She experienced poverty in her childhood. “If it weren’t for my mother, I don’t know how we would live”

Katarzyna Dowbor is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable journalists in Poland. She started her career in Program III of the Polish Radio, and then joined Telewizja Polska, hosting, among others, “Appetite for health” or . When the cooperation ended in 2013, she became the host of Polsat’s renovation show. After a decade, she lost her job, which became an opportunity for her to return to her roots, because now she is again the presenter of a morning program at a public broadcaster.

There was no overflow in Katarzyna Dowbor’s family home. What did her parents do?

does not hide the fact that for over 40 years of work she has managed to achieve an unshakable position in the industry, and, consequently, decent remuneration. However, he has great respect for money and does not spend it thoughtlessly. In an interview for “” she admitted that there was a time when there was no water in her family home. It was then that she learned to save and manage funds wisely. – There was a time when we were really poor. A typical intelligentsia family. In those times, intelligentsia didn’t have it easy, she said.

She confessed that although her parents had demanding jobs and solid education, their earnings were small compared to the effort they put into their duties. Krystyna Kokocińska worked as a conservator of monuments and works of art, and Wiesław Kokociński, an etymologist by profession, held the director’s position at the Nicolaus Copernicus Natural History Museum in Toruń. – My father was at university, my mother worked in a conservation studio, so she couldn’t earn anything on the side either – she recalled. She emphasized that despite this, they did not skimp on her or her brother’s education and taught them how to determine which needs were more important. – Father always said that there may not be money for clothes, but there must always be money for books. And that’s how he shaped me, she said.

Dowbor’s father took care of the house, and his mother supported the family. This is what the journalist’s childhood was like

The family home was not typical, because her father, due to his profession and passion, often treated it as a storage room for various specimens of spiders and insects. – We had a lot of spiders in the house. We, children, were not allowed to touch them. There were also cages with crickets to feed the spiders. The crickets were making noise, maybe not as loud as the cicadas, but still. I also remember butterflies, unfortunately, already on high heels – in the pages of “Zwierciadło”.

Although her parents were faithful to traditions, her mother was actually the main breadwinner of the family, while her father performed household duties. This was not a typical division of roles for those times, but in their situation it was the only right solution. – Dad cooked at our house. He had an apron, a man’s apron, but he had it. Mom didn’t touch the kitchen. She was the one who kept the house. (…) If it weren’t for my mother, I don’t know how we would live – said the journalist directly. Despite this, her father was her first male role model and a great inspiration. Ultimately, however, when the children were adults, the Kokocińskis divorced, but they still remembered each other and, although their contacts were very limited, they made sure that they lacked nothing for each other.