[West Ender]

There used to be a lot of tutting and muttering over "househusbands", men who stayed at home to raise the children while their wives worked. It's not quite so startling a concept these days and it's down to choice.

Children need mother at home? If dad's more child-orientated than mum what's wrong with him doing the caring? Being capable of giving birth doesn't always mean that a woman is more predisposed to the nurturing role. In the same way there are some men whose nature is more "maternal", for want of a better word, who relish the job of raising the children.

The lady in question made her choice and joined the armed forces to fight alongside men. That in itself is not such a big deal, in Israel women have to do National Service and they do exactly the same job in the army as the men, they are trained to fight. The lady in question has a child and I'm sure she loves it just as much as all her male colleagues love theirs. She's not "unnatural" or a bad mother, her child is lovingly cared for in her absence, she's just different from those who choose to stay at home. Better a mum who loves you but has to be away at times than one who stays at home and doesn't really give much thought to you and there are quite a few of those around, aren't there?