Moms: Should They Go To Work?

This week in my Family Relations class, we discussed work and home. We discussed the changing patterns of working such as women in the labor force, married women and employment, marital and family status of employed women, types of dual-career families, reasons why women work outside the home, home versus the workplace, the challenges of dual-income families, the satisfaction dual-income families, and work and well-being. Today, I want to focus on mothers in the labor force and whether or not they should work or stay home. According to the book "Marriage and Family the Quest for Intimacy," nearly six out of ten women aged sixteen and above are now in the labor force. Also, sixty percent of working mothers said that part-time work would be their ideal. Even though the proportion of working mothers who want full time has decided, most would still like to stay working. Some of the reasons why women want to work is because they want to be able to afford more things, the desire for financial security, the opportunity to develop the instrumental part of themselves and to establish a sense of self apart from a man and children, economic independence, increased self-esteem, and better overall health. I can see why many women would want to work but personally I want to be a stay at home mom. My mom was a homemaker and I am so grateful for that. It was so nice having my mom around and I think that is one of the reasons why we have always been so close. I want to have that same relationship with my children. Roughly 61 percent of pre-kindergarten children receive some kind of non parental child care on a regular basis. There are two challenges that face the couple who opt for child care. One is the challenge of finding satisfactory care and the other is the challenge of spending sufficient time parenting. I really like this because I do feel like I learned a lot more than what I would if my mom was always gone working.