Preview

Life as a Mom

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1081 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life as a Mom
Life as a Mom

Although the media depict most women as housewives and stay-at-home mothers, in reality many women work full time and put their children in daycare. Stay at home moms and working moms have their own advantages and disadvantages. However, a stay at home mom is able to give greater attention to the family while working moms are able to provide financial stability although they are not able to assure greater care to their children. I experienced both, being at home and working outside the home. I personally believe having my husband and me working has made my family happier. According to a recent study by the American Psychological Association of over 1,300 moms the happiest moms are, perhaps unsurprisingly, those who work part-time (Bindley 1). Comparing and contrasting being a stay at home mom vs. a working mom along with the modern economic and social reality has led to the emergence of various social changes and one such social change is the emergences of two kinds of mothers namely stay at home mothers and working mothers (Bindley 1). In this essay, an attempt is made to study the similarities and differences between the working mothers and stay at home mothers; also the term `stay at home moms ' refers to those mothers who do not work outside their homes. They prefer to stay at home. This is due to their care for their children and family, also these stay at home moms before they became mothers were working women. Gradually there is transition of working women to becoming stay at home moms. However, after they became mothers, it was very difficult to manage both house and work. Consequently, they decide to quit their jobs and stayed at home for the sake of their family. Leaving the financial stress on their husbands. Stay at home moms usually enjoy their status as being house wives and do not crib at the fact that they are staying at home. The children of such stay at home moms are also happy that their mom is staying with



Cited: Bindley, Katherine. "Working Moms Happier Than Stay-At-Home Moms, Study Finds." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Dec. 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/study-working-moms-are-ha_n_1152202.html. "Sandy Shumaker." Telephone interview. 1 Apr. 2012. Harrington

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Phase 3 Argument Analysis

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages

    While researching one parent choosing to stay home and raising children, I found supporting and opposing information. I found articles and books on money being a focus for both parents working.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gender Roles in Jeopardy

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Vanderkam, Laura. “What Mom’s Can Learn From Dads; Stay-at home men find more time for leisure, less time for chores and present a healthier picture of domestic life.”…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Second Shift : Working Parents and the Revolution at Home written by Arlie Hochschild is a work of research that investigates the strife of a marriage with a two-job family . The book relates lives of researched couples and their problem with the second shift ' which in this case is the work after work , the housework and childcare . The author followed fifty families and interviewed the parents for ten years or more . Her findings and conclusions about the…

    • 2029 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the first article published in the New York Times (20 December 1977), Terry Martin Hekker titles the article “The Satisfactions of Housewifery and Motherhood” and describes the way that society views stay at home mothers. Hekker begins by describing her job as a housewife/ mother, in the…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Men are more comfortable with their wives going to work than they are willing to help out at home more. In the 1950s, women were expected to be good housewives. Women were not to go college and if they did it was only to meet their future husbands. Women were expected to stay home and do housework and take care of the children. Ferber says, “Housework and childcare continued to be viewed as the women’s responsibility whether or not she also had a paid job” (2). Mothers today are arguing back and forth over the “Mommy Wars”. The “Mommy Wars” is where working mothers are criticizing stay at home mothers for not working and in turn, non-working mothers criticize working mothers for not spending enough of family time together. Rather than debating the “Mommy Wars” some women are complaining of having to work “the second shift” once they get home from work. The second shift refers to when a mother has worked a full day and then goes home to do just about the same amount of work by cooking dinner, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and taking care of the kids. Ferber says, “Women do fifty-two hours a week in housework and child rearing while the men do eleven hours a week” (2). Men should be contributing to the housework more, regardless if the wife works or stays at home. The resource theory, proposed by Robert Blood and David Wolfe, “Focuses on the importance of accumulated resources of a spouse as the source of power within a marriage, which is likely to be used to make the other partner do more of the housework” (3, Ferber). The more control women have at work the more control they have at…

    • 1281 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women are fortunate enough to gain back their knowledge from their previous job, by joining the workforce and contributing financially for their family. Motherhood is not a paid job; there are no raises or benefits. By working, mothers receive a different kind of fulfillment, they get praised and paid. Mothers are admired and respected after having newborn children and rejoining the workforce because they are able to balance not only being a new mother, but also committing part of the day to work. Anna Quindlen, in “Off to Work She Should Go,” believes that if your mother has been micromanaging your homework since you were 6, it’s hard to feel any pride of ownership when you do well. By doing so, the child can’t learn from their mistakes and disappointments (483). Stay at home mothers tend to be overbearing with their children. As a result, children will grow up not knowing how to accomplish different situations on their own. Mothers who work part time can still guide their children in the right direction without doing everything for them. This gives the mother time away from her children, forcing them to handle different problems by themselves. Typically, mothers who work full time feel guilty that they are missing out on raising their child. However, working part time can save women from that stress. Mothers can be an employee for half of the day, knowing that they will spend the remainder of the day with their…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Non Working Mothers Essay

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Top child developmental researchers were used to study the effects of full time, part time, and non working mothers. They would study over the next couple years to get their results. They followed a multitude of families very closely in order to insue accuracy. The results were as follows; the scientists found that in a middle class family that when the mother stayed home with the child, then the results were more positive as the child did well in school, and their temperate was better. In the middle Class family where the mother worked, the child was found to be worse off not performing well in school, as well as having behavior problems. The interesting find that threw the study off was the results of the single parent household where the mother worked, tended to have no effect on the child what so ever. The child was actually was found to be happier since the child would not be at home dealing with the financial situation of a single parent. It was also found that the substitute child care whether it be a grandparent, tutor, or babysitter was found to have a huge impact on the child as well. When grandparents were around the child tended to perform…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    men are stuck

    • 1239 Words
    • 4 Pages

    are stuck." The imbalance appears at work and at home: Working mothers have become ordinary, but stay-at-home…

    • 1239 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Why Do Women Get Paid Work

    • 1516 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Since the proportion of mothers participating in the paid workforce has increased dramatically over recent years, women in the workforce have emphasized that the main problem they find the hardest is finding the balance between work and family life. As a result, a great deal of research attention has been paid to the impact of mother's employment on family life and on the wellbeing of children and parents. Research shows evidence that women continue to bear primary responsibilities for home and child care in spite of their entry in the labor force (Berardo, Shehan, & Leslie, 1987; Pleck, 1985).…

    • 1516 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stay-at-Home Fathers

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Randall, Kay. " Stay-at-home dads’ psychological well-being gauged in new study | The University of Texas at Austin." The University of Texas at Austin - Web Central. 29 Apr. 2008 <http://www.utexas.edu/features/2008/fathers/>.…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Women at Work

    • 1431 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The article "Family Coping Strategies: Balancing Paid Employment and Domestic Labour" by Meg Luxton sheds a different view on the responsibilities laid out in family life. In today's society it's almost a necessity to have both parents working, to support a family. This fact, along with the improvement of females having independence, is the cause of the ever growing number of working women. These, along with many other statistics are showing the rapid improvement and change that woman and families are showing. Year after year we can see the dynamics of the family shifting. It is not the same anymore, that women are the housewives doing all the housework and childcare. However women still have to work to get the equality, and not have to face "The second shift" once they get home. Husbands need to start stepping up and help out. Workplaces too need to step up, in the sense that they need to try and create better working environments for women. Unions have been formed to try to perfect benefits, and to shed light on the negative aspects they may have. This whole article shows an interesting view on family coping strategies, and gives lots for people to think about.…

    • 1431 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In-home care might be a better option to those parents that have to work. In-home care puts the children in a surrounding area that they are familiar with. In addition, children are less exposed to other illnesses and have a greater sense of security. However, in-home care could affect the child’s social skills. A child in a daycare center could interact with other children therefore developing social skills that will be helpful once they get into school (Snuggs, 2012). However, a child needs to spend quality time with their parents instead of spending time with strangers. A caregiver cannot express love the way parents do for their children. It is prominent that children need love and security primarily from their parents. The child’s cognitive…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Types of Prejudice PSY322 Intergroup Relations Jonathan Cadieux Outline • • • • • Model of Prejudice Sexism Overweight Sexual Orientation Ageism Fiske Prejudice Model  4 Types of Groups  Based on Competence and Warmth  Competence: perceived group status  Warmth: perceived competition  Group 1: Incompetent but warm  Low status, not competitive  Results in Paternalistic Prejudice  Group 2: Incompetent and not warm – Low status, competitive – Results in Contemptuous Prejudice Group 3: Competent but not warm – High status, competitive – Results in Envious Prejudice  Group 4: Competent and warm – High status, not competitive – Results in Admiration  Fiske Prejudice Model Competence Envious Prejudice Jews, Asians, Feminists, Wealthy people Warmth High Admiration In-group, Close allies…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mothers are a vital part of families everywhere but not all families can be supported in this day and age on one salary, so more and more mothers are looking for jobs to help “bring home the bacon” to create a secure home for children. But finding jobs is very difficult for these work-seeking women. “The supposed pay gap appears when marriage and children enter the picture. Child care takes mothers out of the labor market, so when they return they have less work experience than similarly-aged males. Many working mothers seek jobs that provide greater flexibility, such as telecommuting or flexible hours. Not all jobs can be flexible, and all other things being equal, those which are will pay less than those that do not.” (Perry/Biggs). In most…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nowadays, it is very common for mothers to work outside the home. Whether, a woman should stay at home or join the workforce is debated by many people. Some argue that the family especially a small children may be neglected. However, many women need to work because of economic reasons or want to work to maintain a career. I believe that every mother has the right to work and the decision should be one that a woman makes on her own. But first, she should carefully consider the many problems that she might encounter.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics