Do you remember the mommy wars?
The public debate focused on perceived tension between moms who stayed home and those who went back to work after the birth of a child. Battles still break out, though it’s an open question whether this dialogue is created by the media and too focused on upper-income families.
Now, a study released this month promises to change the debate because it shows that working doesn’t lead to weaker parenting by mom.
Six months after childbirth, “logging full time hours at the office was no longer associated with a drop in parenting quality. In fact, over the first four-and-a-half years of parenting, mothers actually enjoyed an overall reduction in parenting stress if they worked,” Time magazine reports today on its Healthland blog.
The article and authors cite the study’s findings as a big reason why maternity leave matters, since it allows new moms to adjust. These moms can also draw support from this research that shows they shouldn’t get too stressed once they get used to juggling work and family.
Moreover, during the first 4.5 years of life as a whole, we find only weak evidence that maternal work hours are associated with maternal health, and no evidence that maternal employment is associated with parenting stress and quality. – “Early Maternal Employment and Family Wellbeing” (summary). 7/11.
The connection to child care is clear. Access to high-quality child care should only reduce the stress on new moms returning to the workplace, yet it’s often hard to find and even tougher to afford.
The research should be taken seriously. One of the co-authors, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, is one of the nation’s top early education researchers. Plus, the National Bureau of Economic Research – the group that declares when recessions officially begin and end – released the work.
Washington Enters the Race: Washington has officially begun its Race to the Top. Gov. Gregoire announced the state will apply for a RTTT – Early Learning grant. It will compete with 35 other states that Politics K-12 reports are also entering the fray.
Read more at the Department of Early Learning’s blog.