When It Comes to Mothering It's Quality over Quantity

I found a wonderful blog post from Sarah (Rashidsmom.com) that should relieve some working mothers of their angst over how their children will turn out. It appears that the key determinant to child development isn't whether or not a mother works but the quality of the time that she spends with her children.

Sarah cites a 2005 The University of Texas study that did not find any developmental problems in children whose mothers worked outside the home. Dr. Aletha Huston, the study’s director states, “The mother is an important source of care then, but she doesn’t have to be there 24 hours a day to build a strong relationship with her child.”

Some of the points of the study include:

•infant development is not delayed when a mother works outside the home.
•a mother’s personality, including their beliefs and the quality of their parenting was more important than the amount of time spent with their child.
•working mothers spent more time with their children on days off.
•working mothers spent less time on household chores and leisure activities.
•there were no differences in social behavior, cognitive ability and language development whether mothers stayed at home or worked.

Sarah concludes,"children will thrive based not on how much time they spend together,with their mothers but on the quality of time spent together. mothers that are comfortable with their decision, are confident in their abilities and provide loving and nurturing homes have the best chance of raising well-adjusted children, whether they work outside the home or stay at home."

Amen to that!