The Benefits Of A Working Mom

"Why gosh, Wally…where's Mom?"

Compared with only one third of American mothers in the 1970's that both worked and mothered, today over half of mothers with young children work. That makes stay at home mothers the exception rather than the rule (can't you just hear Beaver looking around and calling out, "Why gosh, Wally…where's Mom?"). However, if you've been spending time beating your breast in guilt at being at work rather than at home, you need to reassess the way you view your work and how it impacts on your family. The fact is that being a working mom can accrue benefits for your family far beyond the money you earn, though money is often the primary factor in the decision of whether a mom stays at home or works.

A Working Mother Is A Great Role Model

Think about it: what better role model could your child have than a working mother who balances work and home to perfection? The fact is that in a home where both parents work, individuals in the family tend to take on more household chores. This provides kids with experience in the ways in which we keep a household ticking and turns them into partners in household harmony or the lack thereof. Giving kids more responsibility creates responsible children. The children in a working home tend to look after each other with greater affection and purpose. The father of a household in which the mother also works tends to have a greater hand in household duties. This teaches our sons and daughters that fathers can wash dishes just as well as moms. Such benefits hold all the more true for families in which the working mother receives lots of support from family, friends, and coworkers.

There Is More Than One Right Way

There is something to be said, as well, for children spending time with adults other than their parents, so they learn that there is a multiplicity of parenting styles, morals, and religious beliefs. In today's world, there is no room for raising children to believe that our way is the only right way. Such a belief can only lead to ignorance and hatred. Being with others different from themselves is the best way to encourage the openness to new ideas and to multiculturalism.

In fact, our children can bring home ideas that may be new and beneficial to their parents. For instance, Myrna Kaplinsky* of Soux Falls, Iowa was thrilled to learn from her child a new and better way of folding fitted sheets that he'd learned from a classmate.