> I’ve never understood why women are so eager to go work. Work has never been particularly fulfilling

Understandable, but the thing is, staying home with kids is work. It’s a vocation. Everyone should get to choose what work is fulfilling for them personally. In the absence of reliable child care, parents don’t get to make that choice freely. It sounds like in a perfect world, you might have enjoyed staying home with kids, if that seems more appealing than the work you ended up doing. I can tell you I tried it for 18 months and I just about went crazy. I am a much better software developer than I am a stay-at-home parent. I feel for women who don’t get to make choices the way I did.

> are the children actually taken care of?

There is a lot of data by now comparing outcomes for children in childcare versus with stay-at-home parents. Both groups do fine.

> I’m really thankful my mother stayed home with us

It sounds like she did a good job of it; it was probably a vocation for her. You do need to understand that not every woman is cut out for that.