Maternal Drive

Nowadays it is rather typical of the West and especially of the United States when after the divorce a woman leaves her children in the care of her ex-husband. She may absolutely forget about their existence since they are supposed to cramp her progress in the matters of business and private life. There are also a lot of marriages in Russia that end in divorce but the children mainly stay with their mother. What is the reason for such a difference?

For a long period Soviet ideology required veneration of the image of Mother Homeland in Russia. Of course, there were much affected pathos in this cult but the idea of motherhood has always been really significant for Russians. Despite the fact that Russian women used to work nearly as hard as their husbands, children and all household procedures were completely on their hands. That is why the children from their birth up were much closer to their mother and after the divorce it was less harmful for them to part with their father than with her. And mothers in Russia as well have been always really tied up with their children.

A number of Russian men who leave their children with their mothers after the divorce sometimes come to see them and occasionally even pay some nominal alimony to care for them. However, very few of them want to live with their children after the divorce, and for Russia it is considered normal. Lots and lots of Russian women carry and bring their children up all alone. It hardly ever happens so that the mother leaves her child. Such a woman would be disregarded by the society. Nobody would agree to deal with her, neither men, nor women, nor employers.

A Western man who dates a Russian woman sometimes fails to understand why she refuses to leave her child in Russia in the father's care. But it should be accepted that innate maternal drive and Russian mentality would never let the woman leave her child behind.