Challenges arise in many times in our lives. These could be going to college, finding your first job, or even handling family conflicts. In the United States culture parental leave is a troubling thing to juggle while also needing to bring in income to support the family. This is an area I did not know much about previous to this project. Many countries have some sort of plan in place for expecting couples, even if only for a few months, but the US does not; in fact, there is not a requirement for facilities to have paid time off around the birth of a child. Garrett et al. explained this further: Legislation typically specifies how long a woman must work in a covered job before becoming eligible for maternity leave. In some cases,
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It is still believed today that women are the caregivers and only one parent should be responsible for them, since the husband should be bringing in the income. In the workplace, women are automatically considered the primary caregiver, of which they are entitled to long leave periods (Young 1205). This causes complications when the father would like to take time off to establish that bond with his child. In reality, his work will not give him that time off unless he specially requests it. Feldman et al. found that maternal depression is a risk that coincides with the adjustments after parental leave. They found that mothers who took longer leaves reported a higher level and feeling of family importance than those who did not (Feldman et al. 468). Through their study the researchers found a large significance between the two groups. Not only thinking of the mothers’ well-being, the time on leave also impacted that of their children. The researchers found that those who “took shorter leaves were less knowledgeable of infant development (Feldman et al. …show more content…
Spiteri et al. interviewed Maltesen mothers who had returned to full-time paid work after paid maternity leave. This study was to examine their transitioning experience so the researchers broke it up into three interviews as follows: 12 weeks after birth, 16 weeks and 20 weeks postpartum (Spiteri et al. 204). With this set up they were able to more easily see the difficulties of going back to work after having their baby. The Maltesen culture believes that maternity leave is seen as a time of preparation and planning ahead, including six themes: “support, emotional whirlwind, sense of duty, financial constraints, letting go and missing out” (Spiteri et al. 205). This study brings into light the reality of the transition of going back to work. This process is often underappreciated. These mothers ended up struggling with role overload, time management, and a change in their relationships (Spiteri 207). Although this study does not directly connect to the US’s way of parental leave, it proves the significance of this topic. These mothers were paid, and yet, they had a difficult time adjusting to the everyday life they lived before. Now imagine that without having been paid while away from work. That stress and feelings of being overwhelmed
It is still believed today that women are the caregivers and only one parent should be responsible for them, since the husband should be bringing in the income. In the workplace, women are automatically considered the primary caregiver, of which they are entitled to long leave periods (Young 1205). This causes complications when the father would like to take time off to establish that bond with his child. In reality, his work will not give him that time off unless he specially requests it. Feldman et al. found that maternal depression is a risk that coincides with the adjustments after parental leave. They found that mothers who took longer leaves reported a higher level and feeling of family importance than those who did not (Feldman et al. 468). Through their study the researchers found a large significance between the two groups. Not only thinking of the mothers’ well-being, the time on leave also impacted that of their children. The researchers found that those who “took shorter leaves were less knowledgeable of infant development (Feldman et al. …show more content…
Spiteri et al. interviewed Maltesen mothers who had returned to full-time paid work after paid maternity leave. This study was to examine their transitioning experience so the researchers broke it up into three interviews as follows: 12 weeks after birth, 16 weeks and 20 weeks postpartum (Spiteri et al. 204). With this set up they were able to more easily see the difficulties of going back to work after having their baby. The Maltesen culture believes that maternity leave is seen as a time of preparation and planning ahead, including six themes: “support, emotional whirlwind, sense of duty, financial constraints, letting go and missing out” (Spiteri et al. 205). This study brings into light the reality of the transition of going back to work. This process is often underappreciated. These mothers ended up struggling with role overload, time management, and a change in their relationships (Spiteri 207). Although this study does not directly connect to the US’s way of parental leave, it proves the significance of this topic. These mothers were paid, and yet, they had a difficult time adjusting to the everyday life they lived before. Now imagine that without having been paid while away from work. That stress and feelings of being overwhelmed