AN ASSESSMENT OF ROLES OF A WORKING MOTHER IN CHILD HEALTH

AN ASSESSMENT OF ROLES OF A WORKING MOTHER IN CHILD HEALTH

ABSTRACT

The study examine the assessment of roles of a working mother in child health in Ikeja local government area of Lagos State. A total 100 questionnaire were administered among working mothers of 10 banks in Ikeja local  government area Lagos state.

The variable examined include: academic performance, moral development, social development of the child. Data analysis was simple percentage distributions, while the hypotheses were tested with chi-square statistical were used to test the hypotheses. All the three hypotheses was accepted that is a significant relationship moral development, academic development and social development of the working mothers and those of the non- working mothers.

It was concluded that working mothers should do their home work very well by employing good helper who will be assisting them at home to train their children ,morally, academically and socially before their arrival from office  and makes sure that they look at every alternative available to gives their  child or wards good moral, academic and social support to better their upbringing.

Mothers should take a work that are less demanding, they should find schools for their children in their environment to reduce mothers dis-attachment from their children and government should implement a policy that would recognize women of child bearing age and put them on a pay role, if it can work in developed countries, it can also work in Nigeria to reduce their stress by giving them pay leave doing rearing and nurturing of babies and children combining.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study       

A mother can be described as “the female parent of a child” while a working mother combines the family care with her career either in private or public service; they can as well be define as a woman with the ability to combine a career with the added responsibility of raising a child, material aspirations and the necessities of daily life often compel both parents to work. A qualified woman may insist on working to maintain an effective career and be financially independent. The single working mother is a combination of these entities, working not only to run the family, but also maintaining her position as a financially independent head of the family. Mena & Sana, (2002) Mothers work as Teachers, Lawyers, Nurses and other types of occupation.

The role of a mother is to take care of her home; children, husband and immediate family. As mother the children rely on them for everything.  The mother is a teacher, a mother that you are, a friend e.t.c. while your husband too will be looking forward to seeing a good wife in you. He wants you to be his friend, companion, assistant and even to serve the role of his mother whether that one is still living or not. You are expected to be a prayer partner for them all. With your children in school; your husband at work and yet they are all looking forward to your prayers and support in every area of life. It is also expected of you to assist your children in their home work when they come back from school, not minding how busy you might have been before their arrival from school. Melissa & Milkie (2009) associate professor of sociology at the university of Maryland, college perk- believes that many factors such as family demands, number of kids, age of the youngest child and time constraints prevent many of today’s mothers from entering or staying in the workforce even if they want to remain on the job. The American Academy of pediatrics [1999] observed that more than half of the population of women are working mothers compared with 30% in the 1970’s. Women find themselves entering the work force before they have children and choosing to stay after they have children, others find out that their family requires two incomes; they may even be the sole source. Abimbola (2009) reported that in the Roman times, women were regarded as “property” that is, things that could be bought. Researchers from the university of North Carolina  analyzed more than 10 years of data, starting in 1991 with interviews of 1364 mothers shortly after their child’s birth and following them  over a decade.

AN ASSESSMENT OF ROLES OF A WORKING MOTHER IN CHILD HEALTH