The Impact of Working Parents - Essay Sample

Introduction

The world is facing a paradigm shift that is expressed in a growing diversity of families and a transformation of gender roles within them, the latter associated with the massive incorporation of women into the labor force. During most of the 20th century, productive and reproductive work was organized from rigid gender roles that no longer correspond to what is currently happening. Employment rates of mothers with pre-school-aged kids is dramatically increasing single parenting is also in the rise and the combination of these two factors has led o significant rise in demand for childcare (Barker and Berry, 2009). As a result, the interaction between the labor and family spheres, a central part of people's lives, has changed decisively. Today there are considerable tensions, accentuated by changes in the organization of work that affect the provision of quality child care. Rates of care for children who haven't attained the age to join school are increasing as mothers labor participation rate continues to grow over the years.

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These tensions are generating high costs for parents, especially women, for people who need care like children, the elderly and people living with disabilities. Also, they reinforce socioeconomic and gender inequalities: those with more resources have greater access to support services and quality care and, therefore, better development opportunities. It is not possible to face social exclusion, inequality, and poverty if the overload of women's work and the lack of occupational opportunities for women are not addressed at the same time and with the same energy.

There is a significant challenge of social inclusion that formulates policy recommendations to move towards decent work under a human rights approach. The scenario of a global economic crisis and the demographic changes that the region is experiencing has led to an increase in the dimensions of this challenge. However, care and conciliation can be part of the responses that governments, within the framework of social dialogue and broad citizen participation, offer to the population. The issue of poverty in many developing countries has negatively affected the child care services.

The interaction between the labor and family sphere, a central part of people's lives, has changed decisively. Maternal employment is in the rise, and it leads to an increase in reliance on child care for young children (Greenhaus, Collins, & Shaw, 2003). Childcare is typically a necessity to children between when they are born to the time they get to five years. It is a program that promotes children's' intellectual ability and social development.

The human being is vulnerable to the risks of the environment from the moment he is conceived, during his birth and first childhood, his childhood, and adolescence and finally throughout his adult life. In children, however, by many factors that include their immune fragility, the critical period of growth and physical and mental development in which they find themselves and, in general, their almost total dependence on adults, the environment that surrounds them not only determines in a much stronger way their state of health, its well-being and its future, but also in a lamentably high number of cases its very survival.

Researches on the interaction between work and family have traditionally focused on the perspective of the conflict. It is assumed that people must fulfill multiple roles, which derives inevitably to the detriment of the quality of life, with a resulting psychological and social imbalance. Historically, the work-family imbalance has also been applied, either directly or indirectly, like the absence of work-family conflict, or a form of inter-role strife. However, recognizing that the conflict exists, recently a perspective has been incorporated who has investigated the positive interdependence of domains (Greenhaus et al., 2003), with the objective of analyzing the phenomenon from a perspective of positive intellectual development.

Increased reliance on paid child care has both positive and negative impact on a child's health and social behaviors. Although parents remain the man influencers of child's behavior, Nonparental care also impacts the child significantly. Children's outcomes are influenced by the various environments they interact with. Efficient child care results in improved parent-child communication which boosts the child's achievements. High levels of anger and stress resulting from dysfunctional family may lead to spillover to parents' relationship with their kids. This spillover affects academic outcomes among other children outputs. Therefore, providing a conducive environment for the children will enable them to perform better, as positive parenting has a direct impact on the development especially on adverse financial situations. Parents in a good relationship with their kids end up having children with a positive attitude towards quality relationships and finally marriage. Researchers have indicated that the quality of the parent-child relationship predicts the developmental behavior of the child.

Conclusion

Through the provision of quality childcare, communication skills are passed to the kids by parents. Effective communication enables development of a sense of discussed approach in decision making. The plan is attainable through negotiations and bargains. Excellent communication skills also enhance improved relationship in improving the accomplishment of family responsibilities.

Positive child care gives the children an opportunity to have more social interactions with both peers and parents thus improving the ability to associate with people comfortably. However, children in the child care program are at a higher risk of having weak attachments to their mothers at an early stage. With the attachment theory, the children may end up being aggressive and disobedient during their older ages.

References

Greenhaus, J. H., Collins, K. M., & Shaw, J. D. (2003). The relation between work-family balance and quality of life. Journal of vocational behavior, 63(3), 510-531.

Frone, M. R., Russell, M., & Cooper, M. L. (1992). Antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict: testing a model of the work-family interface. Journal of applied psychology, 77(1), 65.

Andren, T. (2003). The choice of paid childcare, welfare, and labor supply of single mothers. Labour Economics, 10(2), 133-147.

Barker, L. H., & Berry, K. D. (2009). Developmental issues impacting military families with young children during single and multiple deployments. Military medicine, 174(10), 1033-1040.