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# 70 • OCTOBER 19 , 2015
dren per family in the 40s and 50s
to 1-2 per family in the recent years.
Only in 2014 there were 5000 babies
less than the previous year.
All these data (not meaning to keep
procrastinating the discussion), however, do not affect what is the typology
of a family that is recurrent in Italy:
our standard nature or model could
be easily defined as “nurturing”, maybe a bit “overly controlling”, and what
is known as an “emergency room
type” - we nurture our kids, pamper
them, intervene in their lives and plan
their path so that when they grow older, they struggle to “abandon” their
comfortable status.
In recent years and according to current data, among 2500 young people
between 25-29, almost half of them
(about 57.3 %) decide to stay longer
with their parents and in this very half,
the percentage of men is higher than
women (67.4% versus 45.9 %). Here
is a clear indication of why, when we
think of the term “mammoni”, we do,
most of the time, think of the men of
Italy.
So why do they tend to stay longer
within the family nucleus? Could it be
because the maternal nature of our
family tends to be even more evident
with the boys than with the girls? Is it
because our mothers seem to keep
protecting, “serving” their men as if
they were the “prince” of the family?
66 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
Yes, but the answer has more shades
to it. I am not defending a typology
of the Italian adult man who might
not be able to cook, iron or simply
handle daily routines but his job unless his mother/wife intervenes and
takes over: I am asserting that our
daily society often does not allow an
adult man to “survive” outside the family environment, at least at the beginning of his “mature and working
life”. When dealing with universities,
for example, we do not have a lot of
campuses in Italy, so the typical student resides with the parents and
commutes to the chosen school. And
later, when he gets a job, due to the
standard low ( at least at the start)
wages, the preferred choice, or ( as
some would say) the most convenient
option, is to stay with his own family.
Here is a more “realistic” answer but
even in this case, most of our international friends will not “buy” it.
In sum, in Italy there are mammoni,
there have always been and there will
always be: we love our maternal focused care and we struggle to “abandon” it and trade it for our independence. That the Italian men should
be more “modern” and be able to
do anything in the house and outside
(making meals, iron their monogrammed shirts, wipe the floor and so forth) is a reality for some but it is still
late in coming for a bigger majority.
Viva la Mamma!!!