Working Mothers

Today’s women are once again finding themselves and their decisions placed under the microscope. Ever since women began entering the working force, the debate has been looming over whether working mothers or full-time mothers are better mothers to their children. It is an important issue because it concerns the effects that it might have on these parents’ children, which are soon to be the leading generation in the society. I believe that women should not be criticized for deciding to pursue a career , especially, as long as they are able to balance between it and their job towards their families and children.

It has been argued that the use of childcare facilities at a very young age for such long periods can cause the children to be emotionally deprived compared to home. It is claimed that at such age they should be around their mothers all the time otherwise their emotional development could be damaged. However, parents and children need to spend some time apart. According to Lois W.Hoffman, a psychologist at the University of Michigan , and Lise Youngblade, a psychologist at the university of Colorado, “working moms are more affectionate with their offspring than those who don’t have full-time jobs. Both the children and the mothers reported more maternal hugs, kisses, and verbal expressions of affectionate.” Parents become less stressed and more effective care-givers when there are periods of separation. Moreover, this allows the children to be less reliant on their parents and encourages them to be independent.

Another argument against working mothers would be that the education provided to the children at the school is not enough and that they are missing out on an important early learning stage that occurs just through very simple parent-child interaction. Teaching our children moral values, so this argument goes, is more important than sending them to an expensive private school as this is the type of education that cannot be learnt from school. However, these facilities can assist greatly with the early learning stage of the children’s lives. They give them a great opportunity to mingle with other children and to develop social skills at an early age. In fact, the children receive a whole range of learning in these facilities.

Working mothers make better mothers to their children. The parenting style of full-time home mothers more likely tends to either an authoritarian or a permissive one than the parenting style of working mothers which usually relies more on reason rather than declaration of parental power and encourages both girls and boys to be independent. Furthermore, husbands of working mothers help out more with childcare and household tasks which leads to the daughters doing better on achievement tests, having less stereotypical attitudes about the competencies of men versus women, and having a greater sense of personal effectiveness. Last but not least, having a full-time job is not just good for the children. Working mothers are usually less depressed and their morale higher than that of stay-at-home mothers, which of course affects the children in a positive way.

Therefore I believe that working mothers are better mothers and their children do better in their lives. Their children tend to be more independent. The mothers are usually less stressed, less depressed, and their morale is very high which affects them and their children in a positive way. Their daughters do better in their lives and careers and have more confidence of themselves and what they are capable of doing. If the society continues on criticizing mothers for working, we will be stuck in a world full of sexism and uncivilized ideas and we will never be able to move forward and develop from generation to generation to be a better society.