To Day Care or Not To Day Care

Growth in the number of child care centres and other forms of non-parental care for children has accompanied the increase in working mothers. But for many families, finding affordable, quality child care can be a huge problem. Good care with persons other than relatives is often difficult to find or is too expensive, especially for families with low incomes. Relatives and friends are not always able to help out, especially if they do not live nearby or if they are in the work force themselves. For poor mothers, lack of child care can be a particularly serious obstacle in obtaining and holding a job, compounding the economic disadvantages they often face. These factors can prolong parents' spells of joblessness, preclude sustained employment, or effectively bar them from jobs that pay higher salaries.

Working Mothers's guilt is practically an epidemic. Only 10 percent of mothers working full-time give themselves the highest rating for their parenting and just 24 percent of mothers working part-time give themselves a 10 as a parent. So how do you deal with the feelings of guilt, whether you love or hate your job? Maybe you could quit your job but economically it is unreasonable to assume that this would solve your problems, it may only compound them.