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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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Working Moms Provide for Their Families

- From Nataly Kogan

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Maybe

Usually, it makes no financial sense for a 2 parent family to have more than one breadwinner. The second income is wiped out by day care costs, gas, taxes and clothing costs. Unless both parents make a lot of money, it doesn't make financial sense for both parents to work.

- Iknowbetter September 29, 2008 2:42AM

Reply to this Recommend (2) Side: Yes

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Understandable

With the economy in the slump it's in, the statement that families need the extra income from a working mother is very true. I personally know of families that the mother got a part-time job just the make some extra cash for the upcoming holidays or a family vacation. This didn't completely destroy the development of the children. These children were more provided for and could experience more and exciting events. @ the comment below: Sometimes families are able to find family or friends to care for their children for next to nothing.

- GraceG January 24, 2009 1:20PM

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No

@maybe. Families take up a second job in order to pay for things like "day care costs, gas, taxes and clothing," not to earn a disposable income which you unintentionally or intentionally implied. They take up those jobs to wipe out those costs so the main source of income doesn't have to.

Sometimes having financial stability is more important than being able to raise your kids on your own. And in the day and age we are in today, it is easier and easier to find a job. Just look at the very first bill President Obama signed, a bill guaranteeing equal pay for women in the work place. Just another example of the changing times.

- littlekidlover15 February 1, 2009 11:19PM

Reply to this Recommend (0) Side: Yes

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- Step one for a good upbringing is financial stability
  
  I agree. Financial stability important because it allows you to give your children a good upbringing. Just because a mother is working does not mean that her child is being raised less effectively an a child whose mother stays at home. That child is just lucky that the father can provide enough money to keep the finances in order. If money is not coming in from one job it is necessary for it to come from somewhere else: the mother.
  
  - Zeusthewoman February 11, 2009 4:26PM
  
  Reply to this Recommend (0) Side: No
  
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Financial Sense?

I strongly agree with Grace, parents can sometimes find other people to watch their children. Also, in certain cases parents are getting jobs and their kids are already school age so they don't have to pay for daycare. "Gas,taxes and clothing costs" are all going to be there no matter if the mother works or not. So other than daycare I don't see how it would make "financial sense" for the mother not to work. I know daycare can be expensive but, that is not going to wipe out an entire income.

- Jack February 11, 2009 11:55AM

Reply to this Recommend (0) Side: No

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The Big Picture

We need to look at the big picture. Every person parents differently, there is no best way. If the mother needs to work to provide the best quality of life for her kids, then she needs to do what she needs to do. If it is best for the mother to be home with her kids, then she needs to be home. By being the parent of a child you are making a promise to them to put their health and their best interest, most of the time, in front of your own.

- big red February 16, 2009 9:43PM

Reply to this Recommend (0) Side: No

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Working Moms- Hazard or Help

Working moms can provide advantages and disadvantages to their children. On the one hand they provide their children with the best example of the importance of working hard. Working moms also can instill values in their children like responsibility and competence. Often times working moms do not choose to be away from their children but for financial reasons they are forced to leave them. This is primarily the main disadvantage of working moms, children can be unintentionally neglected and ignored. Yet children can be neglected even by stay at home moms just as stay at home moms can instill values in their children. There is no clear answer to this divisive issue.

- annalise February 17, 2009 6:38PM

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provide or neglect

I do not believe a working moms put their children at a disadvantage. If anything i believe they put them at an advantage. i believe it'll teach their kids that to get ahead in life you need to work hard. In todays day you also need to work hard because of the econmy so the mother can either work to provide for her children or neglect her motherly duties by not providing food, shelter, clothes, etc in order to care for her kids.

- Michelle M February 18, 2009 8:48PM

Reply to this Recommend (0) Side: No

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- Emotional Stability
  
  The most important factor in a child development , I believe, is emotional stability and not economical. But unfortunately sometimes one requires the other, so a happy balance should do it. The problem is that sometimes the mother is under so much stress after a day a work that she is completely exhausted to give the necessary attention to their children and that will put the child at a disadvantage.
  
  - StelaR April 6, 2009 8:54AM
  
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