The right to be mothers

No, this post isn't about China, but about Europe, where Britain is doing all it can to adopt the Swedish model of institutionalising children so that more women can work full-time. But after 30 years of near-full female employment outside the home, the numbers out of Sweden are sobering.

• children are losing academic ground because of early institutionalisation
• teenagers raised outside the home suffer high rates of depression and suicide
• women who work comprise only 1.5% of top management positions
• between 20%-33% of women are absent from work on a given day (private-vs public sector)
• 65% of Swedish women want to go home and raise their own children but cannot because of nanny-state tax structures
• many of the women end up simply manning the child care agencies to pay the bills and be near children

About these child-care centres, one stay at home mother of four (soon to be five) fills in as a nurse occasionally and shares this dark observation.

She says she has seen babies handed over by their weeping mothers at the doors at 7am before work. Worse, she has seen toddlers screaming as their parents walk away.

"We were told to tell the mothers that their children stopped crying when they left. But the reality is that some didn't stop crying for nearly three weeks, when they gave up hope. For the child, a state nursery is nothing like home. The routine is fixed. These are not relaxed and fun places to spend your childhood. The nurseries have so many rules to keep the children safe. They are often kept awake deliberately so they will sleep at night when their exhausted mother comes to collect them after work. It is like being in an institution."

Well, yeah, that because it is an institution. But women are rebelling and making the necessary concessions to be home when possible.

[Madeleine] gave up her job in computer marketing when she first gave birth and now works part-time from home.

"My children are proud that I look after them. They are happy, confident and contented. They want to run to me after school and tell me what has happened during the day. We don't have as much money as if I worked, we have not bought our own home. But there are other things that are more important for children than money. The parents in Sweden know that something is wrong with this system. But it has been in place for 30 years and most of them have been brought up in state nurseries themselves."

Consider the comment above about the infants ending their crying jags when "they gave up hope." It's impossible to quantify that effect on a generation, but evidently common sense and mother love are recovering, despite the brokenness of the last 30 years. Let's pray that Britain doesn't follow this tragic model that even the former proponents are gradually abandoning.

Comments

[Margaret]

This story makes me want to weep. Picturing those sweet babies missing their mommies, wanting their hugs and kisses, feeling abandoned while their mothers run the career treadmill - it is heartbreaking.

[Denise]

Babies who cry for three weeks, hoping mommy will come back. And finally, they give up hope. Oh, it makes my stomach hurt.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will add these babies in Europe (and all babies and toddlers in daycare in this country as well) to my book of prayer intentions today, begging God that their mothers will wake up and see through the lies that have been fed to them about the importance of being a wage-earner, to what a priceless treasure is being stolen from them.
And it will also remind me to thank Him for giving me all the graces necessary to stay at home to raise my family.