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Subscribe to RSSMoms who stay home for the first year of their children’s lives might be giving their kids an academic edge, according to a new study reported in the Daily Mail.
But it depends on how much they need the money. Researchers found that for poor families, the additional financial security ends up benefitting children; but for middle- and upper-class families, “early maternal employment was significantly associated with decreases in formal measures of achievement.” In other words, for wealthier families the added financial stability wasn't enough to offset the disadvantages of mom working outside the home.
Despite the negative news about working during the first year of life, researchers from Macalester College in Minnesota and the University of California said that 50 years of research shows that kids of moms who work during the first three years of their lives basically turn out fine.
"Overall, I think this shows women who go back to work soon after they have their children should not be too concerned," said psychologist Rachel Lucas-Thompson, PhD, who analyzed the results of 69 previous studies on working moms. But timing apparently matters – and later is better (if you can afford it). “Children may benefit if mothers are allowed to postpone a return to work until after the first year after birth,” the study says.
The study doesn’t address how fathers’ work affects children.
Moms, what do you think? How has your work affected your kids – for good or bad? Have your say in the comments below.
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I was active duty in the Army when my daughter was born seven years ago, and I have worked full-time ever since. If her straight-A report card and two-time award as Student of the Month is any indication, I have done her a big favor by NOT being a helicoptering, smother-at-home mom.
Not all stay at home moms are smothering , helicoptering parents...way to keep the wall up between stay at home parents and working parents.
I think there are many more factors involved in academic development other than if Mom goes back to work early or not. It's not fair to make people feel like if they go back to work their child may suffer for that. I also think it's not fair to assume that just because you do not go back to work means your child will excel or be above average. There are many reason why parents chose to either go back to work or stay home (either permanently or just for a while) and I hate to see the great divide between those of us that work and those of us that don't. I personally went back to work when my daughter was 11 weeks old. She is now almost 3 years old and is very bright, thanks to the wonderful daycare provider she is with. She has learned every bit as much in daycare, possibly more where social skills are concerned, than I would've been able to teach her had I stayed home.
This is a very hot topic that gets emotions in an uproar and I just want to say that being a mother is hard enough without all this mess. Big kudos to ALL mothers out there who love their kids and do the best they can. That's all we can really do anyway. Love them unconditionally, teach them the values we want them to have and hope they turn out just as wonderful as we want them to!
Not only are the kids smarter, but the home is happier, the kids are better adjusted, the marriages are stronger...
The list goes on and on.