Working Mothers free essay sample

Working Mothers Carrie Grubb Axia College of University of Phoenix Working Mothers In previous generations, women had one role to accomplish; to care for their children. As mothers, women were required to play the role of June Cleaver. Mothers need to care for the children and keep the home in smooth working order. After many protests, women wanted to empower their equal rights, and become career women. Thanks to women’s perseverance, today women are able to work, and be just as qualified as men in their careers. Yet, there is still the debate over whether mothers should work, or be stay-at- home mothers. There are obvious disadvantages to children having a working mother, but there are not so obvious advantages. Working mothers tend to teach their children independence, curiosity, and ambition. While the disadvantages often come from society’s pressures that a working mother’s career may be more important than her family. We will write a custom essay sample on Working Mothers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page How do mothers choose what works best for their family? Working mothers who choose to work outside the home offer advantages and disadvantages to their families. Working mothers have several advantages to their families. Mothers teach their children independence, curiosity, and ambition. The value of independence is taught from the mother’s own life and expecting her children to take on more responsibility themselves. Independence is often a challenge, but when successful, independence is an accomplishment. Curiosity comes from the children seeing that their mothers have value in society, and not how she drives the mini van around town. Curiosity also allows children to see their mother’s accomplishments beyond inside the home. Ambition comes from the gifts mothers give to their children about how to live their lives to the fullest potential. Ambition is contagious and children need a role model to encourage their dreams. Working mother’s additional advantage is providing additional income for their families. The extra money working mothers make is very beneficial to their families. The United States Department of Labor statistics in 2008 stated that 71. 4% of all women with children under the age of 18 works. What is her family receiving from this income? They are getting groceries and the mortgage payment made. In a household where both parents work, the average income is $78,000, $34,000 thousand dollars more than a household where only the father works. The additional income helps provide an added boost into middle class. This extra income helps provide further education and opportunities to the children (US Census Bureau, 2009). Working mothers often differ on what the ideal working situation for children. Some mothers say working full-time suits their family fine. While other mothers say that a mother working part-time is ideal for children. Of course, there are other mothers who say they choose not work at all. Judgments’ about the impact of working mothers from society are strongly related to the beliefs about what is best for the children (Pew Research Center, 2009). What Working Situation Would Be Ideal for Mothers? Considering all the information presented, what would be the ideal situation for mothers- working full-time, working part-time, or not working at all? {draw:frame} Figure 2. A statistic bar graph of the ideal situation for mothers. Note: From a Pew survey from Pew Research Center Report, 2007. Working mothers also have a disadvantage, to their families, working outside the home. Most of the time society pressures mothers to believe a career is more important than family. Experts often say society should support mothers who choose to stay home and raise their children instead of abandoning their children to daycares. Often the thought of a mother, who sends their children to daycare, becomes stricken with guilt, and bad feelings. Where do theses feelings come from? The feelings often come from the mother’s themselves, conjuring up thoughts of abandoning their children for most of the day. We see the media playing up part of this guilt by not showing negative daycare results out of fear of offending working mothers. There are many debates over the focus of the added daycare expense. Children are often only put into daycare to help assist the working mother. In return, this adds more pressure to the mother, because daycare is an added expense. In the old days men worked while the wives stayed at home. This helped to eliminate the added expense of daycare. Now mothers want to work and choose to use daycare. The question is if the family can afford the daycare expense. Some of the mothers who work, their salaries pay just the daycare expense. Their wages are not helping their families; the extra wages are just breaking even. If mothers choose to work, they have to decide if the family can basically live on one income. Furthermore, there is the issue about the addition of a working mother’s income, what happens if the parents divorce, the husband passes away, or the husband becomes injured, and he can not work? The working mother can be beneficial. If a mother has a career, and a solid financial income, it can secure that the mother, and her family will be more financially stable. With the possible loss of the main income source, this can be devastating to the mother, and her children. The mother would have to worry more about the lack of income instead of making the choice of sending her children to daycare. In fact studies have shown that children who attend daycare are more successful in socializing as they get older. The atmosphere that they receive from multiply children in daycare creates a better social setting than staying home with mom. Though the mother may offer social insight, the different personalities of the children in daycare can prepare them for future social settings. When mothers work the lack of parental guidance not only affects smaller children, but also older children. Studies have shown that the lack of parental guidance contributes to troubled teens. When mothers work, children have about three hours of unsupervised attention a day. These hours that a mother is gone, leads to bad behavior. Bad behavior can lead to drugs and alcohol. Working mothers do have a disadvantage to their families. In addition to the thought that they lack social skills, and parental guidance, there have been issues of guilt from mothers. Critics have stated that mothers often feel they will miss milestones of their children’s lives. Actually there are many milestones a mother can experience as the child gets older. Mothers need to understand that it is not important to witness every first, but to witness what they have eventually accomplished. Socialization is not the lack of parental guidance; it is just the facts of life. There is another side of the debate of working mothers or stay-home mothers. If mothers choose to work full-time, she can not fulfill her duties as a mother. Mothers may be accused of being selfish and unloving to her children. In fact, it is the opposite. A mother who chooses to work shows her children they can accomplish anything under any circumstance. On the other hand, stay-at-home mothers are stereotyped as being uneducated and wealthy enough to stay-at-home. Like the working mother, a stay-at-home mother can be intelligent, and motivated; they just do it from inside their homes. There are many mothers who are better mothers than those stay-at-home mothers. Just as there is stay-at-home mothers who are better than the mothers who choose to work. Each mother has her own disadvantages as well as advantages. With the challenges mothers face, they have to balance work and life learning. Mothers are finding creative time to spend with their children and still work. What works best for their children? Mother opinions vary on what is the best solution for their children. The issue will be an ongoing battle between mothers who work and those who do not. Below is a chart of statistics for mothers working full-time, part-time, and those who choose not to work. What is the ideal situation for children? {draw:frame} Note: From Pew Research Center,_ A Social and Demographic Trends Report, _2007. How do mothers choose what works best for their family? Do mothers stay home and tend to the children? Or do mothers work to add income to their families? There are clear reasons why each mother makes the decision that suits her family. Why make any judgment about a working mother’s choice? There are advantages and disadvantages to everyday life situations. Each mother chooses to make the right decision on what works best for their families.