Do Working Moms Put Their Kids at a Disadvantage?

The fascination with Sarah Palin comes not only from her unexpected rise, but also from the fact that she is a mother of five, with one child under a year old. While Palin seeks the vice presidency, one of the most demanding jobs on Earth, more than 40 million American moms also balance jobs with motherhood. Do working moms have the best of both worlds, or are they potentially neglecting their children's best interests?

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“Children of Working Mothers Often Struggle With Boundaries”
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Children of Working Mothers Often Struggle With Boundaries

Suzanne Venker

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Ask any conscientious preschool teacher and she’ll tell you that the students who act up the most in her classroom tend to have working mothers. Indeed, discipline is a vital part of the work mothers at home do every day; consequently, working mothers are more likely to experience power struggles with their children since they have not been available from the beginning, on a consistent basis, to do this work. Instead they are forced to rely on others to discipline their children for them -- and their children, confused by the boundaries of good behavior, often lash out. Working mothers are also less inclined to discipline their children during the hours they are with them simply because they have not seen them all day and do not want to spend what little time they have together having an argument.