When it comes to quality time, the debate tends to focus on children. We try to find out what is best for them: spending a lot of time with their parents or that the time they spend with them is a time of full dedication, without other distractions that absorb the attention, a time where the baby or child has the protagonist . The conclusion is that the younger the child, the greater their need for time of quality in quantity shared with their parents.
Mothers and fathers are rarely talked about, as if we forgot that they also need and want time to be able to care for their children. They need a real conciliation and effective between your family and your work life.
The popular saying states that having a child changes your life, everything except work, I would dare to add. There is much talk about the reconciliation between family and work but the reality is that working conditions do not change enough after motherhood and fatherhood.
Short permits interfere with breeding
Permits are too shortIn the case of maternity leave, it does not even cover the 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding recommended by the WHO. In fact, one of the reasons why breastfeeding is abandoned is because of the re-incorporation of the woman to her job. With support and information it is possible to continue, but for many women it is too complicated and they choose to wean. Leaves of absence and reductions in working hours are other measures to reconcile, but they negatively affect the family economy. By not entering that currently, the vast majority of women are forced to choose between family life or professional career.
It is expected that everything remains the same, that we do the job as before we had children. It is not taken into account that combining work and parenting is a titanic task, stressful and that this stress, together with fatigue, have an impact on the development of children, their relationship with their parents and the health of children and adults.
A tired mother or father after a workday can hardly focus on attending to the needs of their baby or child. Is a father or a mother who does not sleep well at night because they have a baby with frequent awakenings, is they in a position to perform at work one hundred percent?
The baby, the most vulnerable part, does not have the capacity to understand that his mother or father is tired and still needs full attention. In such conditions, disagreements, exhaustion, despair arrive ...
Difficulty caring for babies
Although it is hard to assume, it is evident that this little adaptation of the labor market family life negatively affects the present and future health of children and adults.
Studies show that children develop better if their mothers do not work full time during the first year (waldofogel 2006) since for its development it is preferable to have interaction with a single person (Lewis and Campbell 2007). Others show that the involvement of the father in the first years of life is extremely important for the later emotional, cognitive and social well-being of the children (Lamb 2004, O'Brien 2007).
It is not a question of blaming, but of becoming aware of the problem that the labor market represents that ignores the great changes that become a mother and father and of demand from our leaders actions that favor real conciliation family life and with it, health.
Great article, Rosana. It catches something outside of joc, but the empathy in fa feeling-me in the pell of who is a tractant of compatible fer both important facets: the maternal and the work. Congratulations !!