The notion statement: Should one of the parents stop working for a while to be with their children at home?
I would like to support the notion that one of the parents should stop working at least for some time to be with their children at home. As we very well know, a good family system helps to nurture children into responsible adults in the future. There is a great need for bonding, intimate child care and guidance more so during their infancy stages.
Times have changed and the world of today is so immoral and corrupt starting from homes to schools to social sites, media and websites are full of malice, violence and vulgar talks that may easily corrupt the young minds and if no adequate parenting responsibilities and discipline are reinforced onto the children during their early stages of development, they may easily fall prey of these vices.
There is a great need to foster unity and harmony in the family by having quality time together and bonding freely with each other. This will eliminate any fear or boundaries between parents and their children and will enable them to freely open up to their parents whenever they face challenging situations in their social, academic or even spiritual lives.
Another main reason is the need for prenatal and postnatal care more so for mothers who have given birth. If such parents are working, there is a great need to seek for maternity leave so that they can rest at home and take proper care of their babies. In the United States of America, there is a Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 which provides job security of up to twelve weeks for employees who have reason enough to keep them from work like pregnancy, child care or other pressing family issues.
One may also choose voluntarily to withdraw from work for some time just to be with their families more so for the young families to set the right foundation for their toddlers. One of the partners preferable the wife, may choose to stay at home while the husband goes to work to sustain the daily family needs.
At the end of the day they would have achieved much and covered milestones putting ethics and family matters in mind. Recent research has shown that most of the burglary and theft cases registered in the country have all to do with the victims’ background and family system hence erecting strong foundations in our family systems will go a long way to fight the many incidences of illegal practices and uncouth behaviors portrayed by our young generation.
When one parent stays back at home to attend to family matters, it fosters accountability between the partners as each one knows what is expected of them and works tirelessly towards meeting their responsibilities and at the same time complementing each other. It also avoids misunderstandings in the home since most of these conflicts arise when everyone seems to be too busy with their office work hence neglecting their responsibilities back at home.
Another advantage of one of the parents being at home with the kids is the certainty that their children are in safe hands under the custody of their mother as opposed to families that employ servants to keep watch of their homes and take care of their children. Most of these servants end up influencing the children negatively and in case of a misunderstanding between them and their masters, they may redirect their anger and frustrations to the children.
Some of them cause conflicts and misunderstandings between family members or even go to the extend of having affairs with one of the partners hence bringing down the marriage institution. Hence having a wife to take care of the home can really save a lot of drama and trouble in the family or marriage institution.
Despite all these pros about one of the parents staying back at home to take care of the family, there are also cons that come with it for example for families that are not well off financially may find it hard to cope with the ever rising cost of living which is to be shouldered by one partner while the other sits back at home to take care of the children.
In the case where both work, at least one supplements the other as they pull their resources or income together to meet all their family needs but when one partner takes up the responsibility of fending for the family, other special needs may go unattended for hence making life miserable. In such a case, it is only logical for both parties to be involved in fending for, and taking care of the family.
Parents should not stop working in order to take care of their children because of financial security purposes. Families where one of the parents is the sole breadwinner, stands a high risk of plunging into deep economic disparities should the breadwinner die or be incapacitated hence the need to have both parents working so that in case of a misfortune, the other partner will be able to stand in the gap and help meet the needs of the family.
In families where both parents work, there is some sense of respect for each other and no single partner seems superior over the other. This creates respect, harmony and understanding and also fosters appropriate decision making since both partners are involved before settling to do something.
In conclusion, a good family system should always be upheld so as to establish an appropriate foundation for their children for the way a child is raised will really influence or determine the course he or she will take in their future lives.
One also has to first examine the situation of his or her family before deciding the most appropriate way to handle family matters for what may work for one family may not be successful with the other. In my opinion, I support the notion that one parent should stop working for some time to take care of the family.