dence of deprivation felt by children ofemployed mother’s. In fact, mothers who were better educatedand employed outside the home spent more time with theirchildren even at the expense of their own leisure and sleeptime. (Hoffman 76) Hoffman also proposes that the time spenton employment simply substitutes for time previously spenton needless or less important household tasks which can beperformed by others or not at all. Researchers question thevalidity of measuring the number of hours a mother spendswith her children. Hoffman found that while working mothersspent less time with their children , the time spent withthem was more likely to be in direct contact with them.Mothers who are at home full time spend only 5% of theirtime in direct in! teraction with their children. (Hoffman75) Employed mothers spend about the same time reading to,playing with and otherwise paying attention to theirchildren as do mothers who stay at home. (Hoffman 76)Because society has changed, the family’s function withinsociety has changed as well. Parental roles have beenmodified to meet these changes. Today, the family’s mostimportant task is to provide emotional security in a vastand impersonal world. Working parents often possess theskills necessary for responding adequately and creatively tothe increased stress placed on children to succeed in suchan environment. Parents who work must, out of necessity, beadept at providing fresh, innovative and effective modes ofparenting even when time with the child is limited. Thedebate as to whether or not both parents should work or notis really not significant anymore. Both parents are workingand will continue to do so and children are not being raisedtoday in the same way as they were in the past. The nextgeneration of parents will be more confident than theirpredecessors and they and their children will probably neverexperience the dichotomous feelings that t! oday’s parentshave about the ...
