policies affecting american families

Working Mothers- Effect on Children

All through history women have been viewed as the weaker gender, physically as well as intellectually. Therefore, the roles delegated to women have a tendency to revolve around the home along with the raising of children. Meanwhile, many women have steadily entered the working force, increasingly picking up significant positions within the work environment. With more women presently in the workforce than at any other time, few children are raised by mothers who stay at home. Making the decision as to whether to join the workforce or to stay at home with one’s children is a difficult process for women.  This is a choice that concerns many contemporary mothers, as compared to their mothers, who did not face such choices. A working mother is a woman who works for at least 40 hours in one week in a career-oriented profession, such as a lawyer (Paré & Heather, 2005). In the past, women mostly were pushed by society to stay home but now things have changed. There is a general belief amongst most people that there will be problems behaviorally or mentally for the children if their mothers worked. This paper will look into the effect that working women have on their children.

Why Women Work: In numerous families today, mothers keep on living up to expectations because they have careers that they have invested many years developing. Some women go back to work not long after they have given birth in light of the fact that they realize that most of the employers in this nation are not thoughtful to working mothers who wish to require significant investment off to be with their young children. In the case where these women quit working for a few months, and they may lose on the benefits they have earned or danger losing certain career opportunities. They have the capacity of bringing in more finance into the family, which may then be used to provide their children with a quality education that will ensure that they succeed later in life.

Working mothers enhances the independence of their children. Children with working mothers can benefits from the mother experience and educations. Children can learn really fast they will know to survive as well as supplement their activities up to the time when they can do themby themselves. Stay at home Mothers with children who is attached to their mothers, those children will have a trust issues trusting other people in the future for example, having difficulties in school, work, marriage and social behavior problems. Because spending all the time with the mother or caring for the child can cause the overriding importance. A balanced time of spending it with the child and letting the child trust other people like friend's babysitting or another family member will help the child trusting other people.  (Brotherson P1)

Working mothers instill certain important attributes such as independence, ambition, as well as curiosity in the lives of their children. The life of a working mother teaches the children on how valuable independence is, and encourages them to reach for more responsibilities when they grow up.  Independence in children is amongst the biggest challenges that children of working mother face, but when it is eventually instilled into their lives, it brings about a lot of accomplishments. One example of independence that the children acquire is social independence. The ambition of a working mother is as well contagious to the children. Curiosity enables the children to see the accomplishments that are made by their working mother outside the home.

Mothers who are going back to work may also have a positive influence on their children (DeJong, 2005, p.76), “. In families where the mother works along with her husband, their earning capacity is high as is able to offer their children a better lifestyle as such. In the present day society, money is the license for a good life, and, therefore, additional income from a working mother is of much importance to the family. Money plays a big part in covering the expenses of the family. With the rise in financial opportunities for these women, also comes the enhancement of health and educational opportunities. There have been numerous positive results from women who are working. As Wilson (90) asserts “most working women asserted that they worked for the reason that they ‘needed’ the money.  They needed money to acquire materials furniture, owning a home, as well as clothes, which would better their standards of living (Poduval & Murali, 2009). Most of them felt that they were providing assistance in meeting their family’s needs in financial terms.  Staying at home is not a solution since financial distress in a family is a potential origin of marital sorrow and disagreement. They have the capacity of bringing in more finance into the family, which may then be used to provide their children with a quality education that will ensure that they succeed later in life. Furthermore, in a single parent family, single mothers are the only source of living for their children and, therefore, it is imperative to consider working seriously. In this instance, the woman becomes the only bread winner of the single parent family, and despite the financial difficulties in the United States, the woman has to provide both food and other necessities to the child. Financial stability is a pre-requisite that improves the general quality of a child’s education.

A woman has the freedom to, in fact, make a decision between work and motherhood (Poduval & Murali, 2009). Our social conditioning dictates that the woman ought to place the home before career although there is no expense that has been kept aside for her education as well as upbringing in the direction of being independent. One of the key issues that mothers consider while reflecting on whether to join the workforce is how this will affect their children. In contrast to the popular belief, a working mom is capable of having a positive effect on her children, but several variables should be well thought-out. The most imperative is clearly the accessibility of child-care services. This is one of the ways that working mothers utilize in order to make sure that their children develop in an environment that is conducive. Women might consider going back to work after their children have developed to an extent where they can be left under the care of another third party. Nevertheless, there have been a lot of instances where the mother, who is considering to return to work solely for the purposes of maintaining as well as progressing a career that gratifies her and makes her autonomous, she comes under criticism. It is, therefore, important to support working moms as this helps in bettering the family’s status.

Working mothers generally lays down an excellent work ethic for their children, which in turn helps them to turn out to be productive members within the society. The mothers set a perfect example to their children by showing them the significance of a “motivation to work” as well as the positive results of working which include a sense of independence along with fulfillment. Working mothers assist in breaching the stereotype that the home is the place for women. A report by Ernst & Young (2011) shows that the significance of a career orientation, as well as its positive effect on job productivity and satisfaction at home satisfaction. Rather, they can as well be thriving and be independent women who utilize their intelligence to the maximum.

Some individuals still consider a "good mother" is one who surrenders work to stay home with her children. Notwithstanding, no experimental proof says youngsters are hurt when their moms work. A child's advancement is impacted all the more by the enthusiastic strength of the family, the manner in which the family feels in relation to the mother's working as well as the nature of child forethought. A child who is emotionally balanced, overall cherished, and generally looked after will flourish paying little respect to whether the mother meets expectations outside the home. A mother who effectively oversees both an outside employment and parenthood gives a good example to her kid. In many families with working moms, every individual assumes a more dynamic part in the family. The children have a tendency to care for each other and help in different ways. The father is more inclined to help with family unit errands and child raising and also breadwinning. These positive conclusions are no doubt when the working mother feels esteemed and upheld by family, companions and colleagues.

Work provides mothers with actual significant chances and resources to reduce social isolation and improve their social progress and welfare. It presents mothers with the instruments, ideas, and plans while bringing up a child. While on the job, mothers are engaged in problem-solving, struggling with diverse viewpoints, and handling different personalities. All these skills come in handy at home, particularly when children grow older.

There are also different viewpoints regarding the negative impact of working mothers on their children. Some of these views include the following:

The decision to work outside home has its demerits both to the mother and the child. A mother who works outside home is usually affected psychologically from staying away from her child, especially if the child is very young. The effect is probably because of the existence a very strong motherly instinct found in women. Couture and Johnson in their research found that gender-based stereotypes against women result into negative judgments towards mothers working outside their homes. Therefore, this implies that besides the strong bond between a mother and child, the society expects and subsequently stereotyped that the mother should always be with their child. For the above two reasons, mothers who work away from their homes are more likely to suffer psychologically. Pelcovitz (2013) found that full-time mothers who are working bears much bigger threat of suffering from depression than their stay-at-home counterparts. He further asserts that the risk of depression among full-time working mothers must be handled with caution since the child may be adversely affected (Pelcovitz, 2013). However, there have been divergent opinions and findings on this issue in the past. For instance, a past research indicated that though all mothers are stressed out, working mothers reported less depression and had better mental health than their stay at home counterparts.

Opponents of the idea of mothers working outside home have strongly cited that it has serious detrimental effects to the child. Pelcovitz (2013) in his study, found that children whose mothers began working before the age of three months showed behavioral adjustment issues. According to his findings, even though maternal employment showed positive results among poor families, the middle-class, and upper-class children demonstrated negative adjustment and cognitive outcomes (Pelcovitz, 2013). Contrary to this opinion, recent research have showed that despite struggles young children face while, in childcare, they do not suffer any serious mental instabilities. Pelcovitz further indicates that though the children in child care do not suffer ill effects, they tend to develop eating disorders. They work out less and more prone to be overweight compared to a stay at home children. It is, therefore, evident that a child may be adversely affected when the mother goes back to work too soon after birth.

Children whose mothers are working are typically placed under group childcare, which negatively influences them in terms of lacking the one-on-one attention as well as instruction. This might have critical cognitive impacts later in the childhood. Behavioral impacts might likewise emerge. A longitudinal study finished in 2001 discovered noteworthy cognitive contrasts among children who had working mothers and those whose mothers stayed at home. The study inspected the impact of maternal work ahead of schedule in a children's life on the behavioral and cognitive results amid basic school. The analysts found that maternal work in the first year of a kid's life had a negative impact on cognitive results for the kid by age three or four. These cognitive impacts could even now be seen by age seven or eight. Interestingly, the measure of time that moms worked did not seem to influence cognitive results, as no distinctions were found in offspring of mothers working low maintenance contrasted and moms working full-time. The scientists additionally discovered a connection between moms working amid a child's first year of life and behavioral issues by the child later in youth.

In conclusion, it is possible for a woman to be both a mother and engage in any profession. The benefits that women who work have on their children are many in comparison to the detrimental effects. There are many mothers who have maintained a balance between working as well as bringing up children in a good way. In the present world, it is equally desirable as well as incumbent for mothers to work, similar to their spouses. The society ought to recognize the fact that, different from the customary idea that a working mother cannot be considered as a good mother, a working mother has the capacity to be a better mother. Together with motherhood, a thriving career facilitates the wholeness of being a woman (Poduval & Murali, 2009). For these reasons, it is a high time that mothers should be encouraged to resume working so as to have a better impact on their children and families.