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Jacqueline Maley's article ''Working mothers guiltier at home'' highlights a far more disturbing issue than the supposed correlation between parental guilt and "undisciplined'' children. It highlights that our society's discourse around the value and importance of parenting and caring for children is sadly lacking.
Guilt is a heavy duty emotion and alarm bells should be ringing if we think there's an epidemic of guilt-ridden mothers. Instead of bagging them out, why aren't we addressing the cause of that guilt?
My guess is that many women feel forced to return to the workplace (most often on a full-time basis) before they are actually ready to leave their child in someone else's care.
Acclaimed child psychologist and author Steve Biddulph was spot on when he said "We cannot succeed as parents unless the structures we live in support our goals. Our society has unintentionally but undeniably become toxic to families - so we must change it!''
How about we start with changes to our archaic employment and industrial relations policies to make it easier for both mums and dads to make choices that optimise their family's particular needs?
Or address inflexible and perversely expensive child care?
Or adjust taxation policies to reflect the unique needs of parents with young children?