. . . That whisper of worry and regret is familiar to a generation of mothers who juggle homework and housework, sports practice and dance lessons, in days that often include paid jobs and traffic-snarled commutes.
But for all the rush of modern life, recent research suggests that mothers are actually doing a better job than they may think, at least by historical standards.
According to a University of Maryland study, today's mothers spend more hours focused on their children than their own mothers did 40 years ago, often imagined as the golden era of June Cleaver, television's ever-cheerful, cookie-baking mom.
In 1965, mothers spent 10.2 hours a week tending primarily to their children -- feeding them, reading with them or playing games, for example -- according to the study's analysis of detailed time diaries kept by thousands of Americans. That number dipped in the 1970s and 1980s, rose in the 1990s and now is higher than ever, at nearly 14.1 hours a week. . . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901972.htmlThis doesn't surprise me in the least: Forty years ago, no matter whether the mother was a housewife or worked outside the home in some capacity (which was the case for most women who weren't middle class and white), extended families were involved in raising children, usually living in the same area. So, a kid might spend part of a day or part of a year with an aunt and uncle, a grandparent. Childcare often fell to siblings or other children in the family, for better or worse. When school wasn't in session, you left your house in the morning and came back after dark. Mothers weren't expected to be the center of their kids' lives and vice versa.
So can modern mothers finally hop off the cross and spend their energy on something more productive than guilt?
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
