Parenting: A dilema for working mothers

Editor, RE: “Why parents should be involved in the education of their children” (The New Times, November 4). No mother on earth, would not want to spend with her child as much time as necessary to oversee his/her physical, mental, and socio-cultural growth. Now again, like in the opinion by the same writer a few weeks ago on ‘Amanota syndromme’, her diagnosis is once more correct, but what about the cure? Today, mothers are urged to “modernize”, meaning to leave their homes and join the market workforce. This western “modern” way of life traces its origin in the 17th-18th century Europe, during the period of industrialization and this intensified during the World War in the 20th century, where women had to provide for their families because their husbands were on the battlefield. And yet no one has ever carefully planned for smooth transition between those two so different set-ups: home one side, and on the other hand, an office or a factory floor. We all know now that domestic requirements to mothers, and equally to fathers for that matter, are so far apart from marketplace requirements, to say the least both totally conflicting. And quite often, particularly mothers worldwide are left alone trying to conciliate the irreconcilable. For instance, finding time to follow up on children’s progress at school, while struggling to keep one’s job or building up one’s career mothers, often pay a heavy toll, both on their physical, mental, and social life. Of course with inevitable repercussions we all are aware of, on the rest of family members’ health and future, and on the health and future of the entire society. In brief, I wish the writer would also give a thought on how to ease or effectively avoid this excruciating dilemma alluded to above, into which so-called “modern” mothers are so blindly ushered. Last time you talked about amanota “syndrome”, with no allusion to a possible cure. This time you hinted at a profound dilemma that is leading our entire personal and collective life into a multifaceted epidemic, again with no allusion to its prevention or cure! Francois-Xavier Nziyonsenga

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Parenting: A dilema for working mothers