WORKING PARENTS

A Report On Working Parents Page 2 of 20

Submitted To Prof. Swati

Mankad

For The Subject:

Communication Skills

Submitted By: MMS A

Aditya shah(05)
Adnan Shaikh(06)
Husain M. Ronaq (35)
Khurshid khan(47)
Moazzam Khan (55)

Rizvi Institute of
Management
& Research
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Preface

Look at the world around you. It has changed. The

incomes which sees a free fall and the cost of living goes
higher. We live in a world where not living but survival is the
main concern of millions of individuals and families. On the
other hand with rise in education and ambition levels both the
gender seek opportunities to work

These all factors have lead to “ Working Parents”. Not

only the male but even the female steps out of the threshold
to support her family financially.

In this report we have discussed all the issues related to

the working parents. This report tries to analyze the effect of
this trend on others. It also recommends solutions to achieve
optimal efficiency.
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Index
CH # PARTICULARS PG #
1 INTRODUCTION

2 
3 
4 
5 ANALYZATION & INTERPRETATIONS

6 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

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Introduction

Mrs Satish is rushing to wake their little daughter,

Varnika, to get her ready before the school bus starts to
honk. Here Yeswanth, their eldest son is already waiting at
the table for his breakfast. While Mr Satish has been shouting
in the background…"Where is my tie?”. In the back of her
mind, Mrs Satish is reminds herself that after the minions are
off to business, she has to prepare for the meeting which is in
the afternoon.

With increasing needs and expectations in our lives, two

breadwinners per family have become more of a basic
necessity than anything else. Most working parents these
days are not happy by just making ends meet. They are
striving to reach the perfect balance - between projecting
themselves as hardworking and dedicated professionals to
their superiors and being the ideal parents for their kids. But
as in any struggle, the higher you climb the ladder of your
career, the tougher this battle becomes. And who faces the
direct consequence of this battle? The children of course!
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Scope Of Study:

The study primarily deals with the problems faced by the

working parents and who all are affected by it directly or
indirectly e.g. the partners themselves, the children, the
family, the employer or the organization etc.

Objectives

1. To study the life and related issues of working parents.

2. To discuss about the effects of this trend
3. To suggest solutions and practices which can benefit
the working parents to cope up.
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Methodology

The approach we adopted towards beginning and

completion of report is outlined below.

1. TOPIC SELECTION:
The topic selection is the most critical job in report
writing. After much discussion and research the topic of
“Working Parents” was finalized.

2. OBJECTIVES:
“A Man Without Goal Is Like A Bird Without Wings."
After selection of the topic, field of study was finalized and
objectives which are mentioned above were determined.

3. SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
After understanding the data requirement, the sources of
information were identified.

4. DATA GATHERING:
Primary Data Was Gathered:
 By verbal discussion with people.

Secondary Data Was Gathered:

 From Various Books.
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 From Various Websites.

5. COMPILATION OF DATA:
The data was then compiled in a systematic, organized
and relevant format.

6. ANALYZATION & INTERPRETATION OF DATA:

After compiling the data, it was further analyzed in order
to derive certain findings and conclusions.

7. PRESENTATION OF FINAL REPORT:

Presentation skill is very essential. The data is
systematically presented in the report.
A Report On Working Parents Page 9 of 20

REPORT BODY
The growth of a ‘24-7’ society means that a large number of parents are
having to work at times which have traditionally been regarded as ‘family times’
such as evenings and weekends. Work outside what used to be the ‘standard’ 9 to 5,
Monday to Friday week is now the norm for many parents, rather than the exception.
This has led to debates about the potential impact on family life, with significant
numbers of children deprived of time with parents or of time as part of a nuclear
family group and many couples having limited time that they can spend together.
In addition to concerns about the effects on family relationships, a major reason for
the interest in parental work patterns is related to the debate around the association
between parental involvement with their children and their children’s development
and educational attainment.
Recent studies have highlighted the unpopularity of working long or atypical
hours amongst parents and the dissatisfaction that parents working these hours have
about the amount of time they can spend with their children. They provide some
evidence of long and atypical working hours stunting the amount and range of
activities that parents and children can do together or, in fact, that the children are
able to do at all. Where this is not the case, it often appears to be at the expense of
parents cutting down on other activities, such as spending time together, leisure
time, housework and sleep.
However, amongst various atypical work patterns or long working hours,
working at the weekend may have a particular impact on families and children.
Parents have less flexibility to find time to spend with their children when they
work at weekends, which are often the main times when children are around, and not
at school or asleep.

 The Effects on Children When Both Parents are Employed

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Socio-economic conditions in North America have contributed to the need for

dual incomes for families. Economically, “the number of two parent families below
the poverty line would increase to an estimated 78% if they were to become single
income families.” (Ontario Women’s Directorate 9) Socially, it was the norm, in the
past, for women to stay at home having a more expressive role in the family; taking
care of the children and providing emotional support for the family.
Presently, women feel that their traditional roles as child bearers and
homemakers must be supplemented with a sense of achievement outside the home.
Recent studies reflect an increased trend towards the dual income family and
projections are for this trend to continue. In 1961, 30% of married women were
working; in 1978, 38% were employed; by 1981 50% were working and in 1985, 55%
held paying positions outside the home. (Jarman and Howlett 95) In 1961, only 20%
of all two parent families were! dual wage families, but by 1986, more than half
(53%) of all families were dual earning families. (Ramu 26) In light of the fact that
the majority of two parent families in the 1990’s have also become dual wage earning
families, it is important to examine the effects of such a phenomenon on society in
general and on child rearing in particular. Children acquire their goals, values and
norms based on the way that they view or identify with their parents as well as from
the quality and amount of care, love and guidance given to them by their parents.
Parents who work present a different image to their children than parents who do not
work.
In addition, wage earners, including parents, must (in most cases), be absent
from the home during the day. When considering these modifications to the family
dynamics, there is considerable basis for proof that the positive effects outweigh the
negative effects experienced by offspring in families were both parents are employed.
The working parent occupies an important exemplary role within the family. Working
parents often command considerable respect from their children, because they
demonstrate the worthy characteristics of industriousness, social compatibility, self
reliance, maturity, intelligence and responsibility. Because children identify with
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their parents, the feedback from such positive influences tends to be positive as well
because many of these positive characteristics are imparted upon them.

 SOME STORIES FROM SALT WORKERS LITTLE RANN OF KUTCH IN

GUJARAT
Rosa, 22, Akbar's wife, is expecting their third child. "The desert is a lonely
place. Our clothes and food are covered with the salt and dust, everything spoils in
this heat." Like others, her family lives in a tented mud pit dug into the ground to
beat the heat. Sanitation is non-existent and the women can only relieve themselves
under cover of darkness in the shrubbery bordering the desert. Even this is fast
disappearing as the thorny scrub, prosopis juliflora, is used to make charcoal. Medical
aid is also inaccessible as the nearest hospital is in Adesar, at least 30 to 40
kilometres away. Rukiyaben reveals that a child died only last month as the mother
was unable to get to hospital in time. "For eight months of the year, we know of no
other life, save that of the salt. Our feet are callused, our hands hard as stone, our
backs are gone. I am so wrinkled; will anyone look at me and say that I'm only 35
years old? We are up by 5 a.m., do the housework and are at the saltpans from 7 a.m.
till noon when it is too hot for any living creature. Then, we are back again till the
sun goes down. Tell me, is this any life? I am tired. I can't do this any more. Teach
me a new skill, any new skill. I want to get out of this life." Rukiyaben, who works
on saltpans near Sukhpar village in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, is tired and
angry. Sitting in a pit dug into the desert to fend off the heat, with a roof and walls of
torn gunnysack, she is full of woe. "I have been blinded by the salt and my eyesight
has gone so weak, I can't thread a needle. My parents did this work and so do I. But I
don't want our children to do the same," she rues.

Life is very tough for over 100,000 women and men of the saltpans in the Little
Rann of Kutch, a unique salt marsh desert located east of the Gulf of Kutch. India is
among the five largest salt-producing nations in the world and a study conducted for
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Care-India, reveals that at least 70 per cent of the salt is produced by the salt workers
of Kutch using the evaporation method.

The Chuwalia Koli agarias, the community that work in the 'agars' or saltpans,
occupy the borders of the desert and tap into the briny groundwater, shifting sites
according to its availability. "We draw water from saline bore wells, let them into the
salt-beds and rake the beds for the salt crystals that form every eight days, carefully
making small hills of salt for the contractor to take away. Everybody works in the
saltpans - my husband, my sons, our hired labour and I," says Rukiyaben.

 The Effects on male and female offspring when both parents are working
A child who observes the competent coping abilities of a working parent learns
in turn, how to cope with life’s problems. At first this may translate into an improved
sense of self-reliance and independence for the child as well as an improvement in the
ability to be socially compatible. As the child grows, it can further render a child
more emotionally mature and hence more competent in dealing with responsibility and
task completion such as is needed for school work and extracurricular activities. A
study by Hoffman in 1974 corroborates these observations and therefore one can
conclude that, in general, the working parent provides a very positive role model for
the child in a family where both parents are employed. Attitudes of working parents
pertaining to achievement, responsibility and independence affect both male and
female offspring. There seems to be more beneficial effects felt by daughters of
working women than by sons; however, this neither implies nor concludes that males
do not receive some positive effects due to maternal employment. Hoffman has
concluded that daughters of employed mothers tend to be more independent.
This tendency may result from the fact that in the mother’s absence, a daughter is
often left to cope with caring for herself: This promotes her independence and self-
reliance. At the same time, the daughter may also be left with the job of looking after
a younger sibling, helping to promote her sense of responsibility. Significant too, is
the fact that daughters of working mother’s tend to be more decisive about their
futures than sons. Further studies have demonstrated that a mother’s employment
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status and occupation tends to be a good predictor of the outcome of the working
mother’s daughter, since daughters tend to follow in their mother’s footsteps.
Typically, working mothers held higher educational aspirations for their children and
furthermore, most daughters tend to achieve higher grades in school. It is also
important to note that both male and female children acquire more egalitarian sex role
attitudes when both parents work. Boys with working mothers showed better social
and personal skills than boys of non-working mothers. On a negative note, middle-
class boys tend to do worse in school when their mothers worked. As well, boys
whose mothers work tend to have strained relationships with their fathers due to their
perceptive devaluation of their father’s worth as an adequate bread-winner.
One can conclude that males may be negatively affected when their mothers
work, but males and, to a greater degree, females are affected in many positive ways
with regards to achievement in independence and responsibility. Adequate child care
is a necessity for parents who both work. It is often complicated to balance both the
parent’s and child’s needs when using child care. However, it may be possible to
satisfy the demands of both if forethought and prudence are applied.
Nurturing a child by domestic help
Many cultures worldwide realize that a child’s nurturing can be acquired from a
variety of sources including both adults and older children. Children can be as
comfortable with grandparents, neighbors, professional child care attendants, and
babysitters as they are with their own mothers. In fact, a variety of sources for
nurturing not only provide the child with a variety of role models, such as in the case
of grandparents, but it also provides them the ability to compare these role models
and to choose the appropriate characteristics which they will adopt as their own. One
third of all children are looked after by relatives; 50% of all children in child care
situations are being looked after by someone unrelated to them. To date, in Ontario as
in all of Canada, there is no adequate government policy for child care. Funds ear
marked for this area of social assistance are either misappropriated or abused.
The responsibility of choosing the proper type of child care lies with the
working parents. Proper research of the day care facilities and employees should
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include an investigation into the availability of superior care in a quality program

where rearing beliefs and practices mirror those of the parents. When both parents
feel confident in their day care choices, they will view them as supportive influences
rather than intrusive ones. This positive attitude will provide the child with positive
feedback because when parents feel good about their lives and decisions, they
communicate their satisfaction to their children in the form of positive feelings.
These positive feelings are then internalized by the children. Difficult as it may seem,
it is clear that if forethought, research and adequate investigative techniques are
applied, parents can successfully select the child care facility and/or individual most
appropriate to fulfill both their own and their child’s needs. Parents who work alter
several traditional methods of parenting. The aspects of parenting which are most
affected are quality, quantity and content. When considering content, a major point is
the preparation of the child for a society in which those children will be adults.
Currently, a child has a 50% chance of becoming divorced, and in the case of a
female, a 50% chance of becoming a single mother as well as the probability of
becoming a member of a dual wage earning family.
Working parents are in a good position to prepare their children for that type of
lifestyle. Healthy family dynamics including team work, sharing, and responsibility,
are more easily adopted when they are already familiar. As far as quality of parenting,
it has been observed that women who are highly satisfied with their roles whether
they work or not, display higher levels of warmth and acceptance than do dissatisfied
mothers and these positive feelings are reflected in their ! relationships with their
siblings.

 RECENT SURVEY IN INDIA THAT SHOWS

Working parents spend less than 30 min per day with their kids. "nearly 54 per
cent of working couples in some of the leading metros and cities in the country feel
they have become 'weekend parents'. "nearly 43 per cent parents in new delhi do not
attend their children’s school function". in 78 per cent cases in pune and 46 per cent
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in delhi, mothers alone attend these functions. these are some of the survey reports
being displayed in print and electronic media recently.

 QUALITY TIME THAT MATERS NOT THE QUANTITY TIME THAT

MATERS
While considering quantity of time spent on parenting when both parents work,
it has been concluded by Hoffman in 1974 that there is no consistent evidence of
deprivation felt by children of employed mother’s. In fact, mothers who were better
educated and employed outside the home spent more time with their children even at
the expense of their own leisure and sleep time. Hoffman also proposes that the time
spent on employment simply substitutes for time previously spent on needless or less
important household tasks which can be performed by others or not at all. Researchers
question the validity of measuring the number of hours a mother spends with her
children. Hoffman found that while working mothers spent less time with their
children , the time spent with them was more likely to be in direct contact with them.
Mothers who are at home full time spend only 5% of their time in direct interaction
with their children. Employed mothers spend about the same time reading to, playing
with and otherwise paying attention to their children as do mothers who stay at home.

 The emotional touch stress control with the help of parents.

Because society has changed, the family’s function within society has changed
as well. Parental roles have been modified to meet these changes. Today, the family’s
most important task is to provide emotional security in a vast and impersonal world.
Working parents often possess the skills necessary for responding adequately and
creatively to the increased stress placed on children to succeed in such an
environment.

 Future parents
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The debate as to whether or not both parents should work or not is really not
significant anymore. Both parents are working and will continue to do so and children
are not being raised today in the same way as they were in the past. The next
generation of parents will be more confident than their predecessors and they and
their children will probably never experience the dichotomous feelings that today’s
parents have about the dual income family and it’s effects on child rearing. Working
outside the home and being a good parent at the same time is possible and in both of
these tasks there is much to value and treasure.

 Technology role in nurturing child

Mrs. Shobhana Patil (47) is a doctor and a mother of two children. Given her erratic
work schedule, she wished to have more information about her children whereabouts.
And technology has made her wish come true. More and more schools in the city are
automating every day activities using technology to make a student’s life more
accessible for the working parents. The latest addition is the automated attendance
system. Instead of the manual attendance sheets, schools are now handing out identity
smart cards to the students. The students have to swipe the cards at the school gate. If
one does not swipe the card before the designated time, a short message service
(SMS) will immediately be sent to the parent’s mobile phone, informing them about
his or her absence.
Working parents have all the reason to worry about their childrens safety in this
city, said Sudheshna Chatterjee, principal, Jamnabai Narsee School. During school
A Report On Working Parents Page 17 of 20

hours, we are held responsible for the children. The automated attendance messages
via SMS will give the parents some relief, she added. Nearly 50 city schools,
including Jamnabai Narsee School in Vile Parle, St Xaviers School at Fort and Saint
Ignatius High School in Mahalaxmi, are undergoing this technological shift.
Another 1,800 schools across the country are also considering adopting this
technology.
Parents have to pay a yearly fee ranging between Rs 30 and Rs 120 for the automated
service depending on the school set up, while the school needs to invest nothing.
The USP (unique selling point) of such automated services is that parents can keep
track of their childs life via the Internet and the mobile phone, said Shantanu Rooj,
director of Glodyne Technoserve, one of the companies that provide this facility.

 Problem for the parents themselves:

Sometimes the huband or the wife can’t access their spouse/partner’s diary even
though they may need to. It means that situations gets such that even they need to
have an appointment to meet and talk to their partner.

 Problem for the family

A lady commented “I worry about my health and/or diet as well as the health
and diet of my family. For example, because of lack of time I may be more likely to
cook something quick rather than a home-cooked, well-balanced meal.”
A Report On Working Parents Page 18 of 20

Suggestions & Recommendations

1) Forget about balance!

We need to accept that we are only humans and not the omnipresent, benevolent god.
We cannot be present at work and home at the same time. We need time to adjust
ourselves in the dual role that we are playing. Seeking domestic help from relatives
and friends, who are not working is a better alternative than worrying about your
family as well as your job and loosing concentration on both of them.
2) Talk!!
It’s best when you talk things over and this is true with your kids as well. Let them
know that you need them as much as they need you. Take time and ask them how their
day or week was, tell them yours.
3) Plan a routine!!
Sit with your partner, and plan a routine every week that works for both of you, and
for God's sake stick to it. Focus on events that will involve the entire family like
dinner, prayers before going to bed, a movie or an outdoor/indoor game during the
weekend etc. Planning what you would wear for the next five days to office this
weekend, will save time and reduce stress for the next few mornings. And when you
can’t decide, ask your children for advice! They would just love the opportunity of
dressing you up for a change!
4) Take turns
It’s only fair when both parents enjoy quality time with kids and share family duties
equally. Taking turns in dropping kids to the school or helping them with homework
and other activities will help parents bond with the family members more effectively.
This will also help you to better understand your child as you become aware of his
potential and needs.
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5) Involve them
Nothing can be better than making kids realize themselves, what it takes to run a
happy family. Instead of making them dependent on maids and nannies, it’s okay to
give them a hint of how hard parents work for them. You can ask them to look out and
care for each other. Educate them about their duties in household chores. Treat all
family members, regardless of age, with courtesy and respect. Practice good manners
while talking to anyone, especially with your spouse, in front of your children. Ask
small favours from your kids like dressing the dinning table, preparing the bed,
arranging the shelves etc and let them know that what they are doing is important.
Compliment them on a job well done; kids love the feeling of having done something
important. Ask favours instead of ordering, yet be firm when things are getting out of
hand.
6) Set rules and define boundaries:
Don't be afraid to set rules and use discipline at home. You don't want to
run your home like a concentration camp, but you don't want a child totally out of
control and calling all the shots, either. Discuss your expectations with your child,
and let them know what penalties are in store for outright abuse or disregard for
household rules. You can afford to be flexible - and you should be, in some cases -
but children also need to know, with assurance, where their boundaries are.
7) Ask for help if required.
Don't be afraid to ask for help. If the load gets too heavy, know when and
of whom, to ask for help. Maybe you need some time out, for yourself and your
spouse. Believe it or not, taking a little time away from the children may be the best
possible thing to do, for all of you. Also, know when it's time to delegate chores or
hire outside help.
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Bibliography

Books Referred:

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Websites Visited:

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