Thank God for mothers, grandmas

The report of December 9, Young Children Still Stay Home Or With Nanna, was another in the series based on the Eurostat releases. Once again, the heading gives a negative view of Malta, being at the bottom of the EU ranking.

I say thank God that most Maltese mothers and nannas take care of children, especially those under five years of age. There is nothing wrong with childcare centres for those who need help, but nothing can be better than home - which is the place where the first five years are most formative for children.

Taking this latest Eurostat release, as well as previous ones and various statements by our ministers (male and female), I presume this is another subtle attempt to denigrate those married women who opt to dedicate their lives to their families. I have read and heard ad nauseam that Malta places at the bottom of the EU league, by having too many unproductive mothers; as if the economic future of Malta depends on having them working out of home.

Whenever I tell my wife that, with our six children and taking care of her elderly and infirm parents in our home, she is classified as an unproductive person, she retorts that our ministers should be fair and appreciative of the 24-hour job all mothers carry out, without any remuneration. Has any government calculated the economic value of their work? Where are the ladies' leagues, the council of women etc. who should be up in arms against this EU mentality?

May I suggest that all women read the Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem and Letter to Women by Pope John II, from which I quote: "The Church desires to give thanks to the Most Holy Trinity for the 'mystery of woman' and for every woman, for all that constitutes the eternal measure of her feminine dignity, for the 'great works of God', which throughout human history have been accomplished in and through her."