Qualitative Time Investment
The qualities of time working mother spends with children strongly correlated to the level of stress caused by mother’s employment. Working mothers reported greater levels of daily stress than did nonemployed mothers (Alexander & Markowitz, 1986). Stress causes decrease in quality of the time mothers spend with children. Children require loving and consistent interactions, which are less likely to happen when mother is in the stressful state. In addition, research shows that maternal stress is a significant predictor of child’s physical well-being, in particular morbidity (Alexander & Markowitz, 1986). So, children may be effected negatively in case when maternal employment puts family in the stressful situation due to the pressure of having to balance work and family time (Dunifon and Gill, 2013).
Also, sometimes mothers choice to be employed is “involuntarily” due to unfortunate events like spouse's unemployment, restrictions in welfare benefits, shortfalls in parental-leave benefits, or other factors (Waldfogel, Han & Brooks-Gunn, 2002). There is a necessity to understand how this condition influences the level of working mother’s stress since it will have a direct impact on children.
On the other hand, maternal employment can be beneficial in case the mother is not stressed due to the lack of necessities like funds for healthcare, security and educational funds. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate what kind employment will likely to cause decrease or even eliminate stress caused by the need to balance work and family responsibilities (Joshi & Bogen, 2007).
Finally, how and where children spend their time while mother away at work is very important to consider. The mother's assurance that her ch...
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...cause child will be well attended.
However, many working mothers are denied a privilege to work for companies that are family friendly. So they are forced to deal with strenuous working conditions that prevent them from spending quality time with their children.
Also, Liechty and Anderson (2007) in their research noted that the reason for many workplaces in the United States to adopt flexible schedules is other than awareness of the importance to satisfy the family needs. The reason why they are so open to flexible schedules is that it makes good business decision. Adopting flexible schedules is known to lead to increase in productivity, provides competitive edge and minimizes intrusion into working process. The focus of these polices should shift towards decreasing the level of employees’ stress caused by having to balance employment and family responsibilities.
Kornbluh explains that such jobs are scarce. When flex-time or part-time jobs are available, they are typically not viable options for families because they do not provide benefits, the potential for career growth, or adequate wages (Kornbluh 323). As a result of this, parents are forced to work full-time jobs with long hours. These jobs are very demanding and rarely provide paid leave to care for newborn children or family members with failing health. These factors further validate the need for increased flexibility in work
Employers state that childcare issues cause more problems within the workplace than any other family-related issue. Frequent absences and tardiness can be associated with employees’ family caregiving responsibilities, as well as decreased job satisfaction, increased intentions to quit, and increased stress and strain while on the job. The number of families with two working parent...
Harrison, L. J. and Ungerer, J. A., (2002). Maternal Employment and Infant-Mother Attachment Security at 12 Months Postpartum. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 38, No. 5, 758-773.
Unemployment can affect families drastically from suicidal tendencies, marriage breakdowns, alcohol and drug abuse and even family violence (Broman, Hamilton & Hoffman, 1996; House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Workplace Relations, 2000). For many individuals work provides them with a place to social network and it gives them self-esteem and the loss of both when unemployment hits, creates isolation which happens quickly. However, unemployment does not just affect the individual famil...
This source explains the relationship between working overtime and the work-family conflict. With this source, they “investigated whether work-family conflict is prospectively related to adjustments in work schedules… in this relation”. (Jansen) They also wanted to prevent work- family conflict. They also know that balancing work and family is a challenge in today’s society for individuals. Consequences associated with work and family “job burnouts, psychological distress, depression, life dissatisfaction, elevated need for recovery from work, prolonged fatigue, and increased sickness absence”. (Jansen) The companies are starting to notices that employees are looking for other jobs that support them balance their work and family. Jansen used questionnaires to figure out the work-family conflict investigation. Each questionnaire was use with different types of working people. For example, the part-time and full-time workers. The results for the work-family conflict, “employees might adjust their working time arrangement to better reconcile work and family life…” (Jansen) They are considering their next research on the adjustments to “result in an improved work-family balance, improved health outcomes, and ultimately whether these adjustments prevent workers from leaving the labor force early.” (Jansen)
However, the demands put on parents by the workplace can make spending time with the family a difficult task. The technological revolution has made it possible for businesses to assign work after hours which could cut into family time. Balancing family and work is even more difficult for new parents. They must learn what it means to be a parent, maintain a healthy marriage, and continue to provide for their family. According to Kunz (2013), parents experience stress and exhaustion following the birth of their child. Kunz also mentions the responsibility parents have to aid in every aspect of their child’s development. Parents are being pulled in one direction by their infant and another by their boss. This strain can be especially difficult for new mothers who want to breastfeed. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for 6 months (who.int, 2017). If a woman returns to work quickly after giving birth, she will have difficulty breastfeeding and is at a greater risk for postpartum depression (cbsnews.com, 2017). The need for time to bond with an infant, encourage healthy development of the child, and to rest from child birth are all reasons why parental leave should be offered to all people. The need for time off after the birth of a child is not exclusive to one group. Parental leave should be offered to all types of families and business’ and the government should offer adequate assistance
Stone (2007) conducted “extensive, in depth interviews with 54 women in a variety of professions-law, medicine, business, publishing, management consulting, nonprofit administration, and the like- living in major metropolitan areas across the country, half of them in their 30’s, half in their 40’s” (p. 15). Keep in mind these women Stone (2007) focuses on are “highly educated, affluent, mostly white, married women with children who had previously worked as professionals or managers whose husbands could support their being at home” (p. 14). Her findings revealed women are strongly influenced by two factors: workplace push and motherhood pull. “Many workplaces claimed to be “family friendly” and offered a variety of supports. But for women who could take advantage of them, flexible work schedules (which usually meant working part time) carried significant penalties” (Stone, 2007, p. 16). This quote represents the workplace push, where women are feeling encouraged to continue their rigorous careers with little to no family flexibility being offered from workplaces. The motherhood pull is a term used to describe the way mothers feel when they face the pressure of staying home to raise their children while still expected to maintain a steady job. “Motherhood influenced women 's decision to quit as they came to see the rhythms and
It is common knowledge that a parent is considered the most efficient caregiver for their children. It’s also known that with daily responsibilities of caring for a child financially, parents partake in full-time and/or part-time employment. While needing to do so, many children attend daycare/preschool facilities. Granted, it is the parent’s responsibility to cautiously select where they decide to take their children. This is because parents know that while they are away for numerous hours of the day, their children are in the hands of another care provider and that their care would have an enormous impact on their children. At a young age, a child’s social and cognitive skills are continuing to take shape and the amount of time spent in these facilities has a resilient impact on a child’s development. With proper and superior care no matter the time spent, such positive effects on a child’s development should endure in a child’s cognitive and social development. In other words, there is a great benefit of childcare/daycare attendance on a child’s development.
The impact from changes in economy, technology, social and lifestyle in today’s environments have boosted the awareness of flexible working arrangements in an organisation. Evidence from the previous study indicated that the competitive working environment and increasing workload had caused family and personal life being neglected (Mary & Chris, 1998). Smith (1993) pointed out that working women should have balance between tasks in the office and responsibility to the family especially on safety, health and children needs. Therefore, Cook (1992) suggested that through the implementation of flexible working hour’s schedule, the responsibilities over children’s safety and education will be more secured. This is due to the fact that they are able to engage for a better coordination between work and responsibilities to the family. This statement is than further supported by Emmott and Hutchinson (1998). They found out that the implementation of flexible working hours schedule could increase and balance women’s responsibilities in work and family. It is a fact that children need love, food, safety and parents’ attention to ensure that children lead to a normal life. This complies with Maslow’s theory of motivation that emphasizes the aspects of safety, love, needs for food, esteem and self-actualisation that needs to be fulfilled by individual in order to increase the motivation at work.
It’s true that these days parents face more challenges than ever before when it comes to finding quality time to spend with their children. The economist Edward Wolff explains the loss of...
Mothers have a very big responsibility. They have a lot of big decisions to make. Some decisions are harder and more important than others are. For instance, one of the big decisions a mother must make is whether to stay home with her children or to go back to work. In this paper, I will give reasons why a mother should consider staying home with her children during their early years of childhood.
About 75 percent of the 68 million women working in the United States will become pregnant at some point in their careers. Women with children are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. labor force. In 1975, 47% of women with children under the age of 18 were employed; by 2008, this number grew to a notable 71% (Miner et al. 60. The nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Compared to other workers, mothers are often viewed as less competent, less productive, and less committed to their job, which is assumed to result in increased absenteeism and resignation (Byron and Roscigno 5).
When, two parents are working emotional effects can be felt by everyone in the family. Children have a natural craving to want mom or dad to be around when they come home from school, get hurt, get sick, or just want to be with them. Not being there for the child can cause emotional problems for the child. Moms especial will miss seeing their children growing up, and being there for special moments. Sure you will have a few hours every night, but that will go by quickly when homework, housework, and outings get in the way. Moms will also have extra worries about leaving a child in daycare, and if the child will be cared for the way they want. If you have to work you won’t be able to make it to all your child’s sports games or other special activity your child is...
The workforce can be a hard place, but for single mothers, it seems to be a much more threatening area. Women have been turned down from a job for being a single mother and some women have even been fired from a job for being pregnant without a husband to help support the baby. Single mothers have also been bullied at their work. Coworkers will taunt them about having spouses and a relaxed family to go home to that is run by two adults. Once single mothers get a job, they have a risk of losing it. They have no one to take care of her chil...
Men and women are working harder than ever to survive in today's tough economy. It's a big challenge for low and middle class families to survive. To meet growing demands, it's getting difficult for families to depend on one income. To contribute to family income, mothers are coming forward and joining the workforce. Working mothers are the one who takes care of the family and work outside the home. They may be a single mothers or married mothers. Working mothers usually work to support their family financially. Some of the mothers work, just because they are more career-oriented. Working mothers may work part time or full time. Women are now the primary or only income source for 40% of US households with kids, according to a new Pew survey (Wang, Parker and Taylor, ch. 1). They play a major role in raising their family and doing household chores. There are many reasons that why mothers should work.