Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Previous research has documented that the failure of institutional child care to deal with the care of sick children is a widespread source of stress and dissatisfaction amongst working parents. Questionnaires distributed to working parents of young children through some Sydney child care centres netted 489 responses. The survey determined which parent generally cared for sick children, the impact on their job, and their feelings about combining work and parenting. Responses indicated that the gap in institutional child care services for sick children persists and remains a considerable source of parental dissatisfaction. Mothers in particular saw disruption to work to care for sick children as a particular problem in demonstrating commitment to their career and as a major source of guilt in their role of working parent.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1999). Child Care June 1999, Cat. No.4402.0, ABS, Canberra.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2000). Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families, Cat No.6224.0, Canberra: ABS.

Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (DEWRSB), Work and Family Unit (2002). Work and Family, 23, August, Canberra: Work and Family Unit.

Farrell

, Tayler

, and Tennent

(2002). Early childhood services: What can children tell us? Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 27(3), 13–17.

Goodfellow

(2003). Grandparents as regular child care providers: Unrecognised, under-valued and under-resourced Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 28(3), 7–17.

Hochschild

with Machung

(1989). The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. New York: Avon Books.

Hochschild

(1997). The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. New York: Metropolitan Books.

Kahn

A.J.

& Kamerman

S.B.

(1987). Child Care: facing the hard choice. Dover: Auburn House.

McDonald

(2001). Work-family policies are the right approach to the prevention of very low fertility. People and Place, 9(3), 17–27.

10.

Morehead

, Steele

, Alexander

, Stephen

, & Duffin

(1997). Changes at Work: The 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. South Melbourne: Longman.

11.

Ochiltree

& Greenblat

(1991). Sick Children: How working mothers cope. AIFS Early Childhood Study Paper 2, Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.

12.

Pocock

(2001). Having a Life: Work, Family, fairness and community in 2000. Adelaide, Adelaide University: Centre for Labour Research.

13.

Pocock

, van Wanrooy

, Strazzari

, and Bridge

(2001). Fifty Families: What unreasonable hours are doing to Australians, their families & their communities. A report commissioned by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Canberra.

14.

van Eyk

(1992). Caring for Sick Children: How Working Mothers Cope. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

15.

VandenHeuvel

(1993). When Roles Overlap: Workers with Family Responsibilities. AIFS Monograph No.14, Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.

16.

Wearing

& Wearing

(1996). Women Breaking Out: Changing Discourses on Grandmotherhood. Journal of Family Studies, 2, 165–177.

17.

Wolcott

& Glezer

(1995). Work and Family Life: Achieving Integration. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family

How Working Parents Cope with the Care of Sick Young Children

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References