Children With Working Mothers Become Happier Adults

Dec 20, 2018 by apost team

If you're a working mom, have you ever felt guilty? If so, you're not alone. Many moms who work outside the home worry that they may be making things more difficult for their kids. Well, you don't need to worry or feel guilty anymore.

A study done by a Harvard Business School professor found that people who grew up in homes where their moms worked outside the home are just as happy when they become adults as people who grew up with stay-at-home moms. All that worrying was for nothing!

Kids of Working Moms Grow Up to Be Happy Adults

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Earlier studies showed that teens and young kids do well when their mothers are employed outside the home. This new study extends those findings into adulthood. This is welcome news for working mothers. Many working moms feel conflicted about leaving their homes to go to their jobs.

Whether you are working because you have to or because you want to (or both), you want the best for your kids. This study shows that your kids will be just fine throughout their childhood and into their lives as adults. Your kids are no worse off than kids of moms who aren't employed outside the home.

The researcher in charge of the study hopes that the results will help working moms to stop feeling guilty. There is a lot of social pressure for moms to stay at home. That can make it painful when you leave your kids to go out to work. This study should help reassure you that you are not doing anything that is bad for your kids. You don't have to worry.

The study found that both the adult daughters and sons of working moms said they were happy overall with their lives. Also, both daughters and sons had more education if their moms worked. There were, however, some differences in the ways that a mother's employment affected their daughters and sons.

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Daughters of Working Moms Are Often More Successful in Their Careers

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In addition to finding that kids of working moms grow up to be happy, the study found that having a working mom had other positive effects.

Girls who were raised in homes where their moms had jobs are more likely to be employed themselves when they grew up. They are also more likely to be supervising others on the job.

Best of all, women whose moms had been employed earn more money than women with stay-at-home moms. They earn an average of $1,880 more per year than the daughters of stay-at-home moms.

Moms who are employed are good role models for their daughters. They show their daughters that it is possible to handle multiple roles. The daughters see how their working moms handle taking care of their family, their home, and their job responsibilities. Just by observing their mothers, the daughters are learning valuable skills. Then when the daughters grow up, it is natural for them to want to be like their mothers. They know it's possible to thrive as an employed mom because they saw their mother do it.

Sons of Working Moms Spend More Time Taking Care of Their Kids

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While the daughters of working moms are more likely to be employed and to earn more money, the same effect on career choices wasn't seen with sons. The sons of working moms weren't any different from the sons of stay-at-home moms as far as their career choices, their income, or their career success.

That's probably because men are already expected to work outside the home. Also, sons tend to imitate their fathers when it comes to career choices. Even their income is often similar to their father's.

However, having a working mom does affect sons in other ways. These sons spend more time taking care of their family members than sons with stay-at-home moms do. They average 50 minutes more a week taking care of their kids and other family members.

Sons with working moms are also more likely than sons with stay-at-home moms to marry women who are employed outside the home. They also are more likely to believe that men and women should be treated equally in the workplace.

No Matter What You Choose, You Don't Have to Feel Guilty

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If you choose to be a stay-at-home mom, that's great too. The study shows that kids of employed and stay-at-home moms are just as happy when they become adults.

As long as you love your kids and take good care of them, they will turn out fine. Feeling guilty doesn't help anyone, and it's not necessary. In fact, the professor who conducted this study talked to a group of adults whose moms were executives in a big corporation. The professor asked them what advice they would give their moms. They said they would tell their moms to chill out. They are doing fine, they said, and their moms don't need to worry.

You don't need to worry either. Just the fact that you are reading this story shows that you want to be the best mom you can be. Your kids are lucky to have a mom like you! Just keep on doing what you're doing, and know that you are a positive role model for your kids.

What do you think about this story? Do you ever feel guilty about working outside the home? Do you feel better knowing that research shows your kids will be okay? Leave a comment! Then send this story to all your friends who are moms, whether they are working outside the home or not.