Introduction
The family I chose to interview is a nuclear family with both the parents working. While the mother’s job is very strict and obligates her to leave home at about 6:00 am in the morning to avoid traffic and reach home on time, the father is the head of a small business has a relatively flexible schedule. The couple had an inter-caste marriage and is from India. They have one child, a girl, whom they both seem to love and care for very much.
Body
A typical workday begins rather early for the mother who has to report to work on time and begins for work at about 6:00 am in the morning. The child also has to leave for school early. The mother makes the child ready for school with the help of a live-in full-time maid which they have. Lunch is packed for the mother and the child, which is generally prepared the previous night. The child commutes by the school bus and the mother have her own vehicle. The child returns home from school at about 1:00 pm by when the father has also left for work. The child is fed by the maid and put to sleep for an hour or two.
She is then awakened and leaves for her swimming activity which is within walking distance from their rented apartment and takes up about an hour and a half. The child returns home and completes her homework while the mother returns by about 7:30. The child is then ready to get into bed after a quick dinner which the maid has prepared earlier. The father returns home rather late by about 10:00 pm usually after the child is fast asleep. Weekends are more relaxed and spent mostly at home due to the fatigue experienced while commuting the entire week. The family simply spends time together, eats, and sleeps.
When the child is ill, it is usually the mother who takes a holiday from work. if the situation is not very serious, the child is left with the maid and her condition is monitored by the parents over the phone. The mother is responsible for making and keeping all her medical or dental appointments and the commuting to and from school is done by the school bus. The groceries are purchased by the mother while the car is serviced by the father.
The family seldom eats together with all of them having rather busy schedules. The housework is not divided between the two partners as there is a maid, but n the absence of the maid, the mother has to complete all the domestic chores.
Family responsibilities sometimes get in the way of work and even in cases when the mother has reported working in case the child is unwell, there is substantial stress regarding the child’s health. Work is always affecting the family since severe work schedules and job demands do not leave any time for family and child. The child is often neglected and throws serious tantrums. Sometimes the child wishes to spend time with both the parents but that is seldom possible. Stress and fatigue do not permit constructive activities or quality time with the child, very often.
Conclusion
The mother’s role in family affairs is more significant than that of the father who is ‘an absent father’, most of the time. The family is not one with an ‘Egalitarian Ideology’ where the responsibilities are equally divided. The approach of raising the child, in this case, is the ‘marketing approach’ where there is hired staff to look after the child.
The interviewee’s family is a nuclear family with both the parents employed. The child has developed restlessness and impatience due to the absence of the parents particularly the mother, in her life. Phone contact is established in order to ‘keep in touch with the child but this makes her more irritable. The mom tries to be a ‘super mom’ by communicating with the child a number of times a day and trying to make her feel that she is present.