Social Economic Effects Of Children Essay, Research Paper

When Both Parents are Employed Socio-economic conditions in

North America have contributed to the need for dual incomes

for families. Economically, “the number of two parent

families below the poverty line would increase to an

estimated 78% if they were to become single income

families.” (Ontario Women’s Directorate 9) Socially, it was

the norm, in the past, for women to stay at home having a

more expressive role in the family; taking care of the

children and providing emotional support for the family.

Presently, women feel that their traditional roles as child

bearers and homemakers must be supplemented with a sense of

achievement outside the home. Recent studies reflect an

increased trend towards the dual income family and

projections are for this trend to continue. In 1961, 30% of

married women were working; in 1978, 38% were employed; by

1981 50% were working and in 1985, 55% held paying positions

outside the home. (Jarman and Howlett 95) In 1961, only 20%

of all two parent families were! dual wage families, but by

1986, more than half (53%) of all families were dual earning

families. (Ramu 26) In light of the fact that the majority

of two parent families in the 1990’s have also become dual

wage earning families, it is important to examine the

effects of such a phenomenon on society in general and on

child rearing in particular. Children acquire their goals,

values and norms based on the way that they view or identify

with their parents as well as from the quality and amount of

care, love and guidance given to them by their parents.

Parents who work present a different image to their children

than parents who do not work. In addition, wage earners,

including parents, must (in most cases), be absent from the

home during the day. When considering these modifications to

the family dynamics, there is considerable basis for proof

that the positive effects outweigh the negative effects

experienced by offspring in families were both parents are

employed. The working parent occupies an important exemplary

role within the family. Working parents often command

considerable respect from their children, because they

demonstrate the worthy characteristics of industriousness,

social compatibility, self reliance, maturity, intelligence

and responsibility. Because children identify with their

parents, the feedback from such positive influences tends to

be positive as well because many of these positive

characteristics are imparted upon them. A child who observes

the competent coping abilities of a working parent learns in

turn, how to cope with life’s problems. At first this may

translate into an improved sense of self-reliance and

independence for the child as well as an improvement in the

ability to be socially compatible. As the child grows, it

can further render a child more emotionally mature and hence

more competent in dealing with responsibility and task

completion such as is needed for school work and extra

curricu! lar activities. A study by Hoffman in 1974

corroborates these observations and therefore one can

conclude that, in general, the working parent provides a

very positive role model for the child in a family where

both parents are employed. (Hoffman 18) Attitudes of working

parents pertaining to achievement, responsibility and

independence affect both male and female offspring. There

seems to be more beneficial effects felt by daughters of

working women than by sons; however, this neither implies

nor concludes that males do not receive some positive

effects due to maternal employment. (Spitz 606) Hoffman has

concluded that daughters of employed mothers tend to be more

independent. (Hoffman 73) This tendency may result from the

fact that in the mother’s absence, a daughter is often left

to cope with caring for herself: This promotes her

independence and self-reliance. At the same time, the

daughter may also be left with the job of looking after a

younger sibling, helping to promote her sense of

responsibility. Significant too, is the fact that daughters

of working mother’s tend to be more decisive about their

futures than sons. Further studies have demonstrated that a

mother’s employment status and occupation tends to be a good

predictor of the outcome of the working mother’s daughter,

since daughters tend to follow in their mother’s footsteps.

Typically, working mothers held higher educational

aspirations for their children and furthermore, most

daughters tend to achieve higher grades in school. (Spitz

606) It is also important to note that both male and female

children acquire more egalitarian sex role attitudes when

both parents work. Boys with working mothers showed better

social and personal skills than boys of non-working mothers.

On a negative note, middle-class boys tend to do worse in

school when their mothers worked. (Shreve 118) As well, boys

whose mothers work tend to have strained relationships with

their fathers due to their perceptive devaluation of their

father’s worth as an adequate bread-winner. (Adele 32) One

can conclude that males may be negatively affected when

their mothers work, but males and, to a greater degree,

females are affected in many positive ways with regards to

achievement in independence and responsibility. Adequate

child care is a necessity for parents who both work. It is

often complicated to balance both the parent’s and child’s

needs when using child care. However, it may be possible to

satisfy the demands of both if forethought and prudence are

applied. Many cultures worldwide realize that a child’s

nurturing can be acquired from a variety of sources

including both adults and older children. Children can be as

comfortable with grandparents, neighbors, professional child

care attendants, and babysitters as they are with their own

mothers. In fact, a variety of sources for nurturing not

only provide the child with a variety of role models, such

as in the case of grandparents, but it also provides them

the ability to compare these role models and to choose the

appropriate characteristics which they will adopt as their

own. One third of all children are looked after by

relatives; 50% of all children in child care situations are

being looked after by someone unrelated! to them. (Petterson

533) To date, in Ontario as in all of Canada, there is no

adequate government policy for child care. Funds ear marked

for this area of social assistance are either

misappropriated or abused. Even now, in 1995, the government

of Canada has not yet recognized the fact that children are

a community responsibility and that they should start

treating them as such. (Monsebraaten A1) In the end, the

responsibility of choosing the proper type of child care

lies with the working parents. Proper research of the day

care facilities and employees should include an

investigation into the availability of superior care in a

quality program where rearing beliefs and practices mirror

those of the parents. When both parents feel confident in

their day care choices, they will view them as supportive

influences rather than intrusive ones. This positive

attitude will provide the child with positive feedback

because when parents feel good about their lives and

decisions, they communicate their satisfaction to their

children in the form of positive feelings. These positive

feelings are then internalized by the children. (Rodman 576)

Difficult as it may seem, it is clear that if forethought,

research and adequate investigative techniques are applied,

parents can successfully select the child care facility

and/or individual most appropriate to fulfill both their own

an! d their child’s needs. Parents who work alter several

traditional methods of parenting. The aspects of parenting

which are most affected are quality, quantity and content.

When considering content, a major point is the preparation

of the child for a society in which those children will be

adults. Currently, a child has a 50% chance of becoming

divorced, and in the case of a female, a 50% chance of

becoming a single mother as well as the probability of

becoming a member of a dual wage earning family. (Shreve 61)

Working parents are in a good position to prepare their

children for that type of lifestyle. Healthy family dynamics

including team work, sharing, and responsibility, are more

easily adopted when they are already familiar. As far as

quality of parenting, it has been observed that women who

are highly satisfied with their roles whether they work or

not, display higher levels of warmth and acceptance than do

dissatisfied mothers and these positive feelings are

reflected in their ! relationships with their siblings.

(Lerner and Galambous 44) Finally, when considering quantity

of time spent on parenting when both parents work, it has

been concluded by Hoffman in 1974 that there is no

consistent evidence of deprivation felt by children of

employed mother’s. In fact, mothers who were better educated

and employed outside the home spent more time with their

children even at the expense of their own leisure and sleep

time. (Hoffman 76) Hoffman also proposes that the time spent

on employment simply substitutes for time previously spent

on needless or less important household tasks which can be

performed by others or not at all. Researchers question the

validity of measuring the number of hours a mother spends

with her children. Hoffman found that while working mothers

spent less time with their children , the time spent with

them was more likely to be in direct contact with them.

Mothers who are at home full time spend only 5% of their

time in direct in! teraction with their children. (Hoffman

75) Employed mothers spend about the same time reading to,

playing with and otherwise paying attention to their

children as do mothers who stay at home. (Hoffman 76)

Because society has changed, the family’s function within

society has changed as well. Parental roles have been

modified to meet these changes. Today, the family’s most

important task is to provide emotional security in a vast

and impersonal world. Working parents often possess the

skills necessary for responding adequately and creatively to

the increased stress placed on children to succeed in such

an environment. Parents who work must, out of necessity, be

adept at providing fresh, innovative and effective modes of

parenting even when time with the child is limited. The

debate as to whether or not both parents should work or not

is really not significant anymore. Both parents are working

and will continue to do so and children are not being raised

today in the same way as they were in the past. The next

generation of parents will be more confident than their

predecessors and they and their children will probably never

experience the dichotomous feelings that t! oday’s parents

have about the dual income family and it’s effects on child

rearing. Working outside the home and being a good parent at

the same time is possible and in both of these tasks there

is much to value and treasure. When Both Parents are

Employed Socio-economic conditions in North America have

contributed to the need for dual incomes for families.

Economically, “the number of two parent families below the

poverty line would increase to an estimated 78% if they were

to become single income families.” (Ontario Women’s

Directorate 9) Socially, it was the norm, in the past, for

women to stay at home having a more expressive role in the

family; taking care of the children and providing emotional

support for the family. Presently, women feel that their

traditional roles as child bearers and homemakers must be

supplemented with a sense of achievement outside the home.

Recent studies reflect an increased trend towards the dual

income family and projections are for this trend to

continue. In 1961, 30% of married women were working; in

1978, 38% were employed; by 1981 50% were working and in

1985, 55% held paying positions outside the home. (Jarman

and Howlett 95) In 1961, only 20% of all two parent families

were! dual wage families, but by 1986, more than half (53%)

of all families were dual earning families. (Ramu 26) In

light of the fact that the majority of two parent families

in the 1990’s have also become dual wage earning families,

it is important to examine the effects of such a phenomenon

on society in general and on child rearing in particular.

Children acquire their goals, values and norms based on the

way that they view or identify with their parents as well as

from the quality and amount of care, love and guidance given

to them by their parents. Parents who work present a

different image to their children than parents who do not

work. In addition, wage earners, including parents, must (in

most cases), be absent from the home during the day. When

considering these modifications to the family dynamics,

there is considerable basis for proof that the positive

effects outweigh the negative effects experienced by

offspring in families were both parents are employed. The

working parent occupies an important exemplary role within

the family. Working parents often command considerable

respect from their children, because they demonstrate the

worthy characteristics of industriousness, social

compatibility, self reliance, maturity, intelligence and

responsibility. Because children identify with their

parents, the feedback from such positive influences tends to

be positive as well because many of these positive

characteristics are imparted upon them. A child who observes

the competent coping abilities of a working parent learns in

turn, how to cope with life’s problems. At first this may

translate into an improved sense of self-reliance and

independence for the child as well as an improvement in the

ability to be socially compatible. As the child grows, it

can further render a child more emotionally mature and hence

more competent in dealing with responsibility and task

completion such as is needed for school work and extra

curricu! lar activities. A study by Hoffman in 1974

corroborates these observations and therefore one can

conclude that, in general, the working parent provides a

very positive role model for the child in a family where

both parents are employed. (Hoffman 18) Attitudes of working

parents pertaining to achievement, responsibility and

independence affect both male and female offspring. There

seems to be more beneficial effects felt by daughters of

working women than by sons; however, this neither implies

nor concludes that males do not receive some positive

effects due to maternal employment. (Spitz 606) Hoffman has

concluded that daughters of employed mothers tend to be more

independent. (Hoffman 73) This tendency may result from the

fact that in the mother’s absence, a daughter is often left

to cope with caring for herself: This promotes her

independence and self-reliance. At the same time, the

daughter may also be left with the job of looking after a

younger sibling, helping to promote her sense of

responsibility. Significant too, is the fact that daughters

of working mother’s tend to be more decisive about their

futures than sons. Further studies have demonstrated that a

mother’s employment status and occupation tends to be a good

predictor of the outcome of the working mother’s daughter,

since daughters tend to follow in their mother’s footsteps.

Typically, working mothers held higher educational

aspirations for their children and furthermore, most

daughters tend to achieve higher grades in school. (Spitz

606) It is also important to note that both male and female

children acquire more egalitarian sex role attitudes when

both parents work. Boys with working mothers showed better

social and personal skills than boys of non-working mothers.

On a negative note, middle-class boys tend to do worse in

school when their mothers worked. (Shreve 118) As well, boys

whose mothers work tend to have strained relationships with

their fathers due to their perceptive devaluation of their

father’s worth as an adequate bread-winner. (Adele 32) One

can conclude that males may be negatively affected when

their mothers work, but males and, to a greater degree,

females are affected in many positive ways with regards to

achievement in independence and responsibility. Adequate

child care is a necessity for parents who both work. It is

often complicated to balance both the parent’s and child’s

needs when using child care. However, it may be possible to

satisfy the demands of both if forethought and prudence are

applied. Many cultures worldwide realize that a child’s

nurturing can be acquired from a variety of sources

including both adults and older children. Children can be as

comfortable with grandparents, neighbors, professional child

care attendants, and babysitters as they are with their own

mothers. In fact, a variety of sources for nurturing not

only provide the child with a variety of role models, such

as in the case of grandparents, but it also provides them

the ability to compare these role models and to choose the

appropriate characteristics which they will adopt as their

own. One third of all children are looked after by

relatives; 50% of all children in child care situations are

being looked after by someone unrelated! to them. (Petterson

533) To date, in Ontario as in all of Canada, there is no

adequate government policy for child care. Funds ear marked

for this area of social assistance are either

misappropriated or abused. Even now, in 1995, the government

of Canada has not yet recognized the fact that children are

a community responsibility and that they should start

treating them as such. (Monsebraaten A1) In the end, the

responsibility of choosing the proper type of child care

lies with the working parents. Proper research of the day

care facilities and employees should include an

investigation into the availability of superior care in a

quality program where rearing beliefs and practices mirror

those of the parents. When both parents feel confident in

their day care choices, they will view them as supportive

influences rather than intrusive ones. This positive

attitude will provide the child with positive feedback

because when parents feel good about their lives and

decisions, they communicate their satisfaction to their

children in the form of positive feelings. These positive

feelings are then internalized by the children. (Rodman 576)

Difficult as it may seem, it is clear that if forethought,

research and adequate investigative techniques are applied,

parents can successfully select the child care facility

and/or individual most appropriate to fulfill both their own

an! d their child’s needs. Parents who work alter several

traditional methods of parenting. The aspects of parenting

which are most affected are quality, quantity and content.

When considering content, a major point is the preparation

of the child for a society in which those children will be

adults. Currently, a child has a 50% chance of becoming

divorced, and in the case of a female, a 50% chance of

becoming a single mother as well as the probability of

becoming a member of a dual wage earning family. (Shreve 61)

Working parents are in a good position to prepare their

children for that type of lifestyle. Healthy family dynamics

including team work, sharing, and responsibility, are more

easily adopted when they are already familiar. As far as

quality of parenting, it has been observed that women who

are highly satisfied with their roles whether they work or

not, display higher levels of warmth and acceptance than do

dissatisfied mothers and these positive feelings are

reflected in their ! relationships with their siblings.

(Lerner and Galambous 44) Finally, when considering quantity

of time spent on parenting when both parents work, it has

been concluded by Hoffman in 1974 that there is no

consistent evidence of deprivation felt by children of

employed mother’s. In fact, mothers who were better educated

and employed outside the home spent more time with their

children even at the expense of their own leisure and sleep

time. (Hoffman 76) Hoffman also proposes that the time spent

on employment simply substitutes for time previously spent

on needless or less important household tasks which can be

performed by others or not at all. Researchers question the

validity of measuring the number of hours a mother spends

with her children. Hoffman found that while working mothers

spent less time with their children , the time spent with

them was more likely to be in direct contact with them.

Mothers who are at home full time spend only 5% of their

time in direct in! teraction with their children. (Hoffman

75) Employed mothers spend about the same time reading to,

playing with and otherwise paying attention to their

children as do mothers who stay at home. (Hoffman 76)

Because society has changed, the family’s function within

society has changed as well. Parental roles have been

modified to meet these changes. Today, the family’s most

important task is to provide emotional security in a vast

and impersonal world. Working parents often possess the

skills necessary for responding adequately and creatively to

the increased stress placed on children to succeed in such

an environment. Parents who work must, out of necessity, be

adept at providing fresh, innovative and effective modes of

parenting even when time with the child is limited. The

debate as to whether or not both parents should work or not

is really not significant anymore. Both parents are working

and will continue to do so and children are not being raised

today in the same way as they were in the past. The next

generation of parents will be more confident than their

predecessors and they and their children will probably never

experience the dichotomous feelings that t! oday’s parents

have about the dual income family and it’s effects on child

rearing. Working outside the home and being a good parent at

the same time is possible and in both of these tasks there

is much to value and treasure.