, Kolja emerged from the accident seriously injured. “The eldest had to fight for his life,” says Bos Through the trees. “That changed everything for me. I am just intensely and deeply happy that they are still here. Maybe that’s why I see them more than ever and start having conversations with them. They are also a bit older now. Their characters are formed. If I’ve done anything wrong, she has to fix it herself. I certainly made mistakes, but not unfixable ones. (quiet for a moment) You will only be a child of Stef Bos. (laughs) Dad, I’m looking more and more like you.”

‘Through the trees’, VRT 1,