Effects Of Dual Working Parents Essay, Research Paper

Effects of Dual Working Parents

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 curricular 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 and 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 interaction 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 today’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.