50% chance of becomingdivorced, and in the case of a female, a 50% chance ofbecoming a single mother as well as the probability ofbecoming a member of a dual wage earning family. (Shreve 61)Working parents are in a good position to prepare theirchildren for that type of lifestyle. Healthy family dynamicsincluding team work, sharing, and responsibility, are moreeasily adopted when they are already familiar. As far asquality of parenting, it has been observed that women whoare highly satisfied with their roles whether they work ornot, display higher levels of warmth and acceptance than dodissatisfied mothers and these positive feelings arereflected in their ! relationships with their siblings.(Lerner and Galambous 44) Finally, when considering quantityof time spent on parenting when both parents work, it hasbeen concluded by Hoffman in 1974 that there is noconsistent evidence 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 ...
