The Balance Between Work & Families

Abstract

This research paper is based on some changes within the structure of family and how one is to take care of their families. Also how the household is formed in terms of responsibilities and balance between working and taking care of a family. Being that one of the biggest dilemmas as being a parent for most is their balance of maintaining all of their home issues then also being able to deliver their best at work. As individuals there isn’t much help when your household is limited to a certain amount of people who can give you a second hand. Sacrifices have to be made when you have family and you’re also working. Parenting is hard enough on it’s own and is a very complex concept which differs for each person but now when that is combined with working it creates a bigger issue in someone’s daily life especially when they are a workaholic. Children need to be paid attention to and have time dedicated to them so they can properly be nurtured.

Throughout the development of life, families have gone through one of the most changes. Family always consisted of the people who were together and who would have children to build themselves a family as well. Not only was family an essential of life so was working to maintain their family as well. From the early times to present times, working and trying to balance a family life has always been a common issue.

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As you familiarize yourself with the changes of how a family is maintained, it is no longer the same as it was once taught. Usually, it is taught that the women would be the caretaker of the kids and the father. The mother’s duties would include cleaning the house, laundry, cooking, anything housework related but then once the father is home they are served and catered to because he would be considered the man of the house. Especially because he is the one bringing an income to sustain a living with their family. The father would also take care of the handy work for instance if something was broken or if something is too heavy to carry and so forth. So basically living as a family, in a nutshell, was the men would work to put a roof over the family’s head while the women were the ones to make sure everything is running smoothly in the house. Now the way families are can still be the same but a lot of it lately consist of fathers doing more things in the house as well as taking care of children then you have the mothers actually having a job and be less at home doing housework. Then with all this working, it’s like how do you maintain a connection with your family or can even able to lay back and really enjoy more time with them instead of having every day your time is revolve around working.

Around 60% of a household that consists of two parents with children younger than 18, usually both parents are working (Karkowski p.167). But with working also comes to the responsibilities of knowing how to prioritize things that can benefit you and your family. So people then start to struggle with working and trying to balance their family. Some parents as individuals can feel pressure with trying to divide their time between work and dealing spending time with their family. Parents that have children under 18 say that it is somewhat or can be very difficult trying to balance their job and the family life. Looking at the percentages of parents who talk about their balance between work and family about 73% of mothers with children under 18 say that they're doing either excellent or a good job compared to 64% of fathers (Karkowski p.173). Then for married parents, 72% say that they’re doing excellent or very good at balancing work and raising their children compared to 63% of unmarried parents (Karkowski p.173). The time a parent spends with their child is how they evaluate their parenting. Then according to this article by Wadsworth and Facer “ The differences between men and women in their perceptions of work-family interaction have been a major research focus in the last decade” (e.g., Aryee, Tan, & Srinivas, 2005; Minnotte, 2012; Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2007). For example, research studies have found that women tend to experience higher levels of work-family conflict (e.g., Hughes & Galinsky, 1994) and lower levels of work-family balance (e.g., Ezra & Deckman, 1996; Mackay & Rhodes, 2013; Minnotte, 2012) than men. Yet other researchers have found very few gender differences in the levels of work-family balance (e.g., Aryee et al., 2005; Lyness & Kropf, 2005; Zhang et al., 2012). There are significant inconsistencies in previous findings related to the degree in which men and women perceive work-family balance (Byron, 2005; Green- Haus & Powell, 2006). However, the general consensus is that because of women’s complex family responsibilities (Cunningham, Baines, & Charlesworth, 2014), they face greater challenges in achieving work-family balance.” (Wadsworth & Facer p.387).

Being that women are always associated with being the ones who really deals with the struggles of balancing work and their family life according to a study in Boston college “ combined data set of Millennial, Generation X, and Baby-boomer dads, the fathers broke into three relatively equal-sized groups. The first group of fathers responded that caregiving at home should be divided equally and that it indeed is. We labeled this type the “Egalitarian” fathers and they comprised 30% of the sample. The second group of fathers respond- ed that caregiving should be divided 50/50 but admitted that their partner provided more hands-on care than they did. This second type we labeled “Conflicted” fathers due to the dissonance between their aspirations and their reality. They comprised approximately 38% of the sample. The third group believed that their “partner should provide more caregiving at home” and they were doing so. We labeled this type “Traditional” fathers to reflect their more traditionally gendered views on parental roles and caregiving. They comprised approximately 32% of the sample.” (Herrington, Fraone, Lee 2016). Boston college joined the informational collection of Millennial, Generation X, and Baby-boomer fathers, the dads were broken into three moderately level with measured gatherings. The primary gathering of dads reacted that providing care at home ought to be partitioned similarly and that it undoubtedly is. Which was named the 'Libertarian' fathers and they contained 30% of the example. The second gathering of dads reacted that providing care ought to be isolated 50/50 yet conceded that their accomplice gave a bigger number of hands-on consideration than they. This second sort was named 'Clashed' fathers because of the discord between their desires and their existence. They involved around 38% of the example. The third gathering trusted that their 'accomplice ought to give additionally providing care at home' and they were doing as such. We marked this sort 'Customary' fathers to mirror their more traditionally gendered sees on parental jobs and providing care. They included around 32% of the example. (Herrington, Fraone & Lee 2016). Egalitarians were essentially bound to concur that if their child is home sick on a work day, they have a duty to remain home and care for their kid when contrasted with Traditional, in truth the number of fathers who reacted along these lines was multiplied: 58% of Egalitarians versus 24% for Traditional. The larger part of Egalitarian fathers feels that thinking about a sick child is their duty, while not exactly a fourth of Traditional fathers concurred. Almost half of the Conflicted fathers agreed or emphatically agreed that they have an obligation to think about a sick child. There was a considerably more sensational differential between these two kinds Egalitarians and Traditional when inquired as to whether they would feel uneasy if their partner gave more consideration than them. Both Conflicts and Traditional responses lean toward feeling great if this were the situation. Over 40% of Egalitarians agreed or boldly agreed that they would feel uneasy about this prospect, showing their more noteworthy responsibility to shared providing care. What's more, of course, Egalitarians were more strange than Traditional to see their providing care as 'assisting their parent.' On these questions, Conflicts enlisted reactions between the other two sorts. (Herrington, Fraone & Lee 2016)

Working and balancing a family has been made easy a bit by jobs after the family and medical leave act of 1993 was created. This act allowed employers who had more than 50 employees offer up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave during a twelve-month time frame for different medical reasons. The medical reasons can include the birth of a child or taking care of a child within one year of birth. To care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition and some other specifications as well (Karkowski p.177). The only tricky thing about the FMLA which stands for the family and medical leave act of 1993. If it is applied to a single mother who just lives with her child, She would be in financial situations being that the leave is unpaid. Although the balance of working and raising your children seems to be difficult some, it’s all about scheduling. Just setting time or days apart to focus on the family without having to worry about work is that there are seven days a week. Having a family and having to worry about working is almost like watering a plant, there are different components.

Truthfully balancing a work life and raising your children might be a bit of hassle especially when you’re an immigrant and barely have a family to help you raise your children. My mother is one of my prime examples. She mostly worked more than she spent time with me due to her having to provide for my living and always for bringing my other siblings from overseas. I usually was passed on from different babysitters, after school programs, sleeping over my dads for the weekend or her sister’s house. Because she would usually work on the weekends for years, and about a few years ago literally she changed her weekend availability. Sometimes my mom would volunteer at my school to help with the lunch patrol in sitting the kids and watching them. I used to be so jealous and happy at the same being that my mom was there and wanted her attention all throughout the time being since I would only get to see her for a few minutes until my lunch time ended. I always wanted to be with my mom 24/7 and I wasn’t near as spoiled but time with her was everything.

It’s believed that with the right amount of scheduling one’s time and putting things apart you can achieve that balance between working and being with your family. Just having the little moments you least expect would count as time especially since some children can be understanding a bit more than others and they accept things for what they are and just try to make the best out of what they can.

References

1. Brad Harrington, Jennifer Sabatini Fraone, Jegoo Lee, and Lisa Levey. 2016. The New Millennial Dad: Understanding the Paradox of Today’s Fathers. Research report published by the Boston College Center for Work & Family.
2. Guendelman, Sylvia, et al. “Work-Family Balance After Childbirth: The Association Between Employer-Offered Leave Characteristics and Maternity Leave Duration.” Maternal & Child Health Journal, vol. 18, no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 200–208. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10995-013-1255-4.
3. Karkowski, Czeslaw, edited (2015). Ethics and the Family. A Reader. CA: Cognella: NY.
4. PENG FAN. “Person-Organization Fit, Work-Family Balance, and Work Attitude: The Moderated Mediating Effect of Supervisor Support.” Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, vol. 46, no. 6, July 2018, pp. 995–1010. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2224/sbp.6915.