Working Family Thesis Statement

Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (1st edition) talks about the challenges women have with trying to balance a family and career. This may also be defined as work-life balance as they (women) are raising families while also trying to getting ahead/managing their careers. The book was published March 11, 2013 by Alfred A. Knopf in New York and contains 240 pages. It can be found on Amazon in multiple formats starting at $6.31.

Studies suggest that when the number of children in the home rise, and as the age of the youngest child decreases, there are more conflicts within the family. In establishing relationships with children, parents struggle to manage work and family, including having insufficient time to completely focus on both the necessities of work and family (Cichy, Stawski, & Almeida, 2012). Due to new job obligations, MJ experiences work stress independently, enhancing personal and financial stressors. There can be an adverse effect between job security and father-child relationship due to fathers striving to secure careers so they are able to provide for their family. As personal stressors are experienced more regularly, so are perceptions that one’s work obligations increase negative effects on their family life (Minnotte, Pedersen, & Mannon, 2013).

Work and its role in society has become the subject of considerable public commentary and debate in recent years. Work, for many Americans, has changed significantly over the past 25 years. Some people believe that the world of work is changing so thoroughly and quickly that we should consider ourselves pioneers of a new historical era. Some say that the idea of a job has become antiquated.

The articles Double Daddy by Penny Parker, Diary of a Mad Blender by Sue Shellenbarger, and The Child’s View of Working Parents by Cora Daniels all delve into the struggle of harmonizing work with other aspects of life. The delicate balance of work and parenting is often difficult to keep in control; most agree that devoting quality time to one’s children and not overworking is the key to stabilizing the equation (Parker 22-23).

According to Statistics Canada, the amount of two parented full time working families has gone up 17% since the 1980’s. As a result of such an outcome, more employees in larger and smaller based companies are finding it harder to keep up with both risen work loads and home life necessities, which in turn have caused more absentees in the work place. The reason being for this is due to

“A seminal study of 527 U.S. companies, published in the Academy of Management Journal in 2000, suggests that “organizations with more extensive work-family policies have higher perceived firm-level performance” among their industry peers. These findings accorded with a 2003 study conducted by Michelle Arthur at the University of New Mexico. Examining 130 announcements of family-friendly policies in The Wall Street Journal, Arthur found thst the announcements along significantly improved share prices. In 2011, a study on flexibility in the workplace by Ellen Galinsky, Kelly Sakai, and Tyler Wigton of the Families

The article “Can Working Family Work in America?” by Stephanie Coontz is about the issues that American working families face. The author discusses on the inequality that working families face in jobs including low to no benefits for workers including elders, unpaid leave, and vacations days. The author also shares solutions that can help fix the working family crisis and she seems to be knowledgeable about the topic and solutions that she is discussing.

In our society, we carry an ideological assumption that a “normal” family consists of the man working to provide for the family and the women takes on the role of stay-at-home mom (Dow 1992).

Though her sons are over the age of 21, Jane sets rigid house rules, curfew times to her children and imposes a great deal of disciplinary actions when disobeyed. They practiced the traditional Chinese culture wherein the eldest or the head of the household has the final say in everything that goes on. Her sons follows her rules with no questions asked. It can be inferred that she is domineering and wants control of her sons even if they are on their way to seek independence and live their life on their own. She wants a say in every aspect or decision that her sons will make and she actually can be defined as overprotective stage mother.

Some people may not get to see their family as often as they want to because of the struggle to balance both family and work. These articles, “Double Daddy” by Penny Parkers, “Diary of a Mad Blender: A Week of Managing Every Spare Minute” by Sue Shellenbarger, and “The Child’s view of Working Parents” by Cora Daniels and Ellen Galinksy, are all based on facts about balancing work and family. Balancing responsibilities, goals, and a personal life is a struggle for many people, but the most important priorities in life, such as family, should not be neglected. Work time can get in the way of family time. In Penny Parkers article, “Double Daddy”, she writes, “These men are saying, ‘I’m working my tail off to get ahead, for the most

People are beginning to question how to keep up with their work life and family life. Double Daddy by Penny Parker, Diary of a Mad Blender by Sue Shellenbarger, and The Child’s View of Working Parents by Cora Daniels all come together to describe the struggle between trying to balance work and family life, along with how it is affecting their kids’ lives and the atmosphere at home. I can relate to this struggle because my dad is working most of the time and most days I hardly get to see him.     Double Daddy by Penny Parker describes the struggle between the tasks of work and the priorities of their families. “They struggle between the responsibilities of work and the needs of their families.

Most families in the United States have both parents working to make ends meet. A lot of families can’t afford to live with just one family member working. Considering that when both parents work, they can increase the annual income the whole family makes. Most parents find that they need more money for their children's school supplies. “Families would fall on hard times if mother weren't in the workforce”(Galinsky).

There are some strategies companies have or could adopt in the future as an effort to make workplaces more family friendly for those they employ. Some examples of actions that demonstrate workplaces being supportive of their employees efforts of combining family and work commitments are childcare services, flexible schedules, and family or medical leave. Childcare services could include things such as on site services to care for a child during employee work hours or by providing a subsidy for outside childcare services. Accomplishing flexible schedules would include items that cater to the employees schedule for example job sharing, a compressed workweek, and flexible hours. Paid time off and personal days would also fall under these policies.

To balance work and family, I think that the work life should always stay at work. I have seen on movies, television shows, and in real life that a lot of parents bring their work home with them. This takes away time from their children and spouse, by having the parents on their computers doing work, or always on their phone. I have recently watched a movie that the daughter had to write messages down for her parents because every time she seen them they were so busy on their phones for work that they never heard what their daughter had to say. Another way to balance work and family is to try and resolve conflicts before they get out of hand. I personally believe that conflicts need to be settled with everyone involved sitting down with no distractions, like cell phones, television, etc. and discussing how he conflict arose and what each family member can do to help resolve the

Mothers are very passionate about their choice to work or stay at home with their children. This is a heated debate about what is best for children and who is the better mother. Just in the last generation more mothers are choosing to work, which is also sparking some conflict in families where grandparents felt it was important to stay at home with their children. This paper compares and contrasts both sides of working and being a stay at home mother. While there is no right or wrong answer to the work and family dilemma, it’s important to understand both sides.