Working parents is a trend with many positive and
negative points. Whereas working parents are economically better
positioned to afford good bringing up for their children, they are not
able to give their ward enough time, in the form of time and attention.
In a study conducted in US, it was shown that working parents are able
to give just 20 minutes a day to their wards. There cannot be worst
scenario than this. At early age, kids need lots of attention from their
parents and any nanny or maid or baby sitter can not replace real
mother.
Economic and financial reasons are sighted for inevitability of both
the parents working, particularly in metro cities, where lifestyle
expenses are haywire and meeting both the ends is not easy. There can
not be a panacea for the problem like this, other than making balance
between working time and family time. Kids need time and so needs the
work. Parents cannot afford either leaving their job or caring for their
kids and have got to balance both.
Mothers are usually expected to give time to their kids, and the
biggest paradox is the same mother is full of so many other
responsibilities that she can not just afford to give time to kids. She
is working, she is cooking, and she is doing so many other household
works that she hardly has time to herself, forget about kids. Where will
lead this lifestyle to their kids, would their kids be able to grow
normally under maids, or baby sitters?
The question now is whether the maids, and baby sitters can they bring
your child lovingly and with care. Can they replace natural love and
affection of real mother? Obviously, they cannot. Direct interaction of
parents with their children inculcates good habits and etiquettes, which
are already there in parents. Kids learn them through keen observance
and simulation and if the interaction is missing, what the outcome would
be is obvious.
How to Balance Work and Home
Prioritize your goals and objectives, i.e. what is the order of the
things you want to do. Once you have made them, do accordingly. Try to
cut sometime from work and maximize interactive time with your children.
Both the parents have to come up with a solution and at least one parent
can be with kids at a time when both of you are not able to be together.
This will be least damaging and will have some positive impact on kids.
Ask your organization to expand paid leaves so that you can spend time
with your kids. Expansion of family medical leave, model workplace with
flexible working hours, and instant telecommunication facilities are
some other facilities that organization should be asked for. Arrangement
of multi facility and multi specialty childcare centers would certainly
help to cater the need of bringing your child lovingly and in a careful
manner.
