Carol M. Devine, a professor at Cornell University says that when people don't eat together, their diets are worse. Sure, working mothers are certainly pressed for time- but does this mean they go to fast food places regularly? I don't think so. This really upset me because growing up both of my parents worked full time. I also have plenty of friends who had working parents. I still ate great healthy meals and was not taken to places like McDonald’s regularly. I am perfectly healthy, and so are my brothers. Just because a mother is working full time, does not mean she cannot properly provide for her children. There are stay at home mothers that go to fast food restaurants more than working mothers do! I bet there are many working mothers who have obese children, but there are also so many that don't. While the article on CNN does explain that there are other variables contributing to the weight gain, I believe that child obesity has so many contributing factors that this study is inconclusive and somewhat bias.
I think these studies are jumping the gun. All families are different whether they're employed or not. Susan Wenner Jackson, a blogger and working mother states: "I don't know how valuable these results are. They're not giving me anything." She also talks about how unreasonable it is to link working mothers with being inadequate parents. I agree with her and I think that other studies should be conducted that are more specific in order to conclude that working mothers are contributing to obesity.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/04/children.bmi.moms/index.html
I think the studies are valuable, but analysis, and conclusion that "working mothers are to blame" is wholly unfair. There is plenty of blame to be spread around, I think most glaring would be the lack of health regulations on the food industry that allows them to continue to produce products that are killing us. Also, and this is a personal pet peeve in these types of studies, what about fathers? I think in modern family dynamics, both parents share equal responsibillity for the welfare of the child.
ReplyDeleteI agree that fathers should have been part of the study. In the article on CNN.com, they talk about how fathers could not be part of the studies because there were not enough stay at home fathers. Hmmm... I don't know- seems somewhat gender bias towards working mothers. There are certainly working fathers that may be partly to blame too!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with all three of you. I am a working mother, and a mother in school. My daughter still gets her vegetables, and a wide variety of food, even if that means it needs to get prepared in the morning for my boyfriend to heat up in the evening while I am working. While I was working full time it def. was difficult to make sure healthy foods were provided, but there was no stopping at fast foods, it just meant diner was a little bit later on certain nights and fruits and vegetables were given as snacks to make up for the late diner. Now that i work part time and go to school full time, i work at night, go to school in the morning, healthy foods are still always provided. I wonder in the study how "random" a sample was taken, and what factors were taken into consideration? Many working mothers have nanny's who provide healthy meals, or many mothers have family watching the children to provide healthy meals. Obesity has a lot to consider, the amount of activity they do in a day. Are these kids active? Are they participating in gym at school? People always want to blame the mother. I find that awful as a mother myself! The school systems are cutting costs here and there and children aren't getting involved in extra curricular activities like they used to. I think that is to blame! ALong with poor diet
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