[3D233022]

As I'm from Northern Europe and have lived in Western Europe (In a country where I speak the language) for some time I'm wondering what kind of basis you have for your claim.

It's especially the following part that I'm curious about as that has not been my experience but if you have statistics then I would be happy too look at them.

"In much of Europe, it is still somewhat common for the extended family to help raise the kids...."

[DoreenMichele]

Here is something from 2015:

In the United States, 24% of children under five have been cared for by grandparents in the previous month (Laughlin, 2013), and a study of 11 European countries showed that 58% of grandmothers and 49% of grandfathers looked after at least one of their grandchildren aged under 16 in the preceding year in the absence of parents

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4681534/

I've read extensively on such topics over the years. Sometimes, my stats are a little out of date because I did a lot more such reading in my twenties and I'm now 54.

But, overall, my understanding is that what I read about differences between women's rights and family-friendly policies between the US and Europe when I was a homemaker in my twenties trying to figure out why the hell I didn't magically end up with the two career couple family I had imagined would happen has not really changed all that much. The gap in some things is less wide, but it's mostly a matter of degree, not kind.

[noobaccount]

Are those numbers directly comparable? The US figure is “in the past month” for “under five years old” and the European figure is “in the past year” and “under 16 years old.”

Having lived in several countries including the US, the UK, and Switzerland, there doesn’t seem to be much difference. It’s pretty common for older kids to visit grandparents everywhere, and somewhat less common for grandparents to look out for younger kids while the parents go do something.

[watwut]

Among people I know, grandparent living in the same city taking care of child when parents cant is quite normal. It is not thought as "raising the child", but more of as helping to parents.