Science has proven that grandmothers' brains benefit from babysitting their grandchildren, though if grandma still needs to work to pay the bills, she probably can't afford to watch the kids as often as she might like—but one country has come up with what seems like a pretty genius solution.
This February, Turkey is launching a pilot program that will provide state salaries to grannies who take care of their grandchildren during workdays. Retired and nonworking grandmothers in Turkey generally receive pensions that range between 1,000 and 1,800 Turkish liras ($250-$450); this new initiative, will offer an additional salary of 400 Turkish lira—about $105—a month.
Part of a new program called the National Mobilization in Working Life, which aims to boost employment for Turkish mothers, the benefit will only be available to families with mothers who currently work part-time—the idea being that as grandmas take over more childcare duties, the moms will be able to transition to full-time employment. The program will initially target approximately 1,000 families in the Turkish provinces of Izmir and Bursa for six months, before expanding to other provinces, ultimately aiming to employ 500,000 Turkish grannies.
Since affordable childcare is a major issue, this program seems like the ultimate win-win—working parents can take advantage of a no-cost, reliable caretaker for their children, and grandma gets to make money while spending quality time with the grandkids.
But not everyone in Turkey is a fan—the Women's Labor and Employment Initiative believes it's simply a way for the government to avoid paying for state-sponsored childcare, not to mention that it leaves families that lack capable elder relatives without a solution. Still, it seems like it might be a step in the right direction when it comes to solving the affordable childcare conundrum.
(h/t Working Mother)
Lauren (she/her) is the digital content director of the Hearst Lifestyle Group, where she oversees online content and strategy for Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day and other Hearst titles, including SEO, video, social media and e-commerce efforts. She has almost 20 years of experience writing and editing beauty, lifestyle, home, health, entertainment and product review content. She graduated from NYU with a degree in journalism and history.
