Blog Spot: In defence of the Working Mum
A recent study concluded that children of mothers who work have more ‘poor dietary habits’ and ‘engage in more sedentary activity’ than those whose mothers don’t work. Sticky Fingers blogger Tara Cain looks at the findings.
Don’t working mums have enough to deal with without being told they’re doing a crappy job of raising their children?
A report published recently stated that children whose mothers work are less likely to lead healthy lives. It was plastered all over the press: Working Mums have the Unhealthiest Children, Working Mums are Bad for their Children, Working Mums are BAAAAAD.
In a study of more than 12,500 five-year-olds, the Institute of Child Health reported that those children with mums who worked were less active and more likely to eat unhealthy food. It’s sweeping generalisations like this that get every parents’ blood boiling (I say parents because dads are a part of this equation too), and tutting at the absurdity of it all. And the blogging community went into overdrive, outraged that such a report exists and that the media took such delight in damning mums: How dare they choose to work over the well being of their children. As a parent it feels like there is always some survey or study which shows that whatever path you have taken it is wrong and detrimental to the health and well being of the children you adore. I’m sure I’ve read research in the past which stated that the children of working mums actually achieve better at school and lead better lives.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
So what are we meant to do with this latest information?
Are working mums across the country meant to put their head in their hands and cry: “Oh no, because I work that means my child eats more sweets than others and I’m a Bad Parent. Better give my job up tomorrow, then he’ll start eating fruit again.”
What rot.
Working mothers are not the scourge of the universe. They are doing their best and whether they work full time, part time or stay at home, that is a decision they have made because it is best for their family and best for their circumstances.
Surely the most important issue is that the children are healthy, happy and well adjusted?
Personally, my 6-year-old son whines and moans if he’s not in afterschool club playing football or tennis or rounders with all his friends.
How can I compete with that at home?
Weekends we spend as a family so go bike riding or swimming or just for a walk. Or go to the cinema – oh no, am I endangering my children because they’re sat in front of a giant TV screen with a bucket of popcorn?
Reports like this only serve to ladle yet another layer of guilt on working parents. As in every walk of life, there are people who do their best and people who don’t – but let’s look at the bigger picture: is measuring how many goodies a child eats per week any indication of what it takes to be a mum?
For more about the report, visit the website of the UCL Institute of Child Health.
Gary Stephenson, Principal Nutritionist for P&G, says, “This is merely an observational study with no actual measures of overall nutritional wellbeing or physical health. It merely uses someone’s surrogate measure of a healthy diet using foods that represent typically 10-15% of overall calorie intake and an arbitrary two-hour TV or computer time, or whether a child walks to school as a measure of physical activity. These are minor and understandable behavioural differences between groups of children, the consequences of which need much more work before any health conclusion could be reached. All foods can play a role in a healthy balanced diet and watching a couple of hours TV does not make you a couch potato.”