Today a large percentage of married couples are both employed outside the home, because current economic times require many families to have two incomes in order to financially survive. Working outside the home means that parents have to put their child into a daycare situation. And it is this aspect of working that has the most critical affect on a child.
Health care professionals continue to advocate the importance of a child’s formative years (birth through age 3). This period is vital to the development of the child. It provides a foundation for the future mother-child relationship, and in particular, it helps to strengthen the bond between mother and child.
When a mother is unable to stay at home and care for a child during the first years of life, the child spends a great part of each day in the company of a non-parent. And even though the baby may be in a safe, nurturing environment, it is not the same as being with its mother. No one can duplicate the love a mother has for her own child.
A daycare environment also affects the overall physical well-being of a child. Studies show that children who are in a daycare situation are more susceptible to illnesses because of increased exposure to other children who are sick. Repeat and prolonged cold symptoms often result in ear infections and other more serious illnesses for young children as well.
Sadly, mothers are often forced to bring children who are “sick but not too sick” to daycare because they can’t afford to take time off from their jobs. This can be a very hard call to make. Even a child who is no longer contagious or seriously ill might need to remain at home for an additional period of time to recuperate because they are still weak and feeling run down from an illness. When both parents work, sometimes it isn’t possible for kids to stay home and fully recover from an illness before going back to a day care environment.
Psychologically, a mother and her child may suffer from early separation as well. During the formative years when development is at a critical phase, interaction with the primary caregiver has a profound affect on the future of a child. If the primary caregiver is someone other than a parent, this formative phase can be compromised in terms of the overall well being of the parent-child relationship.
The good news is that day care kids do benefit in many ways from early exposure to social situations. It helps a child learn to get along with other kids at a young age, when the alternative might be a very restricted social environment for a child who stays at home full time with his or her mother. In this way, a child whose parents both work can become more adaptable to his or her environment.
A working mother is also a different kind of role model for a child. A child whose parents both work learns early on about the importance of working and may actually come to value the limited time spent with his or her parents more than a child who has access to both parents on a more frequent basis. Ultimately, a stronger work ethic may be established early on for the child whose parents both work outside the home.
