Raising Children - Easier Abroad / India ?

I think balancing career and family is definitely easier in the west and hence one can argue easier to raise kids in the west. Day cares are much more evolved there than here.

But raising kids is more than just providing an excellent daycare, there is a whole lot of factors into which I wont go to.

I live in Bangalore (neither parents nor inlaws live in the same city), married and have a kid between 0-10. and my career definitely has taken a huge hit after baby but my biggest blessing has been my nanny without who I may have been forced to quit long back.

 

I have left my child to solely my nanny's care - day long too - but rarely. I trust my nanny completely. I know my child is in safe hands.

Which is why I am not sure if I will get another one as good as her if I let her go.

anyways, my career suffering and my WFH option etc has more to do with my own insecurities with respect to my potential absence in my child's childhood. In an ideal world, I would like to be outside the house (separated from child) for 8 hours a day and still have a fulfilling job. I believe it would have been possible had I lived in the west with an on-site day care or after school center. I do not want to be separated from my child for longer than 10 hours (Which is a minimum requirement in Bangalore traffic) and still would not be considered per Indian workforce culture as putting in enough work....

 

The answer would vary depending upon individual parameters, yardsticks and definition of 'raising'.

For me personally, 'raising' a child means a lot more than just being able to entrust a child safely to a decent nanny/maid or daycare that would in turn enable me to work full time peacefully. It means a lot more than the local availability of safe childcare options while the parents are away at work.

For me, the quality of childhood is extremely important. That may or may not include a whole lot of material comforts, but most certainly must include extensive and regular interaction with grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, relatives and old family friends & acquaintances etc. That is how I was raised and that is how I would ideally like my child to be raised too.
Attachment and love of (especially) grandparents and extended family and experiencing and valuing different relations is a very enriching and important aspect of childhood. And that is something that can never be replicated abroad. And of course, in most regular families with young kids and grandparents living in the same house, working full-time is a breeze for parents as compared with their counterparts abroad.
Having said that, there sure are different advantages of living abroad as well. Just as there are different advantages of living in India.