NEW–AGE HOMEMAKERS
- Mrs.. Ashima M.Sc, B.Ed with 8yrs work experience.Current occupation- Housewife
- Mrs. Trisha B.A.(hon.), NIIT with 9yrs work experience. Current occupation- Housewife
- Mrs. Sabari MBA with 3yrs work experience. Current occupation- Housewife
- Mrs. Dipti, BE with 15yrs work experience. Current occupation- Housewife
A welcome trend that we are witnessing today, due to the awakening brought by education, is – the rising number of confident housewives/ homemakers. Just a few years back, women who were housewives, they felt inferior to the working women. But it’s not like that anymore. When questioned about occupation, women proudly declare themselves as homemakers. This is because they are housewives by choice. They are not just educated, but some are highly educated and professionals too. These are women who have already worked outside, before childbirth or marriage. Being educated and having had work experience, women today are in a better position to decide their priorities. The head is held high because they have the confidence that they can always return to work, when the appropriate time comes, or need arises.
It’s certainly a welcome trend for the children. Children are our future. Shaping their life properly is more important, particularly in today’s scenario, where nuclear family is the norm. Before going for a baby one should carefully weigh the responsibilities of child rearing. However technically advanced we may become, nature will always prefer mothers for children. Women’s natural instincts are always sharper, when it comes to dealing with children. Bringing up happy children needs lots of patience. When the mother is always their for the child, the child feels a sense of security always. This sense of security is greater today because housewives are much independent now. They do not depend on the male members of the family for petty things. They can drive, they can handle works related to banks, bills, policies, everything. For children these days, it’s often like –‘my mamma strongest!’ Because mamma prepares their lunch and drops and picks them from school, mamma helps them in studies and extra-curricular activities, and takes them shopping and movies, mamma plays football/dolls with them and also rushes to the doctor when required.
The greatest advantage of staying at home is –mothers are in regular touch with school activities, regularly monitoring studies and actively encouraging extra-curricular activities. Not only school activities, but any kind of change in behavior pattern of the child too comes to the notice of the mother immediately. The first one or two hours after returning from school are the golden hours, when the child is eager to tell everything that happened in school that day. This eagerness slowly dies as the time passes. With working mothers, by the time they reach home, the child’s enthusiasm subsides and he tells just one or two incidents and that too on asking. So there is not much option left for the parents, other than waiting for the PTM. A stay at home mom’s patience and observation of the child’s changing needs is always greater. Her strong presence raises the emotional quotient of the child too. Trisha left her job for her two years old daughter’s sake, even though she had the luxury of having her own parents staying nearby. She emphasizes-“Emotional bonding at this stage is very important for a strong foundation.” She wants to closely observe her child, to know her social, emotional and communicative skills and thus guide her accordingly.
If there is a good support system at home, then it is okay. In many families grandparents themselves willingly take the grandchildren’s responsibility. If grandparents are physically able and willing, then there is no better option. But grandparents should not be taken for granted. After all, they have duly done their duty of bringing us up. Now it’s their time to rest and expect loving care from the children. It’s being insensitive, if we expect them to run after toddlers, play with them and feed them at their ripe age. With their sagging energy levels, they themselves need support. “It is not possible, actually very risky, for our aged parents to handle the tantrums of a 2-3 year old child”, says Ashima who stays with her Parents In Law ,but quit her job when her son was two.
Also, it is not advisable to leave the child entirely under domestic helps supervision, without any family member around. Not only is it unsafe, but also, the child gets a poor role model. A three- four year old child who is picking up language and etiquettes may pick up the maids actions and language. “I never liked the idea of putting my son under a maid’s care”, says Sabari. She declined her NGO’s offer to join them again in a similar project which she was doing six years back before child birth. If children do not get a good role model at their young impressionable age, then in later life we can only blame ourselves if something untasteful happens.
Children too feel lonely in the absence of parents. Loneliness in young children gets expression in the form of irritation, poor diet, poor immunity, not wanting to go to school. They are unable to express their feelings properly in words. So it gets expressed in other forms. Teenagers take refuge in the electronic media- T.V., mobile phone, internet, or they fall in bad company.
God granted us children because he considered us to be responsible enough to hand over a child’s life. The all round
development of the child is the parent’s primary responsibility and not that of the maid or the cretch.At least during the age of two to six years, parents should concentrate on the child’s strong emotional growth. If the foundation is laid strong with good family values, then the future too will be safe.
No one on earth can replace the mother. Motherhood is the best job a woman can do, more so with her education and confidence. Staying at home does not mean waste of education. Real education can never go waste because education prepares us for a broader practical life and not just for a job. It shapes our values and thinking, which is passed on to our children. With confidence and intellect in place, no one can take away a woman’s identity as a person with a strong mind of her own.
Photo Credit : JusSri
May 13, 2010 at 6:34 pm
+1
May 14, 2010 at 11:18 am
February 3, 2010 at 8:53 am
January 9, 2010 at 3:34 pm
I loved the way you explained.
Thanks for sharing.
January 9, 2010 at 4:06 pm
January 6, 2010 at 8:31 pm
January 7, 2010 at 10:43 am
January 6, 2010 at 2:10 am
January 6, 2010 at 11:15 am
January 4, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Nice thoughts you have put here. Let me put some more:
0. Children and Parenting are the most important aspect of parents, family and entire humanity. Hence it is utmost important that we tweak our aspirations to ensure that children are grown up properly.
1. When a woman stays at home, in India, she would find it difficult to get a job later, when she needs it. More so, when a woman searches for job in the later years, she often needs it with good money due to her children’s educational needs. And she will not get it for sure.
This is a real problem for a woman and her children.
I see my wife’s job as the best insurance for me. So the best we do is, I try to land on paying jobs. She tries to land on secure jobs, but with which she can spend sufficient time at home.
And that too, this is not fixed. In few years, if she get a very good paying job compared to me, I will not hesitate to switch over to lesser paying jobs. (You know why I am into blogging now!!)
2. If a woman happens to separate from her husband, without a job, she cannot survive.
3. Yes. Motherhood is the best job for a woman as Fatherhood is the best job for a man.
In the same way a man cannot justify his being out of job on Fatherhood (for more than his permitted paternal leave), mother also should not justify her being out of job on Motherhood for more than her permitted maternal leave.
4. I would strongly recommend women to be on a job. And definitely they can be on the job while staying at home too.
I would suggest them to be up-to-date on a skill either from home or by working at an office (including Blogging!) and working out appropritate methods of putting maximum focus on kids and their growth.
May be one family member can concentrate more on income while other more on family. But both should do load-sharing 70/30 or 60/40 for the sake of future of the family.
5. I have realized working of women is the best financial insurance a family can get. It is not about comforts or property.
-TBT
January 5, 2010 at 11:28 am
Your views too are quite practically balanced.If there is good understanding between the spouses regarding time & financial mgt.,its fine. But so often I find around me partners fighting over who should come home early or take leave when children are at home. I have some friends who are so addicted to their jobs, they cannot think of slowing down or quitting, even when they know, the children are neglecting studies, glued to TV, even taken to bad habits. Their solution – putting them in hostel or in several activity classes.
Anita.
January 4, 2010 at 10:53 am
A mother is in most cases the one who does that and as you said with an educated mother, that becomes like a boon to the child, who can actually depend more than the timely food from the modern mother. She also helps in developing the food for thought…as they say..:)
Very nicely put article.
Makes us mothers proud..:)
January 4, 2010 at 10:33 am
January 4, 2010 at 12:17 am
SO,THE TIME HAS BEEN RIPED THIS RUNING HOUR ALREADY.STILL TIME IS THERE TO DIRECT THE GLOBAL MOVE TO IN A POSITIVE WAY IN ALL ASPECTS LIFE AFFAIRS.SO,THE CHIEF COMMANDER LEADER THE MOTHER IN THE HOME HAS TO TAKE AN ACTIVE PART TO DIRECT AND DICTATE THE WORLD CHILDREN MORE TO SREAM LINE THE SOCIETY ACTIVITIES FOR ALL HUMAN WANTS FOR THE BENIFITS OF EARTHIANS IN A RIGHT DIRECTION BY GAINING EVERY SOPHISTICATED POSITION OF MODERN UP-TO-SECOND KNOWLEDGE OF GLOBE BY SITTING IN THE HOUSE.SO,MY DEAR MODERN,WOMEN.,LET US THINK ONCE ,TWICE ,AND EVEN BULLION TIMES AND MOR IF NECCESSAY TO TAKE A DECISION, WHETHER TODAY THEY ARE IN RIGHT PATH BY ENJOYING LIFE WITH OFFICIAL DUTIES BY FORGETTING HOME RESPONSIBILITIES OR THEY HAVE TO TAKE U-TURN FOR THE SAKE GLOBAL OWN CHIDREN DEVOLEPMENT CONCERNED WITH A NEW SOPHISTICATED VIEWS AND IDEAS AND ACTIONS IMPLIMENTATION QUICKLY BY RIGHT HOURLY ACTION.HURRY-UP COMING TOMORROW RAISING SUN HOURS ARE COMING SOON.BE ALERT YOUR SELF,TIME IS RUNNING VERY FAST.CORRECT COMMITMENT IS YOURS TO SHOW FOR GLOBAL TOMORROWS APPRECIATION.BALL IS IN YOUR COURT.MOVE TO GO-AHEAD TO DESTINATION FOR GRAND SUCCESS. GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
HARI VSRC SHARMA.,CEO,BE.C.ENGG.,
UNIVERSAL CREATURES LIFE AFFAIRS ADVISOR.
January 4, 2010 at 9:48 am
Regards,
Anita
January 3, 2010 at 9:13 pm
January 4, 2010 at 9:52 am
Thanks for the comment and Hats off to your wife.I respect such people, because this article is actually a rection to so many people telling me that I am wasting my education & loosing my identity sitting at Home. Is education just a degree? Real education is a much broader term. I am investing my education in building a future for the country, for humanity.
Regards,
Anita
January 4, 2010 at 7:40 pm
January 3, 2010 at 8:14 pm
January 4, 2010 at 9:55 am
Thanks for the comment. You know, we really need to slow down. With the rising stress level and divorce rates, it is very important to provide emotional stability and security to our children, for a better future.Isn’t it?
Regards,
Anita