Myths Regarding Work and Parenting, Essay Example

Mothers are better caretakers and shouldn’t work outside the home.

Part 1: Research

In response to the question, ‘what does social science research tell us about this myth,mothers are better caretakers and shouldn’t work outside the home, Dr. David Pelcotviz (2013)  explained the impact of working mothers on child development. He identified some pertinent issues. The expert related that in context of theUnited States of America situation,statistics show where 75% of mothers work full time outside of the home. Therefore, children are offered care by grandparents, relatives or day care attendants. From his perspective normal child growth and development is affected if the motherleaves the infant too early for work(Pelcotviz, 2013).

For example, the expert made reference to research conducted by the National Institute of Child Health to support his perspective that early maternal separation leads to adverse effects in child growth and development. As such, from this point of view theconcept of mothers being better caretakers and shouldn’t work outside the home is not a myth. Aprecise reference was made to mother -child bonding during theearly months of extra uterine life. It was discovered that children whose mothers went to work and left their infants with alternative care givers, experienced more behavioral dysfunctionsas toddlers. In comparison mothers who left  their children after a year or more post-deliveryth children’s development was less difficult(Pelcotviz, 2013).

Clearly, Pelcotviz’s (2013) contention concerning mothers being better caregivers and should not work outside the home emerged from the attachment theory. This theory explains the essentials of bonding towards personality development in young children. However,Kochanska& Kim (2013) argue that attachment or bounding will take place between whoever the child communicates during that infancy period. It is believed that the infant can form attachments with a father, grandmother, nanny or sibling in the say way he/she would with a mother. There is no exclusivity regarding where and to whom this bounding will occur. As such, this does not make mothers better caregivers because a child will  notbound better or less with another person (Kochanska& Kim, 2013).

Further, a recent PEW research study shows wherein the twenty- first century more men are opting to be stay- at -home dads. Precise, reports arethat 550,000 men were stay-at – homedads within the last 10 years. This accounted for 3.5% of all married couples with children in the United States of America. More importantly, stay-at-home dads were very efficient because they helped with households chores too. Essentially, they relieved the burden off of working mothers/ wives whenreturninghome. Normally they would have to wash dishes, clothes and clean up the house, but stay at home dads completed these chores. The studyoffered specific data explaining that stay –at- home dads spent  fourmore hours per day on child care than mothers  and 11 hours altogether on conducting both duties of childcare and home chores(Morin, 2014).

The extent to which my chosen statement, ‘mothers being better caretakers and shouldn’t work outside the home; was supported by social science research is rather controversialMy first researcher suggested that due to the necessity of bounding during the first months of extra uterine life (infancy) mothers are better caregivers. However, this was disputed by declaring that attachment could occur between the child and any other person. The same positive outcomes will occur. The PEW research findings confirmed thatmothers being better caretakers and shouldn’t work outside the home was a myth. More recent studies show where dads were doing a better job irrespective of the children’s ages.

Part 11: Analysis

The pieces of information that were found to be particularly interesting or surprising pertained first to dads’ contribution to the caregiving industry. Significantly, the PEW research provided evidence that while society may ostracize men for being stay-at- home dads it in fact thefamily benefits more. Dads were not only more efficient at childcare, but accomplished more tasks than a mother within comparabletime spent at home.

With regards to bounding  proposition formothers being better care givers, this might only be applicable to situations of early attachment. The argument is that once the attachment is made no serious developmental issues could occur later. Inappropriate attachment creates the problem and not with whom it is made. It is then highly suggestive that even if mother child attachment was beneficial it does not necessity make the mother a better caregiver. Hence, the statement, mothers are better caretakers and shouldn’t work outside the home is indeed a myth.

At first glance the concept of mothers being better caregivers and should not work outside of the home appears true. However, with deeper thought and research, investigation proves it to be only partially true. My research on thistopic made me change my view point concerning the role of women in child care. Importantly fathers’ participation in care-giving seems to be bypassed with this attachment fallacy application. The likely communication was that that infants do not become attached to anyone else except their mothers. This is not true.Therefore, the attachment analogy for mothers being better caregivers is limited due to lack of socialscientific evidence.

References

Kochanska, G., & Kim, S (2013).Early Attachment Organization with Both Parents and Future Behavior Problems: From Infancy to Middle Childhood. Child Dev 84 (1): 283–296.

Morin, R. (2014).Study: More men on the ‘daddy track. PEW research Center.

Pelcotviz, D. (2013).The Impact of Working Mothers on Child Development.Retrieved on November 21^st, 2014 fromhttp://www.ou.org/life/parenting/impact-working-mothers-child-development-empirical-research-david-pelcovitz/