ABSTRACT
Caring, helping and serving are important aspects of family life. Caring and serving are to a high degree defined as housework and motherly care. In addition, a great part of women’s paid work in modern society consists in serving, helping and caring for others. As long as a great part of society’s production was organised within family households, most women could combine caregiving work with active participation in production. Without regard to the supply of institutional care, our surveys show that close relatives still are of very great importance for the care of children in urban families in Europe today. The chapter analyzes how caregiving patterns of children and elderly family members vary between countries. It also analyzes the support and advice given in different problem situations by the family, the informal social networks and the public service system.
