I strongly believe that working mothers can indeed balance both work and family. Take my mum for example, she sets out early in the morning for work and comes back home only late at night but even in situation like this, she still tries her very best to always make time for the family. My mum believed that family is forever more important than work even if how high her position is in her career.

She uses ways like calling home during her breaks, chat with me through MSN by webcam, make her weekends free just for the family and most importantly plan her schedules well. In addition on how my mum get to spend time with us despite being a busy bee herself, is that she always tries to finish up her work in the office so that she would not need to bring her piles of work home and rush on them, instead she will use her time after work to be with the family and coach my siblings and me with our studies.

  I fathom that my mum is a busy woman and that she has a lot of burdens to carry and sometimes we as children may even add on to her worries but I finally noticed that balancing both work and family not only requires working mothers alone but it also involves the understanding of the family. If there is no one to empathise with these working mums and always think that they put their work as their priority, then of course as a child you will feel that she’s juggling very hard between work and family and thus have no time for you.

 Why not we put ourselves in their shoes? Only like this then can we come to realize that if there is no one to understand us and if we cannot plan our schedule properly, we are forever struggling between work and family.

So, as children of working mothers, let’s not always think that our ‘mama’ is neglecting us all the time and as for working mothers, do remember to note that your life is not all about office, meeting and work only, there is still your loving family back at home.

In conclusion, I personally feel that working mothers truly can have the best of both worlds.

Done by: Shanny Thie

The family could be taken care of if they hired a maid, it will be completely different. As the mother has to work for the first few 13hours, the maid can be at home the whole day. She could help to clean the house, cook food, take care of the children and even buy things for the family from a near-by market. In other words, working mothers can concentrate on their work more than they usually do.                                                                                                                                            

I notice that some people can manage both sides very well by doing part-time jobs and rushing back home to do their housework. Even though it goes very well like this, the person gets lesser money than she could get. Sometimes it is half the price.                                   

                Sometimes, I do think that the man should be earning the money while the mothers stay at home and do housework. But as people are very greedy and want to earn more money, they work outside too and forget about the family who needs her. I think that this mother is really very selfish who does only care about herself and not her family. She should at least go on part-time jobs or hire a maid which most people do. But again, she is not willing to spend the money on maids and lose money by doing part-time jobs.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                From what I learn from the interviews some people think that work is more important while some people think that family is more important. As man is more valuable than money, most people think that family is more important. I think that this ‘question’ has a lot of meaning to it and is quite hard to answer. As people grow up, they would change their point of view in things like this. So for some people who think that work is more important now, they could just say that family is good when they grow up.      

                Overall, I think that working mothers cannot balance both work and family at the same time as it will be too exhausted for them to come home with extra office work  to do with their daily housework. It will be ‘alright’ if they would be willing to spend money on a maid.

Essay by: Amanda Mak

Does this sound familiar?

That’s caveman thinking, and fortunately for today cavemen are history.

Now mothers can do both.

For the menial tasks, hiring maids has now become the trend. Now what’s left is the family bonding, which will require a lot of determination to get home by dinnertime, by which mothers will have to have shut the work out, for now it is time for the family. This also means that mothers would have to have finish up the due work by then. If a mother brings work to the family too, then the work will be introduced into the family, and there goes the total family focus. For if a mother truly wants to be top in both worlds, then a 100% of herself must be given to each, agreed?

Both have equally high demands, thus both cannot collide with each other. Thus when it comes to work, it is work time. When it comes to family, it is family and only family.

Also, mothers should designate a family day, most likely during the weekends, planning the activities such that the family never feels neglected in the know of the fact that their mothers work.

However, this should not all depend on the mother. The whole family should make time for each other and learn to understand if the occasional inabilities to make time surface.

Back to the question at hand, it is therefore that I believe that working mothers can balance both work and family.

by Wong E-Wen

My mother is a working mother and hardly ever has time for the family. She hardly has time to go out to shop for groceries and daily nessecities, let alone spending time with me. Morever, my mothers is often given a lot of work to do by her supervisor and therefore taking much of her time, resulting her to have less time left with the family.

Even if she does not have to go for work on weekends, she will still continue to rush on her work as her schedule is very tight and she has a lot of meeeings to attend. Sometimes she even competes with me for the computer so as to finish up her work, depriving me of my use of the computer to chat with my friends.

Furthermore, I can only see her early in the morning when she fetches me to school and at night when she comes back home from work.

Hence, I conclude that working mothers cannot balance work and family as they already take up so much time for work, so how are they going to be able to manage their families as well?

Done by: Jolene Chan

Some working mothers can balance work and family as there are many ways to help them such as, hiring maids to do household chores and take care of their family or even sending their children to childcare centres. Other than these ways, they can also ask their parents to take care of their kids if they do not bear to spend their money on maids and childcare centres. Although in some cases, the children are too young, their grandparents are not keen on taking care of them, only then do I think that maids should be hired or the children be sent to childcare centres.

Balancing both work and family shouldn’t be a problem if the working mothers can plan and schedule her time well. She may want to try to finish up her work during office hours so that when she comes back home, she can spend time with her family, which allows her to communicate with her family well.

A working mother can also find a time to seat down with her family and plan her time with her family so that they can make time for each other, work and school. They can also plan family holidays each year so as to catch up with the time they have lost with one another.

During the weekends, working mothers may want to stay at home to teach her children or bring her family out so that they can have quality time, so as not to let the children think that their parents do not care about them. Another way that working mothers can balance their work and family is to try and call home in order to talk to their children during free time when they are working.

Parents should constantly remind their children that they love them and it is not because they don’t want to be with them but because they have to work to earn money for the family thus, they need to plan their time properly so that they can spend time with their children, husbands as well as work. Therefore, I strongly agree that working mothers can indeed balance both work and family.

                                  Done by: Jolene Low & Shanny Thie

Not really, they will tend to neglect at one side generally because after work, they will be dog-tired and it will be too late to foster bonds with family members.

THEN DO YOU THINK WORKING MOTHERS SHOULD GIVE UP THIR CAREER IN ORDER TO TAKE CARE OF THE FAMILY?

It depends on the family expense; if the husband can earn enough to support the whole family then it is good. However, it is difficult to do so because the cost of living in Singapore is getting higher.

IF WORKING MOTHERS ARE SO BUSY WITH WORK AND THERE IS A PUBLIC HOLIDAY, DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD SPENT TIME WITH FAMILY OR SHOULD THEY RUSH IN THEIR WORK THAT IS DUE THE NEXT DAY WHICH IS AFTER THE PUBLIC HOLIDAY?

It depends on individual. Preferably, I would not want to bring work back home.

BUT THE WORK WILL BE DUE THE NEXT DAY              

Then I will get the work done first because I can still compensate on weekends for family.

AS WORKING MOTHERS, THEY HAVE TO SPEND TIME FOR WORK AS WELL AS CHILDREN, HOW ABOUT THE TIME THEY SHOULD SPEND WITH THEIR HUSBAND?

Of course spending time with husband is also a must but I feel the mother generally spends most of her time on the children.

AGAIN, HOW ARE WORKING MOTHERS ABLE TO SPEND TIME FOR THEIR SPOUSE?

Maybe they can spend times with husband on weekends and ask their parents to look after their kids for a while.

WHAT IS YOUR VIEWS ON MOTHERS HIRING A MAID OR SENDING THEIR CHILDREN TO CHILDCARE CENTRE? DO YOU THINK IT IS RIGHT FOR MOTHERS TO DO THIS?

There is no right or wrong for this question, rather I think that mothers are forced to do so because there is no other choice-they have to work.

IF WORKING MOTHERS ARE GIVEN OPPORTUNITTIES IN THEIR JOB THAT ENABLES THEM TO BE PROMOTED BUT WILL REQUIRE THEM TO GO OVERSEAS, DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD GRAB THIS OPPORTUNITY OR SHOULD THEY SPEND MORE TIME ON FAMILY AND NOT THINK ABOUT BEING PROMOTED OR HAVING THE FRONTLINE JOBS?

This is difficult to answer but I will think that they should go overseas and leave the kids in Singapore.

WHAT IF THEY DID WELL IN THE OVERSEAS FOR THAT PIECE OF WORK AND GET PROMOTED WHEN THEY COME BACK TO SINGAPORE, THAT MEANS THEY WILL HAVE MORE RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXTRA WORK IN THEIR CAREER

Then they will have to miss the growing phase in their career and spend time with their children. If it is me, I would not go overseas if I already have kids but if I do not have any then I will still consider the opportunity.

SO IF YOU LET GO OF THIS OPPORTUINITTY, IT MEANS THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO CONTINUE WORKING IN YOUR CURRENT POSITION IN YOUR CAREER?

Yes, that’s right.

WILL YOU PREFER TO HIRE A MAID WHEN YOU HAVE CHILDREN?

I am not sure as I have not thought about it yet. I think I will really have to depend on my in-laws as I do not feel very secure to have a maid at home. Most probably I will send my children to childcare centre.

THEREFORE, HOW DO YOU THINK WORKING MOTHERS CAN BALANCE BOTH WORK AND FAMILY? HOW ARE THEY GOING TO DO THAT?

They surely need some help from their family and maybe seek help by sending their children to childcare centre or even take on a flexible jobs that allows them to work at home sometimes.

UNFORTUNATELY, WORKING MOTHERS CANNOT FIND JOBS THAT OFFERS FLEXIBLE HOURS SO EASILY SINCE NOW MOST COMPANIES PREFER THE YOUNG PEOPLE.

Quite true.

SO, OVERALL DO YOU THINK WORKING MOTHERS CAN BALANCE BOTH WORK AND FAMILY?

They should be able to balance but that will not be an easy task.

Interviewee: A 23 years old lady

Interviewed by: Shanny Thie

Do you think mothers can work and take care of the family? Why do you think they can or cannot do so? If you are a working mother, do you think you will focus more on family or work? Do you think mothers should not care about work and instead concentrate on the family? Why?

I think mothers can both work and take care of the family because my mum also work and when she comes back home and take care of the family, she says that it is not tiring at all. As for me, I think that working mothers should focus more on family. Mothers should not care about their work because to me, a mother is a name who should stay at home and at least take care of the kids.

INTERVIEW WITH A THIRTEEN –YEAR-OLD GIRL (NEIGHBOUR)

Do you think mothers can take care of the family and work at the same time? What would you do if you were a mother? If you were a working mother, do you think you will focus more on family or work? Why?

Personally, I feel that mothers should go out to work and hire a maid to help take care of the family. It will be too exhausting to work and take care of the family at the same time. I do not know whether I will become a mother next time but I know that I do not want to get married. However, if I was a working mother, I would focus more on work as only by working could I then earn lots of money to make ends meet.

INTERVIEW WITH A FORTY-THREE –YEAR-OLD MOM

Can working mothers balance both work and family? What make you want to be a working mother? Will you focus more on work or family? Why do you make this choice? Do you think mothers should not care about work and instead concentrate on their family?

Of course they can! It will be very tiring though.  We have to work here and there daily. It is incredibly tiring. Even though I do not work now, I have been through it before.

In my perspectives, having a family is a must as it gives the joy to the family. Working is important too as you earn money from it. I will focus more on family, as humans are more precious than money. Yes, they should not care so much about their work and instead look after their family and cherish the people whom they loved and the people around them.

Interviewed by: Amanda Mak

Edited by: Shanny Thie