Moms Today-Better or Worse

By Nivedita Saini

Caring is again a relative term. Does it mean being with your child 24x7, 365 days a year or is it about giving him quality time? In the first case working mothers of today would definitely be worse than their ancestors.

On the other hand, if one perceives the modern working mothers to be more broadminded in their approach and outlook, then the mothers of yore would take a back seat.

But to be working in order to supplement in funding for the needs of their children seems to be the order of the day. In this materialistic world one salary just does not provide enough. Problems withstanding, most moms today say that they would prefer to work as that was another way of being better moms in accordance with the times.

In fact, working mothers of today rate their performance at par with their own stay at home moms, despite the role conflicts they experience. Though, more would choose to work part time than full time.

This is because mothers’ who work full time are especially burdened by time pressures in trying to balance motherhood with other aspects of their life. In fact most of them end up being proxy moms.

But the belief that today’s parents are not measuring up to the standards that their parents set a generation ago are quite widespread. Infact, studies reveal that more than half of the people are of the opinion that mothers are doing a worse job today than mothers did 20 or 30 years ago.

On a personal level mothers are quite satisfied with the multiple roles they are playing, though only one third are very satisfied. The rest seem weighed down by guilt of having to compromise in every role due to lack of time. As compared to their mothers they have become slightly disengaged in their role of mothering due to multitasking.

However we could conclude by saying that here is no yard stick to rate the mothers’ of today. Every woman is wired differently. They all have unique approaches and ideas on mothering. There is no right or wrong answer. What fits best for you and your family needs will actually decide whether you make a better or a worse mom.