Finally, studies have been completed that just might alleviate a bit of the guilt that working moms experience. The conclusion of these studies is that moms who work outside of the home are not causing children to be traumatized and in fact the opposite is true.
Research is indicating that children who don’t have fathers who spend sufficient time with them are at a significantly higher risk of becoming bullies. Oddly, the same does not pertain to children with absent mothers.
The assumption might be that working mothers spend so much time with their children after they get home from work that the children don’t notice their absence during working hours. Since the moms shoulder the responsibility for car pools, meals and homework and the working fathers do not usually play a role in these areas, the children suffer more because of the time that their fathers are not with them. (My apologies to the dads who are the exceptions to the rule.)
So the conclusion of the studies is that how much time mothers actually spend with their children does not affect bullying behavior. How much time fathers spend with their children has a direct effect on bullying behavior. Children’s perceptions of the time their mothers spend with them have no effect on bullying behavior while the opposite holds true with fathers.
What is of extreme importance is the fact that schools that are trying to connect with parents to rid their schools of bullying, need to be directing their programs toward the fathers and not just the mothers because it is the dad that makes the difference in bullying events.
Photo: qwrrty
