Sociology

It is the dream of every parent to have a successful child and it is always important for a child to have both a mother and a father figure in their early lives. At the same time, it is in the definition of many that an ideal universe is one that both parents are involved in taking care of their children. However, the idea of having an ideal universe will just remain as a pipe dream since the parents have to work extra hard for them to fill the bread basket. This has been worsened by the fact that the modern parents are in formal and informal employment which occupies the better part of the life at the expense of their social life. This has prompted this research which will focus on addressing or try to uncover the effects of dual working parents.

It is worth noting that the early years of a child development are subject to a lot of contradiction since the youths may not have specifically identified what they may wish to become in their yester years. In simpler terms, their life path is still unclear. Due to this, there is need for parents to help and encourage the children while addressing their physical emotional and social needs. It is a well established fact that when parents spend considerable amount of time away from their teenagers, the negative effects will definitely outweigh the realizable benefits (Brayfield, 1995, p.14). This has been the case especially with the American employees who may wish to maximize on their productivity and their income. The economic status of a family does determine the kind of life that a youth will adapt. This is because the quality of life of a youth does depend on the amount of income that the parents are making. It has been observed that those who live in impoverished and low income standards are often subject to emotional stress since the parents have little or no income to cater for the unceasing needs of the youths.

Parents are known to command a considerable amount of respect and honor from their children. This is due to the fact that they display worthy characteristics such as hard work, social unity, maturity and intelligence. In absence of the parents, the youth will not be having the prominent figure that is supposed to offer guidance. The youth are further known to acquire their goals from what they learn from their parents. For instance, they are able to learn about the accepted values and the norms that are positively recognizable within the society. This is so because parents are normally in charge of laying the foundation to the life of the youth (Wharton, 2002, p.19). In their absence, the youth are often subjected to making their own decisions and foundations which may be rather shaky especially when it involves the youth who lack consent.

Having two working parents is also disadvantageous to the youth in that the parents have a tendency to project their own aspirations to those of their youths. This is often unrealistic because the youth tend to always follow different paths from those proposed by the parents. When this happens, the parents turn to be very critical in the long run turn to be overly authoritative.

Worth noting also, is the fact that when both parents are working, need arises that one should have a non parental care for the youth. The youths today can bear me witness that at a tender age of six months they were exposed to the non parental care and later to sent to a centre based care. When children or the youths are under non parental care their development is often at risk. This is so because there is slowed development of both language and cognitive skills. In fact, research conducted by the U.S department of health services showed that the youth who have a history with the non parental care always have behavioral problems. This was supported by a research conducted by the U.S department of health services where some young children were exposed to mothers with low levels of sensitivity (Gibson, 2008, p.60). The research showed that the children had problems with their behavior because the parent child interaction was not favorable to create a loving relationship which exposed the youth to a number of behavioral problems.

Also, research has shown that work related pressures and the long working hours have significance to the upbringing. This not only presents significant problems to the youths but also the parents are normally in for a number of conditions that increases their stress levels. Parents are known to worry much about their youths since they lack consent and can be easily manipulated by individuals with ill motives. This explains why the parents have to spend numerous sleepless nights worrying about how their youths are to spend their time after school in the absence of parental care.

Another negative effect of having two working parents presents itself during the free time after spending some quality time within a confined institution then comes the unlimited freedom. This is the time when the youth have to fend for themselves and can freely interact with other colleagues without any particular form of guidance. When interacting, they get to learn a variety of traits which they cant distinguish whether it is acceptable or not (Wharton, 2005, p.42). Confusion arises when the parent is punishing a youth and constantly remains him or her that he or she is not responsible. Such message often conflict and ending up confusing the youth. In the long run, such results to negative effects on the development of a child.

The brain of a youth can be equated with a computer which lacks software. In this context, the software should come from parents in form of language development and the generation of the appropriate morals. In the absence of a parent, the youth lacks vital information which is meant to guide him or her to achieve that he or she may wish to achieve in future. Also, two working parents have the disadvantage that such youth often have some neurological and psychological disorders since there was lack of development of the essential synapses. Full time work by parents is also linked with lower attainment among the youth (Smith, Fong, 2004, p.32). This was supported by a study conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. From the study, it was established that those born in the 1970s and had to spend little time with their parents were less likely to achieve the A level qualifications and they are most likely to be out of employment. This was linked to the psychological stress that they are often exposed to during their youthful years.

Also, full time employment by both parents is a definite drawback to the development of a child. In that, dual working parents are detrimental to the emotional development of the youths. Close association between the parents and the youths do contribute to the generation of secure attachments which lay the foundation for the emotional bonding. Dual working parents are normally unable to provide a loving relationship for their youths and this eventually leads to withdrawal from any of the customary issues that may need their involvement. This is normally due to the fact that the children develop poor social skills which in the long run make them to lack empathy and be dont cares.

Working families normally have effects on the emotional bonds that exist between the youth and their parents (Brayfield, 1995, p.137). In line with this, research has shown that children who are normally securely attached to their parents during the tender age have the tendency of being self confident and are more able to adapt to different environments.

Research has also shown that the youth whose parents are working on fulltime basis have lower chances of being involved in extramarital affairs. This is due to the fact that since they are free most of the time they learn to be independent and they are able to make informed decisions. This is based on the evidence that people tend to do that which is illegal or under restriction. Dual working parents also lead to self reliance as well as improvement in the ability to be socially compatible with outside world.

Dual working parents are also known to be better off economically than the single income families. On the other hand, dual working parents have led to the modification of the norms. Socially, it was the role of the women to engage in child bearing and their upbringing. This traditional role has so far been wiped out since there are projections that the dual income earners are to increase significantly in the near future. For instance, research has showed that by 1986 the number of dual working families were accounting for over 53 which definitely has changed with time (Gibson, 2008, p.64). This estimate has since changed and now the majority of the families have to rely on the two incomes considering the harsh economic conditions that families have to go through.

Also, the attitudes of working parents in regards to the responsibility do affect both the male and female offspring. In particular, dual working parents are more beneficial to daughters than to their sons. This is because, it in the mind set of the female offspring that they are to care for their younger siblings which leads to a sense of responsibility. Also, the parents have the tendency of assigning the duty of caring for the other offsprings to the daughters which in turn translates to an individual responsibility. Moreover, it has been established that sons and daughters of working parents tend to follow into the footsteps of their parents .For instance, daughters follow the footsteps of their mothers and sons have the tendency of following into the footsteps of their mothers.

In my opinion, it is important that parents be economically stable so that they can provide adequately for their youths. However, as the parents try to fed for the youths they should put into consideration that their care is of grave concern to the well being of the kids. In addition, I can propose that companies should unanimously agree to support the parental commitments. At least this can express support for the Family and Medical Leave Act passed in 1993. Moreover, the small companies which have the tendency of having strict budgets should offer some family friendly environment to their employees. This can be achieved by offering flexible hours to them so that they can find time for their social life (Wharton, 2002, p.25). The blue chip companies should extend their corporate social responsibility by ensuring that they provide some onsite day care.

 Telecommuting services should also be offered to the employees who spend a considerable amount of time in the work place but have minimal time with their families. They should also consider offering some time off for the family time. The companies should also consider starting up some family friendly programs for working parents. In this way, one will be in a capacity to strike a balance between the work life and the social life.  Also, the parents should consider using Web resources which can provide guidelines on how best to offer care to the youth even when they are in both formal and informal employment. Also, it is advisable that policy makers should encourage part time employment where either parent will be having an opportunity to spend quality time with the youths. By so doing, the youth will be in a capacity to learn some quality values from their parents (Wharton, 2005, p.73). Parents are also under the obligation of trying to reducing the number of working hours since it is the only way of ensuring that time is available for their social life. In the same line parents are advised that they should always they should work to live and should in no way live to work.

At this point, it is worth concluding that when both parents arte working it has both the negative and positive effects on the youth. To the positive, it lays a good path for the youths to follow since they are known to learn better through examples who present themselves in form of role models. Also, it creates room for independence and self reliance since the youths get to learn about how to conduct themselves without supervision. On the other hand, it has the disadvantage that it exposes the youths who may lack consent to much freedom which they are not in a capacity to utilize. There is also the tendency of children to have strained relationships with their parents especially when the youths lack their physical presence for long.