Your child is OK even if you decide to work during the first year of his or her life.

A new study examining maternal employment and the impact on a child's development has gotten a lot of ink from The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media in the last few days.

According to the NYT:

The study showed that, over all, children whose mothers went back to full-time work within the first 12 months after birth performed worse on a series of cognitive tests. But there there were big exceptions: the study also found that children whose mothers improved the family income significantly, or selected high quality child care, or remained sensitive to their children did not have any cognitive setbacks when compared with children of stay-at-home mothers.

The study was conducted by Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Wen-Jui Han, and Jane Waldfogel at Columbia University's Teacher's College and School of Social Work. The researchers examined data on 1,364 children collected by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. 

Continue reading "Stop worrying, working moms" »

Posted by Hanah Cho at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Guilty-Mom polls, Workplace
        

Being a stay-at-home parent is hard. What is like for the breadwinner who's also the mom?

CBS' The Early Show co-host Erica Hill talks about feeling guilty, letting go of control and adjusting to what's becoming an increasingly more common arrangement.

Of course, I didn't fully factor in the inevitable pangs of guilt and the frustration. The guilt wasn't new. I think every parent (especially moms) places an unnecessary amount of guilt on themselves when it comes to raising children: not home enough, not present enough while home, too distracted by the BlackBerry, not really interested in reading "Goodnight Moon" for the 347th time, not up for schlepping to the playground, too short-tempered... the list goes on and on.

Continue reading "Working mom as breadwinner" »

Posted by Hanah Cho at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Dads, Guilty-Mom polls, Marriage, Parenting in general, Work-life balance, Workplace
        

I'm at home taking care of baby J., who is miserable and cranky with a nasty cold.

Thanks to an understanding boss, I took a sick day from work. But I can't help feel guilty about not being at the office: I just have so much work to do. I'm letting down your manager and colleagues.

Of course, if I did go into work, I would feel guilty for not staying home with J.

So either way, there's just guilt.

Why has guilt become second nature now that I've become a parent? Is that normal?

Does it get any better or worse?

Posted by Hanah Cho at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Guilty-Mom polls, Work-life balance, Workplace
        

I was fortunate enough to take six months off after J.'s birth, getting paid half of that time by using sick and vacation days.

But not all parents have that option. Under the law, workers are guaranteed 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family and medical reasons and not all employees qualify.

NPR says the United States is now the only industralized nation that doesn't offer paid leave for new parents, after Australia recently passed a law guaranteeing 18 weeks of paid time off.

The lack of paid leave doesn't only affect parents of young children. These days, more workers are having to take time off to take care of their elderly parents.

Why do you think the U.S. is behind on this issue? Is mandating paid leave the answer?   

Posted by Hanah Cho at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Expecting, Workplace
        

Any time there's a snow day here, working parents stress out about having to find last-minute child care.

A new study released today found that workers with employer-sponsored dependent benefits -- such as worksite child care, elder care and back-up care -- report less stress and better health than those without such options.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions conducted the survey of 4,000 working adults: one group with access to employer-sponsored dependent care benefits and a second group without them. (Disclosure: Bright Horizons offers these benefits for employers and also operates child care centers.)

Among the survey's findings, workers with employer-sponsored dependent care benefits:

• Were 31 percent less likely to report lost productivity due to stress.
• Reported 25 percent fewer personal health concerns due to stress.

In contrast, workers without such benefits were nearly a third more likely to report being down or depressed and spend 20 percent more time dealing with childcare issues at work, among other findings.

Such benefits seem like a rarity at a time when employers are laying off workers and cutting pay. Is there any employer in the Baltimore region that offers any sort of dependent care benefit?

UPDATE: Bright Horizons tells me Johns Hopkins University, Discovery Communications in Silver Spring, the U.S. Census Bureau based in Suitland and Marriott International in Bethesda are some of the Maryland employers who offer dependent care benefits.

Posted by Hanah Cho at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Child Care, Work-life balance, Workplace