Grannies take top spot in babysitting stakes
Greek grandmothers can often be a source of stress for couples because of their occasionally pushy nature, but when it comes to looking after their grandchildren, statistics show that granny is a cherished figure. According to figures made public yesterday by the National Statistics Service (NSS), some 80 percent of children up to the age of two and over half of all children aged three to five are looked after by their grandmothers for more than 30 hours a week. Under 20 percent of working parents choose to leave children up to the age of five in the care of their nursery school during these hours. Even fewer parents (6.2 percent on average) opt for hiring a babysitter to mind their children while they are at work or running errands, the NSS found during its survey, which was conducted in 2004.
