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Challenges encountered when balancing career and family
Balancing career and family
Balancing career and family
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Most family’s feel that both parents need to work today. Society leads one to think it is a necessity for two adults to work to survive. When the decision is being made for two adults to work does the family consider all the cost involved? Two adults working can have a huge effect on a family’s emotional, time, and finances. When, two parents are working emotional effects can be felt by everyone in the family. Children have a natural craving to want mom or dad to be around when they come home from school, get hurt, get sick, or just want to be with them. Not being there for the child can cause emotional problems for the child. Moms especial will miss seeing their children growing up, and being there for special moments. Sure you will have a few hours every night, but that will go by quickly when homework, housework, and outings get in the way. Moms will also have extra worries about leaving a child in daycare, and if the child will be cared for the way they want. If you have to work you won’t be able to make it to all your child’s sports games or other special activity your child is...
In her essay, “Win-Win Flexibility,” Karen Kornbluh explains the need for workplace changes due to changing family structures. Kornbluh explains that norms have shifted from a traditional family consisting of a breadwinner and a homemaker to what she coins a juggler family. According to Kornbluh, a juggler family is characterized by, “two working parents or an unmarried working parent” (323). By making changes, traditional work schedules can be altered to increase flexibility and better accommodate juggler families. In addition to the shift in family structures, parents are now working longer hours and have limited opportunities to take time off or change their work schedule. As a result of long, inflexible hours, many working individuals find it difficult to care for children or provide care for elderly or ill family members. Due to this, large sums of money are spent on childcare each year, and many children still do not receive the level of care that they need (Kornbluh 323).
What impact does it have when a parent loses a job? In today’s economy where a household had been ran by two incomes and suddenly becomes one becomes a strain on the family. It causes stress in the marriage. It also causes emotional distress for the children and parents. The problems are not just financially motivated but emotional and psychological as well. This is not an easy issue to deal with especially when you household is used to running smoothly and now to be faced with a financial hardship. This is not easy for anyone is the household.
Family leave has many benefits to children and the family. Rossin (2011) states, “[family] leave may affect the amount of time a child spends with his mother rather than in non-maternal care. [family] leave will also affect the quality of time the child spends with the mother, depending on changes to her stress level and her satisfaction with the trajectory of her career. The quantity and quality of time a mother spends with her child in his first year of life matter for the child's well-being”
The present structure of the average family in America is changing, mainly due to the growing number of mothers who now work outside the home. The current mark of dual-earner families stands at 64 percent, making it a solid majority today. This alteration of the "traditional" structure of the family is a channel for other changes that may soon occur.
Childcare or “daycare” is one of the most commonly used resources among Americans in the United States. There are many options for childcare that parents could choose from. They have many choices for childcare, ranging from: in-home care, childcare facilities, after school or government-funded Head Start programs. . “Head Start is a federally funded governmental program with the explicit goal of preparing underprivileged children for primary education” (Conley). This program is another option for the pre-k program. The cost of childcare has risen dramatically over the past year, and no one really knows whom to blame for it. The government offers families subsidies for childcare, but that is only if your income is low. But, what about the hard working, middle class families, that are still struggling to pay the high cost of childcare without government assistant? How will they provide childcare for their kids?
The effects on individuals has thus far revealed only part of the whole picture. When focus is shifted to workers with family situations, reports are revealing that time constraints are also connected to the shared working time between parents in households, with dual-earner based households and single parents meeting intensified challenges. Among these parents, women are even today continuing to take on the biggest share of family based responsibility and caretaking. This is thus making women workers, or single fathers, feel even more pressure than their workforce counterparts who have no children. The separation between workers who have no children and mothers or fathers with caretaking responsibilities has led to yet another growing divide that demands a change in policy that will address the specific conditions of workers and their families.
While watching the documentary “Two American Families” there was three aspects I noticed within the two families. The first being how there was a shift in the social class of the families due to economic problems. The second being the role reversal of the male and the female. The third being the effect of the families’ financial instability on the children and their decisions into adulthood.
The parent’s home life will be completely changed and will be different for the rest of your life. You might have to buy new things for your child to either help them or so they stay safe. For example learning utensils, some people with autism use special scissors, pencils, and mice for the computer to make things easier. Not only will the parents have to buy things but you and your spouse might act differently towards each other. The couple will not be able to have alone time, go on vacation, or have a date night. Finding a babysitter while you go out and do those things is nearly impossible because they are not qualified to do that. So staying at home all the time might put pressure on your marriage.
Take me for example, a college student and a mother of one. I find it hard to successfully attend college and keep a job at the same time. My family and myself, right now, are at the bottom of the barrel. When we moved back from Tennessee, we had to use all the money we had saved. After paying one month and a halt of rent, both phone bills, and the electricity bill, we had to turn around scrape for food and the following months rent, not including our other bills. At first it was too hard. We felt like ends were not meeting, so I had to find a job. So now the way it works at my house is we both split the bills. My fiancée has the really big bills like the rent and the insurance payment while I have the light bill, both phone bills, cable, and the internet bill. We both share the food bill, household items, and clothing. It is essential for me to work to help make ends meet. This is an example of one of the ways some households work. Even though I sometimes have a tough time with school I still manage to stay in school. This is one family that needs to have two incomes to make ends meet.
Being a parent is no easy job for a mother or a father in even the best of circumstances, in fact not only is it the hardest job one will ever do, it is also a job that is never done. Being a parent is not a nine to five job with nights and weekends off. Rather it is a twenty-four seven job until the day that you die. This is not to say that parenting does not have its rewards. Overall, most parents would probably be the first to tell you it is the best job and the most rewarding thing they have ever done in their lives. There are many types of parents and family situations and there is not one that is perfect or superior or right or wrong. However, a two-parent household does lend itself to many advantages
Due to parents having to take on 2-3 part-time jobs or low wage jobs, parents are required to deal with long hours, unusual hours, lack of benefits that cover paid sick days, paid medical, parental leave, and vacation time. This prevents parents from participating in their children’s development. (Spross, Jeff. "Low-Wage Jobs Don’t Just Harm Workers — They Harm Their Children." ThinkProgress RSS. 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.) Parents are not home to look after their children. When parents are home, it is for a short period that allows parents to feed the children, bath them and put them to bed. Parents have to choose their family time or making income and income is priority to try and provide the necessary needs like a home, electric, and food. This struggle between income and family has put tremendous stress on parents which lead to a higher level of depression which affects the whole family. Some young adult children are forced into the work force before they graduate to help the family. If these young adults are one of the fortunate ones that don’t need to join the workforce, they are still faced with taking on an adult role due to having to play mommy or daddy to their younger siblings. Having this kind of responsibility at such a young age causes some of these young adults to fall into a depression or stressed out with all the responsibility that they start rebelling authority or looking for
In a society with the muajority of mothers joining or returning to the workforce, there is a growing body of research documenting the demands placed on these women and what can be done to help their transition into this new role. According to the United States’ Department of Labor, in the year 2012, 70.5% of mothers with children under the age of 18 were a part of the workforce; of these women 73.7% were employed full-time, working over 35 hours a week, and 26.3% were employed part-time, working less than 35 hours a week (United States Department of Labor, 2012). Given this information, it is becoming more important to further research how this new role as an employee affects the role of parenting and what can be done to help this transition. The intent of this paper is to compare the experiences of a working mother to the current research on the topic of working mothers. Moreover, this paper addresses the demands placed on working mothers as well as the factors that ameliorate their transition into this new role.
In conclusion, raising a family presents many challenges: rushing to meet the demands of jobs, children and spouse; dealing with a variety of problems, no matter if you are a single or married parent; trying to accommodate personal needs. It is important for that parents who have children and work outside the home to make sure they communicate with each other and acknowledge each other's needs, consider carefully their mutual responsibilities, and if faced with the breakdown of their marriage, work to maintain a parental relationship which assists their children to realize that each parent cares for them and remains concerned about their emotional and maturing needs.
Like everyone else, family and friends have played a vital part in my life and have affected my outlook on money and career. I grew up in a family of six, with my father, who is an IT engineer, as the head and sole breadwinner of the family because in my country -Saudi Arabia- there aren’t many opportunities for women to advance. Although he made sure that we lived a pretty comfortable life, I would often see him foregoing his needs and wants to fulfil those of his family. So, I wondered about how different our lives could have been if my mom (or me as the oldest child) were working along with him. I believe that a person
Working mothers try their best to balance between families and work. Mothers who work outside are happier, have a better level of health and energy, as compared to stay at home mothers. Working mothers are dynamic multi-taskers and great managers. The most important reason that mothers should work is money. Whether a mother is single or married, in order to survive in a fluctuating economy the family needs money. Mothers can never see their family depriving of basic needs. Another reason could be if a mother is earning more than a father then it's wise to continue the job. Also when both mother and father work, two incomes are coming into the house. Because of that family can enjoy the luxuries, go on vacations and fulfill children demands. A working mother is financially independent. If a husband dies or divorces her, she will have no...