Problems in Working Mothers in Early Children's Care

Abstract

A mother is seen as the main actor in taking care of children and household chores. Currently there has been a shift in values  that provide opportunities for women to enter the world of work. These conditions can potentially cause problems in parenting for working mothers. This study aims to explore the problems in parenting experienced by working mothers. This study uses a qualitative phenomenological method to find out what problems working mothers experience in raising children. The participants in this study were eight working mothers (work as lecturers) aged 20-40 years, have toddler and lived with their husbands and children in one house. The motivation of mothers who continue to work even though they are caring for children include: economic factors, hobbies, and self-development. These conditions contain benefits and risks that must be faced by working mothers.  From the results of research and discussion, it can be seen that the biggest problems in caring for working mothers are: 1) Time management,  working mothers experience challenges such as managing time, having difficulty fulfilling their responsibilities as a mother, and managing workplace issues. The average informant works as a lecturer for at least 8 hours per day in the office and returns to do additional assignments at home for which there is no definite time limit. Mothers also still have duties to serve the family at home including caring for children and resting. This division of time is considered difficult by working mothers. 2) Managing emotions, fatigue from serving work and family makes the mood unstable. If support from the environment is minimal, this can trigger stress and burnout in working mothers. This condition can cause excessive anger, sadness and anxiety. 3) Health problems, connected from the problem of managing emotions, health problems can also arise when the mother is too tired and lacks rest. some of the health problems that often occur in working mothers: dizziness, fever, pain in the bones, stomach ulcers, stress and depression. 4) Family conflicts,the busyness of the mother outside the home makes the mother's duties at home not carried out perfectly. the need for support from people around so that conflicts in the family do not occur. Conflicts that can occur include: misunderstandings, ambiguity in the duties of family members, and attachment problems between mother and childrens.