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Satellite Babies
- lihaciudaniel 6y agoHow is this different than giving your children to orphanage?
- jtjbdhsjjdnd 6y agoTypical Western chauvinism. Grandparents are the wisest and kindest people in your family. They usually cope with children upbringing much better than parents.
- himlion 6y agoThey also have a lot more time on their hands.
- saagarjha 6y agoThey also have childrearing experience.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- hrktb 6y agoWile all of these might be true, the results heavily depend on your kids age and temper, and the grand parent’s age and physical abilities. The sleep deprivation and constant attention needed in the first months can be pretty tough for people not in their prime anymore, for instance.
- fireattack 6y agoTypically when 'satellite babies' happen, it is because both new parents work, and the grandparents are likely retired or have more flexibility in their work schedule due to seniority. They're not in their prime, sure, but they have more free time (and experience).
- hrktb 6y agoI agree it can work. I'd just advocate to be careful, as parents tend to forget the reality of it, especially decades later. Experience sure helps, but it's not a silver bullet either. We had our grandparents come to help for the first born, just to send them back because they were getting tons of germs and the lack of sleep was killing them. Two years later it was a perfect match and they really enjoyed taking care of the kid.
- MisterTea 6y agoIn ye olde days grandparents were much younger. Parents had children in their 20's putting grandparents in the 50-60 year range by the time grandchildren are born. Still plenty able in that age range so it makes sense. Now parents are having children in their 30's pushing grandparents into their 60's and 70's.
- croon 6y agoIt's likely grandparents and extended family have been involved in child rearing for most of history in communities, but doing this remotely hasn't. The end result is likely that they're not your kids in more than a biological and economic sense if you don't go to lengths to be involved in your childs life (more than) daily. I don't think that is western chauvinism, but rather universal developmental psychology. It will be (for lack of a better word) interesting to see studies on this.
- kgwgk 6y agoYou get it back a few years later.
- dntbnmpls 6y agoFrom the wiki article. The first two sentences. "Satellite babies (also called Satellite Children) refer to immigrants’ children who are temporarily sent back to their home country by their parents to be reared by extended family." These kids are being raised by their extended family. " Typically, the satellite babies are born in the host country and sent back as infants, returning to their parents in time to start schooling or when their parents have established financial stability." Then they reunite. In other words, nothing like giving your children to an orphanage.
- zankly 6y agoHow is it similar? A grandparent is nothing like an orphanage.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- renewiltord 6y agoSome folks do the opposite and have extended family visit to take care of the children. One of my friends' parents joked at immigration¹ when asked what they were visiting for. "Babysitting" they smiled. They were sternly rebuked, saying they did not have a Visa that would work for employment. They did get let in, in the end, though. ¹ A lesson you learn very fast is to never joke while at immigration or customs.
- gambiting 6y agoWell, yeah. As an immigrant couple living far away from either of our families, I have no idea how you'd raise children otherwise without spending literally all of your money on daycare/nannies. Everyone else I know has the incredible luxury of being able to just call over their parents/grandparents/uncles/cousins to come over and help with kids(or leave the kids to them for a little while at least), but if you moved abroad, then raising kids without the support network of your family is incredibly difficult. Basically either one of you has to stop working, or you can both work but you need to basically arrange for your entire salary to be transferred directly to the account of the nearest daycare - and that also doesn't strike me as the right way to raise children. Like, I wouldn't do that personally, but as an immigrant I totally get why people would send their kids to live with their grandparents until they are of school age.
- seszett 6y agoDaycare doesn't have to be extremely expensive. Where I live the cost is dependent on the parents' income, and where I come from it's a fixed cost that is low enough for most people to be able to afford it. Even if they lived in my country, I don't think I would call my parents to take care of my children very often.
- ant6n 6y agoWhere i live day cares are free - only Problem is that there zero spots available. Maybe try again in 2022.
- mmwelt 6y agoSounds very related to the situation with "left-behind children" in China[1] (留守儿童), where parents leave their children with their extended family so they can work in larger cities. This has already caused massive social problems. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-behind_children_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-behind_children_in_China