Why Being a Working Mom is a Good Thing for Your Kids

When it comes to returning to work after having kids, many moms and dads might experience feelings of hesitation, relief, guilt, sadness, and so on and so forth. There are so many big emotions when it comes to reaching this milestone as a parent, and sometimes there are discussions about whether both parents should return to work, someone should take a step back, or someone should stay home full-time. However, mom guilt knows no bias and will rear its ugly head whether you are a working mom or a stay-at-home mom.

Being known as the stereotypical nurturers, society might devalue the importance of a woman returning to work, but there are some really great benefits to doing so that span far beyond us as moms.

According to a professor at Harvard Business School, “Part of this working mothers’ guilt has been, ‘Oh, my kids are going to be so much better off if I stay home,’ but what we’re finding in adult outcomes is kids will be so much better off if women spend some time at work.” In the U.S. specifically, daughters of working moms earned 23% more income than daughters of stay-at-home moms.

However, this stat can apply to stay-at-home moms because no matter how much we love our children, being a stay-at-home mom is work (and a lot of it) when you are momming 24/7. The 23% merely proves that we aren’t bad moms if we want to or need to return to work after having children.

From a child's perspective, what do they see when their mom works? They see dedication, the value of hard work, and what it means to show up and fulfill a commitment continuously. This can be taught in school or daycare to a certain extent, but there’s no more significant lesson than that of a parent providing real-life, real-time examples to their child.

For anyone with multiple children, you see this when the younger one says what the older one says or does what the older one does. Sometimes, that's a great thing, and other times, it's not, but either way, children learn by repeating. When a child sees their mom go to work or in the actual act of working, they see their mom as more than their mom. They see her as a professional worker.

When there are two working parents, this usually means there’s another form of childcare for non-school-age kids. Whether it's a daycare, preschool, a nanny, or family, children are exposed to more and different people. This means varied types of social skills will be adopted and developed. For example, in daycare, if a child is in the infant room and then moves up to the toddler room, it won’t be long until they are walking and talking because they are learning from the social environment around them – another plus for working moms.

As moms, we can be really hard on ourselves whether we stay at home, work from home, or work outside of the house. So, for the working moms out there, when that guilt creeps in (and it will), remind yourself that you are setting a great example for your children and are giving them a social leg up if they are enrolled in organized learning opportunities during your work time.

What kind of experience have you had as a working mom when it comes to the impact on your children? Share your thoughts by commenting below.