Finding work-life balance when you’re a parent isn’t always easy, not to mention trying to ignore working mom guilt. A new study joins a growing body of research about how working parenthood affects kids’ health in a positive way.
Working parents should never have to feel guilty about following their career dreams or providing for their family—and a new study proves it. The paper, published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, has found that kids are healthier when parents feel that they are in control of their work lives.
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“If you can decide how you are going to do your job, rather than having that imposed on you, it is better for children,” said co-author Christiane Spitzmueller, professor of industrial organizational psychology at the University of Houston.
This new research isn’t the first to shine a light on the benefits of having parents who work. According to a recent study published in the journal Work, Employment and Society, adult daughters of working mothers were higher earners and had better jobs than those of stay-at-home moms. The same study also found that sons of working moms spent seven and a half more hours a week on childcare and 25 more minutes on housework than those whose moms stayed home.
As Meredith Bodgas, the editor-in-chief of Working Mother, told Moneyish, “Seeing your parents do so much, and balance it all, makes children feel that so much is possible for them. They can have families and have rewarding careers. And it teaches them problem-solving skills.”
—Shahrzad Warkentin
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