Add to ORKGChildren have become increasingly 'precious' at both societal and household level. Meanwhile, their economic value for parents has deeply changed, from being a resource to being a cost, while they also have become emotionnally 'priceless'. At the societal level, both the 'scarcity' of children due to the fall in birthrates and the increased recognition of the needs for a highly educated workforce for the knowledge economy of the future have upgraded the child issue on the policy agenda, at European level as also at national level in most EU member states. Investing in children has become a priority for governements in the first decade of the 21st century, not only to forster the participation of women in the labour market, but also to incre...