Thursday's Psychological Trivia Answer: Who Spent More Time With Their Children, 1965 Stay-At-Home Moms or 1998 Working Moms?

Thought for the Day: Tuesday's question was:
                                 True or False: At-home mothers in 1965 spent more time with their 
                                 children than working mothers did in 1998.

The answer is: False. In "Working Moms and Kids," Katy Abel reports the findings of a recent study by University of California sociologist, Suzanne Bianchi, in conjunction with the University of Maryland. The study found that working mothers actually spent slightly more waking hours with their children than at-home mothers did a generation ago.  Three hundred working mothers kept time diaries showing how they'd spent the previous 24 hours. The results were compared to diaries kept by '60s moms. Here are the results:

• "In 1998, working mothers spent an average 5.8 waking hours with their children.
• In 1965, they spent 5.6 hours with the kids."

It has been a while since 1998. It would be interesting to see what the results would be today. My guess is that the findings would be similar. What concerns me is that working mothers short-change themselves & may therefore, also short-change their children. It does not surprise me that mothers are taking less "me" time & opt to give more to their children. As I said in Monday's post, when mothers (and fathers, for that matter), take time for their dreams, they are a role model for their children. If your work is connected to your personal dreams, it is built into the equation. However, many people are working for a paycheck & not moving towards their dreams. 

If you are working in a job that is unsatisfying, it is important to be doing things that will help you move towards your personal dreams. Your children are watching & learning from your example. If you show them that there is no way for a parent to strive for their dreams, they will follow in your footsteps & sacrifice their dreams, too. Although you may feel there is no time for your dreams in your already busy life, start by spending some time thinking about what is missing. Identify what you want & then you will be able to find ways to incorporate it into your life. For ideas on how to make it happen, you can spend a few hours reading my book. If time is even more limited, you can spend an hour watching 20 short video clips to help you Jump-start Your Life in an Hour. You owe it to yourself & your children to be making your life as meaningful as possible.