Bangalore: Working mothers perform most of the household chores, but the onus of taking care of the children too falls on the mother, apart from her job responsibilities. Nowadays, stress loads are high for working mothers resulting in frustration, tension and no quality time for themselves. This is the status of working women all over the world and Bangalore that has more than 40 per cent working mothers is no exception.
Women in India have come a long way. From skilled home makers to excelling in their professional arena, women in Bangalore too are no exception. They have entered every possible sector as the menfolk. The new generation of women would like to pursue their dreams, but life is not a bed of roses for them, who have to continuously juggle work and home.
The major hindrance for a working mother is her concern towards her child which unlike men, they cannot afford to overlook. Renuka, a working mother says, “I have a one-and-half-year old child. When my husband and I go out for work, we are entirely dependent on the caretaker, as we do not have in-laws or parental support”.
Voicing a similar concern, Triveni, 40, who works in a private firm says, “We both go for work and my in-laws are no more and parents are aged. So, it becomes difficult for us to take care of our one-year-old child, hence, we ended up leaving her in a creche.”
Due to rise in the nuclear family system, support from other members of family is relatively less. Alamelu, a 29-year-old maid servant says, “I have two daughters, aged 8 and 5. My husband is a mason and we do not have any kind of family support. So, we try to create a balance between work and children.”
A mother who goes out to work always carries a lot of tension and pressure on her mind, even if her child is being looked after by a caretaker as concerns like whether the child has eaten properly, is he or she safe and healthy and so on will always bother her.
But quite often, we see that children of working mothers are socially outgoing, well adjusted with others and are also ready to explore new things in the world. They also cultivate their own interests and are more independent. They are capable of taking their own decisions, but only with the help of a good caretaker. So mothers have to keep a close watch on their child, spend more time with them and try to ascertain what they are doing and not just concentrate on their jobs.
Safety and security: Veda, 35, a garment factory worker says, “I have a daughter who is studying in third standard. When we both go out for work, we lock the house and give the keys to our neighbour. My daughter comes home at 3 pm after school and does her homework. She is always alone at home. Our parents and in-laws are in Tamil Nadu.”
Veda’s case is not uncommon and such examples can be seen in Bangalore where working parents leave their children alone at home without any adult supervision. Safety of the house becomes a major issue when the child grows to a certain age where he can be sent to day care or can be left alone in the house for several hours. In such a situation, the children are given an extra key to the house so that they can let themselves in when they need to especially after the school hours.
There can be many risks involved in such cases like physical danger (knives, gas stove, match-sticks etc) or strangers ringing the doorbell and so on. Hence, parents should limit the time the child spends alone at home.
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