Teresa, you mentioned how grandmothers were more important
evolutionary-wise...I think that is a good assumption.

I know my own mother was a real delight to have around and helped SO
much when both my girls were little, in so many ways (EXCEPT feeding
them!)...she'd bathe them, change them, rock them, play with the
toddler when she was around for my 2nd time with a new baby...and then
bring the newborn to me for a feed when necessary.  As well as clean,
do laundry, and cook.  She called me affectionately "milk bags" to the
babies.  ;-)

My father came too after my 2nd daughter was born, in a different
visit at a different time than my mom.  He came when my 2nd daughter
was 4 mos old (whereas my mom arrived when she was about 12 days old
and stayed until the day before she was 1 month old) and sure he
helped some, like taking my older daughter to the park sometimes, and
drying dishes, but he didn't make the meals, do the laundry (though he
half-heartedly folded it sometimes) or clean, and between 5:30 and 6,
it is pretty much "don't disturb me unless the world is crashing down"
because of the news hour.  *roll eyes*.  ;-)  He's much better than
many men, but it was nothing like having my mom around.

My mother has her own theories of older women and hot flashes...she
thinks that hot flashes got older women up and about several times a
night as a kind of "keep guard" thing in the past ("caveman days"). 
Men who were still fit to do a lot were going to be still going out on
hunting expeditions.  Those who were too old and frail to do so
weren't a lot of use to society in general, and died off soon
afterwards I suspect (?) and young women were busy raising their own
children and tired because of frequent night waking/nursing etc., so
it was up to the grandmoms to keep guard so they could raise the alarm
and wake the men if there was a preditor or something.  That's just
her theory but I can kind of imagine it...

Fio

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