Mother

Mother’s in the Workforce Did you know, “In the United States today, more than half of mothers with young children work, compared to 30 percent in the 1970’s” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1999).

In this current economy single mothers have no choice but to work. Mothers have to enter the workforce to support their family. This hasn’t always been the case as we know from looking at our past. It was normal for the father to work and the mother to stay home with the children. Unfortunately, times have changed and divorce rates have gone up.To keep up with the rising costs and the splitting of a household, mothers have joined the workforce to help provide for the home. This now raises the question, if the mother is not home with the kids, how are the children effected? Three possible ways that children are affected from mothers entering the workforce are having to grow up in daycare, becoming more independent, and being less involved with family.

The first possible effect is a child having to grow up in daycare. With the need for more income, moms are no longer staying home.Children are now being taken care of all day—and sometimes night—by the daycare facilities. I am a single mother and I have to take my daughter to daycare five days a week. If I did not have my daycare facility to take my daughter, I would not be able to work. The only thing that is wrong is that these facilities have become the place for children to learn valuable life lessons. What used to be the mother’s duty, is now being placed upon the daycare centers.

They are having to help nurture and teach these children how to share, potty train, respect others, and so many other valuable life lessons.All these things used to be the job of the stay at home mom. I miss being there for the life lessons, but I have to support my family. I also have to deal with my child getting sick more often. She is normally around six to eight kids every day. Children being in daycare allows them to become more exposed to illnesses such as colds, flu, rashes, and many other sicknesses. Before, when children would stay home they were not pron to being sick.

The mother would keep them inside and away from the majority of people.Children being at daycare all the time and being around sick children could make it hard for a single mother, like myself, to keep taking off work when the kids get sick. At this point rather than not having income and being homeless, a parent would need daycare to provide for their family even if it means missing out on teaching your kids life lessons. Another possible effect could be that children become more independent. If a mother is working full time this could make a child feel alone or helpless when they are in need of attention.Children might start doing things by themselves such as eating meals, homework, or asking for help. I have notice that in being away from my daughter she wants to do things for herself.

If I ask to help her get dressed she says, “No mommy, I am a big girl and I do it myself. ” Mothers who stay at home are able to cater to their child’s every need. If the child wanted a blanket the mom would go and get one. Now with mothers at work, children are having to fulfill their own needs. This new found independence could cause the children to mature faster.I have found this to be what is happening in my own home. My little girl is only four but is trying to take on the independence of an eight year old.

The effect of independence on children is not something parents can change but it is happening at a younger age because the mothers are not there to help. Lastly, a possible effect of mothers in the workforce could be that the children become less involved with their family. Mothers having to work full time is causing children to be left to entertain themselves. Children are hiding away in their rooms or at friends houses to keep from being alone.When the family does have time home from work they find that the children are not wanting to spend time with them or have made plans with friends. I have not had this problem yet but I can see where it will be in my daughters teen years. This lack of interaction between the mother’s and children can lead to discipline problems later in life.

Children who do not become involved with their mothers can also loose their support system. If the kids were to do something and get in trouble, and there is no communication with the parents, the kids will often turn towards outside support.The absence of interaction between children and mothers can leave a lasting painful memory. When I was growing up my mother worked full time. This made it hard to talk to her about problems I was having. As the children grow older they could cut off all communication with their parents. The absence of involvement with the family is a growing problem with mothers that have to work.

Being a mother is the most amazing opportunity a woman can have. I know that mothers want the best for their children. Being a stay at home mom is a very noble and thankless job.Unfortunately, most women in today’s economy are forced to go to work after their children are born. Mainly because they are single mothers, the family needs the second income, or they had a good career before having children. There are so many things that can affect children like, growing up in daycare’s, becoming more independent, and being less involved with their mothers, whether they have a working mom or a stay at home mom. I think it all boils down to the time and effort you as a mother put in to make the most of the time that you have with your children.

Single-Parenting Families: Attached Stigmas The social deviance that interests me is single parenting, one who chose to have a child out of wed-lock. The stigma attached to being a single parent is rising anew. Many media commentators blame America’s uptrend in violence and other social problems on family breakdown – on single parents. This stigma is based on myths and stereotypes that have been promoted by half-truths and, often, by prejudiced viewpoints. Many in our society still regard single parenthood as a unwelcome status.

I as a single parent myself, I am often admired, but at the same time looked upon with pity, disgust, sympathy, and perhaps with uneasiness. In defense of single parent families I would argue to de-stigmatized single motherhood by society, in which the shifting of family type in single parent household is now normal and acceptable. One obvious identity is I am a woman and my hidden identities are I am a mother, unmarried, and parenting alone. A complex of set social and cultural stigma perceived as making a selfish or misguided decision to have a child and raise it on my own as a unmarried single mother.

Growing up I was told by my parents the unwed mothers were bad girls who make mistakes and gotten pregnant, whom family, friends, and the community shamed and reject. There is a clear cultural, moral, and religious message of stigma. In my parents generation, it would highly scandalous of a single woman raising a child alone and never married. In those days it was expected for the man to do the honorable thing, and marry the woman who is carrying his child. It did not matter whether he love her or not, having a child out of wedlock is unacceptable and the child would be considered a bastard( child born to unmarried parents).

I am a single parent. I never planned on being a single parent. Few do. I grew up with an ideal of parenting as something I would do with a husband, within a marriage. Choosing to parent alone was simply not a option in my household growing up. Unwed pregnancy was to be avoided at all costs! Divorce with children was quickly remedied with remarriage. The honored and supported single mothers without stigma is through the death of a husband is a widow. Today, nearly one-third of American families with children under the age eighteen are in single-parent families, and this has double the number less than two decades ago.

Separation and divorce creates most single parent families, that accounts for twice as many single parent families (60%) as failure to marry (30 %), while the death of a parent creates less than (7 %) of such families. Single parent families are raised by single mothers are becoming the majority family type culturally in United States. However, there is still a powerful negative images associated with Black single mothers and rarely does the dominant culture identify individuals, but instead stigmatized the entire class of Black mothers.

Many presume the color of the typical welfare recipient is a Black mother and that is not entirely true, but Black mothers are disproportionately represented. I personally can not explain why single parent never been married families are far more prevalent in the Black communities than in the White communities. Marriage is the most common for all women and for most women the only way out of poverty. For Black women, however the economic gain of marriage is often few and far between due to the poor economic opportunities of Black men.

Although, I am a single mother raising three sons. My children have not and will not suffer from the outcome of poverty, simple because I am a single parent. I am not poor. I am gainfully employed and I own my own home for the last fifteen years. There is a strong stigma attached to single mothers households are living below the poverty line. What are the critics saying about the single mothers? Stigmatizing the single parent families as part of the underclass, broken, and deviant. Their children are mostly to have emotional or behavioral problems.

To have children out of wedlock, are more likely to have trouble in school, and likely to commit crimes. Therefore, because I chose to raise my children alone……society blames me for the decline in social order. The two parent families is still compared as the traditional family formation and contribute to a healthy and successful society. I recently saw on TV an interview with Ann Coulter on the talk show The View …. she blames many of society’s problems on single moms. She goes on to say that our jails are filled with the offspring of single moms.

To accuse single moms of being responsible for all society’s problems is absolutely crazy. There are many reasons relationships end, and when there are kids involved usually the bulk – if not all – of the responsibility of raising the kids is assumed by the mom. We single moms should be applauded and not attacked for this. Sure, there are some women that decide to have a baby on their own with no man in the picture, but can you blame them?

It is hard to find a decent man who also wants to raise a family. Even when you do there are no guarantees he will stick around for the long haul. Nevertheless, single fathers have biological link or legal status as a non-custodial parent. What that actually means is they are expected to pay child support for their children, but rarely do they have sole or joint custody of their children. Some men have this immature concept of fathering that expects men to separate from their children and their responsibility, if they do not maintain a connection to the children’s mother.

There is a layer of stigma that is laid upon Black single mothers complete with highly fertile capacity( having many babies), being lazy and shiftless, and being in a relationship with uncaring and equally lazy black man. In which he is not willing to work, will not marry her, and will not support his family. This stereotype does not fit all single African American mothers and fathers. Unfortunately, those are the views of the dominant culture in our society of unwed African American single mothers. There are confronting stigmas and myths of single parenting as society continues to view that stigma as appropriate and justified.

The first, single-parent families are poor and single parenting causes poverty and social problems. Second, single-parent families are physiologically unhealthy. Third, single-parent families are immoral. The religious standpoint the families are sinful because they lack the blessing and validation of marriage through the church. Finally, there is a underlying undertone of stigma attached to race and gender beliefs that further support the badge of social scorn and economic hardships. What I know about single mothers is far different from the myths that are circulating in society, resulting in powerful stigmatizing.

The truth and reality is many single mother are raising their children very successful alone, including myself. Parenting is the hardest job, that one will ever have. However, single parenting is even harder, but not impossible to be successful in providing for your family. Society must look at the parent and not the circumstances that lead to their being a single mom or dad. The first priority and full responsibility is towards the child, put the child first in every and all decisions. My personal story is I have always been there for my three sons and it is my job to take care of them, until they can take care of themselves.

I have raised boys to men and at the sometime to be gentleman. In my household it is filled with love and support. Education was always instilled and valued in my home. My sons are very intelligent, respectful, good human beings and all because I took full responsibility for them and I took parenting very seriously. I can argue strongly that children need love, discipline, structured, boundaries, and guidance. Children who lack these exposures will perhaps become menace to society, but not from living in a single parent household. Two parent families can be dysfunctional, don’t place the blame solely on single parent families.

The house with white picket fence is only a disguise, one can only guess what is truly going on behind closed doors. For the love that I had for my son’s father and yes, they have the same dad (a myth that African American single mothers children have different fathers). We drifted apart and we decided to separate and I focus on being a mom. In neither case was it my choice to be a SINGLE mom; my choice was to just be a MOM. Sorry to report that single mom bashing is nothing new. And, the “double standard” is nothing new, either.

Single dad who pays his child support and see his kids on a regular basis is a hero! Single moms, on the other hand, seem to be held to nearly impossible standards. I can only suggest what has worked for me. I hold my head high, keep my decisions grounded in what’s best for my sons , and ignore the small minded people. My sons are my blessings, they are beautiful, and I am very proud to be their mother. Being a single mom presents additional and unique challenges and experiences. I feel I can conquer the world, because being a mom is the toughest job there is.

Life is never boring! These myths and stigmas can be confronted successfully and new strength can be found in the truth. As with so many aspects of single parenting, myself and other mothers rise to the challenge and become better people because of it. The myths are sometimes subtle and subconscious, but the more we examine them, the more clearly we take responsibility for our lives and the lives of our children. My deepest love and appreciation goes to my sons, who have taught me more than they will ever know. I love you….. higher than the moon, wider than the sky.

Why choose Pro-Life over Pro-Choice Thesis: Although convenient, abortions are cruel, and inhumane alternatives to pregnancy. I. What is abortion? A. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy, either by choice, or for medical reasons. B. There are two possible ways to terminate a pregnancy (pill and in-clinic. ) C. There are also two kinds of abortion. Therapeutic abortion, which the baby is aborted for the safety of the mother, and elective abortion, in which the abortion is performed due to a choice that the mother has made for an unborn child. II. What is life? A.

Most people who feel strongly of abortion and religion believe that life is created upon conception. (egg + sperm) B. Viability is when the fetus is 18 weeks old, and can live outside the womb. The fetus can still be aborted at 18 weeks, but if it were outside the womb, it would have the legal rights of a person. C. At three weeks old the fetus’ heart begins to pump blood to the body. III. Why is abortion chosen over adoption, or keeping the child? A. Some women feel its incontinent. B. Rape or incest only accounts for less than 2 percent of abortions. C. Since its not mandatory, some women don’t know the alternatives. IV.

How is an abortion performed? A. There are 2 ways it can be performed. B. Aspiration abortion is the most common method of abortion. C. The average time for an abortion to be performed is 10-20 minutes. V. What are the legal attributions in an abortion? A. Abortions are 100% confidential (unless the patient is under 18. ) B. Obama’s executive order won’t protect the unborn. C. Since 1973 it has been the responsibility of 7 non-elected judges on the Supreme Court to make decisions on abortions for our nation. VI. Will the mother suffer any complications? A. Post traumatic stress disorder is very common among mothers. B.

Many mothers suffer complications if they become pregnant after their abortion. C. 47% of women who have one abortion will have another. VII. Should abortion be illegal or just frowned upon? A. 53% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in some circumstances. B. 22% believe that it should be illegal in all situations. C. Banning abortion, would make it a violation of human rights to some. VIII. Does ethnicity affect abortion statistics? A. African American women are almost 5 times as likely to have an abortion than a white woman is. B. The two main ethnicities that have abortions are Caucasian and African American.

C. Most Mexican Americans are Catholic, and Catholics only contribute to 27% of abortions. IX. Abortions aren’t always performed in a safe environment. A. Unsafe abortions kill upwards of 70,000 women each year. B. Africa has the worlds highest maternal mortality (100x more than developed countries. ) C. In Latin America 21% of maternal deaths are associated with unsafe abortion. X. Unborn babies have characteristics of humans outside the womb. A. By 20 weeks fetuses have pain receptors. B. At 4 weeks fetuses can hear C. At 5 weeks the fetus is just a sac of DNA. XI. Abortion is not globally accepted

A. Abortion in Eastern Europe is higher than any other developed country. B. In Russia where abortion is legal 19/1,000 women have abortions. C. Whereas in Poland where abortion is illegal and highly frowned upon, not 1 % of the population has abortions. XII. Differences between pro-life and pro-choice. A. Pro-life tends to be more of a republican base and believe that everyone has a right to life. B. Pro-choice are more of a Democrat base and believe that a woman has the right to be in control over her body. C. Most people don’t know the extent of abortions, and their specific procedures.

Leadership Profile: Mother Teresa Mother Teresa is a fine example of a leader in today’s culture. Her profound ways of humble and servant leadership has forever shaped the way this world looks at those who live without. Her prime example of ethical use of power has become an example to those who have a great deal of persuasion in this world. The example being, that one does not need money, power, an office, staff, an overbearing voice, or a tottering society, to change the world. Instead, all that is needed is a conviction, a heart of humility, and a life of devotion.

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, she was the youngest of three children. In her teens, Agnes became a member of a youth group in her local parish called Sodality. Through her involvement with their activities guided by a priest, Agnes became interested in missionaries. At age 17, she responded to her first call of a vocation as a Catholic missionary nun. She joined an Irish order, the Sisters of Loretto, a community known for their missionary work in India. When she took her vows as a Sister of Loretto, she chose the name Teresa after Saint Therese of Lisieux. the Patron Saint of missionaries) In Calcutta, Sister Teresa taught geography and catechism at St. Mary’s High School.

In 1944, she became the principal of St. Mary’s. Soon Sister Teresa contracted tuberculosis, was unable to continue teaching and was sent to Darjeeling for rest and recuperation. It was on the train to Darjeeling that she received her second call — “the call within the call”. Mother Teresa recalled later, “I was to leave the convent and work with the poor, living among them. It was an order. I knew where I belonged but I did not know how to get there. Mother Teresa started a school in the slums to teach the children of the poor. She also learned basic medicine and went into the homes of the sick to treat them. In 1949, some of her former pupils joined her. They found men, women, and children dying on the streets who were rejected by local hospitals. The group rented a room so they could care for helpless people otherwise condemned to die in the gutter. In 1950, the group was established by the Church as a Diocesan Congregation of the Calcutta Diocese. It was known as the Missionaries of Charity.

In 1952 the first Home for the Dying was opened in space made available by the City of Calcutta. Over the years, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity grew from 12 to thousands serving the “poorest of the poor” in 450 centers around the world. Mother Teresa created many homes for the dying and the unwanted from Calcutta to New York to Albania. She was one of the pioneers of establishing homes for AIDS victims. For more than 45 years, Mother Teresa comforted the poor, the dying, and the unwanted around the world. Mother Teresa gained worldwide acclaim with her tireless efforts on behalf of world peace.

Her work brought her numerous humanitarian awards, including: the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. In receiving this award, Mother Teresa revolutionized the award ceremony. She insisted on a departure from the ceremonial banquet and asked that the funds, $6,000 be donated to the poor in Calcutta. This money would permit her to feed hundreds for a year. Beginning in 1980, homes began to spring-up for drug addicts, prostitutes, battered women, and more orphanages and schools for poor children around the world.

In 1985, Mother Teresa established the first hospice for AIDS victims in New York. Later, homes were added in San Francisco and Atlanta. Mother Teresa was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the highest U. S. civilian award. On February 3, 1994, at a National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives, in Washington, DC, Mother Teresa challenged the audience on such topics as family life and abortion. She said, “Please don’t kill the child. I want the child. Give the child to me. Mother Teresa traveled to help the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia. Her zeal and works of mercy knew no boundaries. Mother Teresa was a leader in both the political realm as well as the business realm, though she would have never claimed as being so. She never campaigned for any kind of office, nor did she ever start a business to make money. Instead, she became a leader in the world that she was born into, the world that she lived in. Mother Teresa was a leader, as unit one explains, someone who knew who she was and where she was going.

Her perception of self was that of someone who grasped the truth; the only way to solve a problem was to work for it. Her perception of self was that of a simple servant. She was perhaps a leader that will forever live for her examples of service and the unique ability to lead those who have given their lives to the Lord, and those even just searching. She was able to attain and sustain the people that chose to join her in her life’s mission by continually convicting them of the need of these works to be done in a world that is starving for such. And she did it by jumping in first.

Physical danger or diseases never compromised her mission and vision. She always passed and presented that risk to those who joined her, and convinced to live fearlessly and with trust is the Lord, which compelled more people to follow. She was a leader that presented, to herself and followers, a new way to view and care for the poor, dying, hungry, and naked. A view that was Truth. A view that slowly convicts the hearts of today’s world and convicts us to not be bound by fear for our own beings, but to recklessly do good in this world for those who are in need.

She had the quality of a leader that could stir things up in this culture and create conflicts that led to boundless resolutions. Resolutions that would forever be marked and lived out by generations to come. Mother Teresa is a fine example and definition of what it means to be a “Servant Leader”. She was a servant leader in ways this world needs more of. She was someone that did not work for money, fame, power, or immortality, but rather she worked to change the world that she lived in. Mother Teresa was able to acquire followers that were not seen as followers, but fellow missionaries.

Some of these people were even students that she had taught in the past. These fellow missionaries joined her because of the example that she set before the world. They were not following her for what they were hoping to receive malleably from the world, but to change it. Mother Teresa did not lead by asking or demanding, but instead by challenging and loving. She was a leader in community. First, it was a community of just a couple of people living with the same convictions, and then quickly grew to worldwide communities.

She always expressed something that is very important for any servant leader to express– Unlimited Liability. She showed this to those who had joined her, but most of all, to those of whom she was devoting her life to. She knew that her mission was to serve those In need. And in order to fully apprehend this, she lived the life of those of whom she was serving. She never separated herself, or put herself at a level that was unattainable for those who she lived for and with. If the people that she served had no heater in the winter, then she would live with no heater.

Above all the traits and unique qualities that Mother Teresa was blessed to posses in order to lead such movements in both political and business realms, her vision is truly what had convicted the world. And will continue to convict generations of missionaries and laity in the future. Her vision was something that she held close to her heart. A vision that was a matter of life for her, but at the same time, was attainable for anyone who wished to follow. She lived a vision that brought life to those who are forgotten.

It is a vision that brings dignity to all forms and stages of life. At the same time, a vision that brings dignity to the very life of who is participating in this vision. It is a vision that one must be devoted to, and as the devotion continues, as does the weight of the vision in this world. A change that is brought about through, rather than by, one person at a time. Mother Teresa passed on September 5th, 1997. She has been appointed for Canonization, and is now Beatified and referred to as Blessed Mother Teresa.