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To Work or Not To Work? A Mother's Dilemma: Critical Reading Test

This document summarizes a text about a mother's dilemma of whether to work or not after having children. The text discusses the author's personal experiences with making this choice after having three kids in different places and circumstances. It also summarizes a study that found children from lower-income families whose mothers worked performed similarly or better cognitively compared to children whose mothers stayed home, especially if the mothers returned to work when the children were 9-24 months old. The text concludes that good childcare can provide skills and benefits to children that staying home alone may not.

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152 views4 pages

To Work or Not To Work? A Mother's Dilemma: Critical Reading Test

This document summarizes a text about a mother's dilemma of whether to work or not after having children. The text discusses the author's personal experiences with making this choice after having three kids in different places and circumstances. It also summarizes a study that found children from lower-income families whose mothers worked performed similarly or better cognitively compared to children whose mothers stayed home, especially if the mothers returned to work when the children were 9-24 months old. The text concludes that good childcare can provide skills and benefits to children that staying home alone may not.

Uploaded by

Anitazu 10
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CRITICAL READING TEST

Credit Hour: 3 Credit Hours


Semester: 3rd Semester
Lecturer: Dr. Nia Kurniawati, M.Pd.

To Work or Not to Work? A Mother’s Dilemma

To work or not to work? Every mother faces this dilemma with every newborn
baby. I had three kids, each born in a different place in the world and each in
different circumstances, and I had the same dilemma each time.

When Eden, my 25 year old, was born, I could not really choose. I was still studying
for my degree and working for a living. I had to go back to college and work a
month after I had given birth to her. Fortunately for me, I could leave Eden with
Gal, who was juggling his studies and his work to care for Eden. It ended up being
the most wonderful experience both for Eden and for Gal.

When Roof, my 18-year-old, was born, we lived in California, USA. This was far
away from our families after we had lost two kids. When he was 4 months old, we

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moved to Thailand. When he was about 10 months old, I felt like I was going nuts
staying at home and we got a nanny. This allowed me to go to work, have adult
conversations and keep my sanity.

When Noff, my 13-year-old, was born, we lived in Melbourne, Australia. I started a


business and she went to a family day care twice a week. This allowed me to fulfill
my obligations to my clients.

The topic of being a working mom or a stay-at-home mom is a very common


discussion among pregnant mothers and mothers of young babies. Most mothers
prefer not to make a decision ahead of time, and let circumstances decide.

Financial concerns are a big issue in this decision process. A family’s financial future
is often a reason for uncertainty and fear for pregnant women and mothers
of young babies.

Another common topic of the discussion whether to work or not is the impact it is
going to have on babies’ educational and emotional wellbeing.

To justify their position in this matter, women often bring their personal examples
from their own mothers. Unfortunately, this can be very misguided. Choices made
20 years ago are very different to the choices today. Circumstances change.

A study done in Boston College and published in the APA Journal of Development
Psychology shed some light on the dilemma of working moms. In this longitude
study, which examined 10,700 children born in the United States in 2001, babies
were followed from 9 months to 4 years and when they entered kindergarten. The
study examined the impact of their mothers’ work time, stress and income on their
development, cognitive skills and behavior.

Mom’s reported the child’s age when they went back to work, how many hours
they worked, their stress level and time availability. The kids cognitive abilities
were examined through standardized tests. Cognitive skills measured their
vocabulary, literacy and numeracy, and their behavior was measured though
attention skills and interaction with other kids.

The conclusion of the study was that children from lower income families whose
mothers went to work performed similar and higher in their cognitive skills than
children whose mothers stayed at home. They also found that children from low-

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income families had fewer behavior problems if their mothers went back to work
when they were between 9 to 24 months old.

This survey was different from similar surveys done 20 years earlier and the lead
author of the current study, Caitlin McPherran Lombardi, Ph.D., of Boston College,
said that “Different cultural attitudes, more readily available and higher-quality
child care and more fathers participating in child rearing are possible reasons for
the difference.”

I have had this discussion with many parents I work with. There are some skills that
the best mothers in the world cannot teach because they require other kids to
practice and develop with. Sharing, caring, consideration, flexibility, attention span,
emotional stretch, exposure to different teaching strategies, decision making,
friendship, and collaboration are just some of the skills that a good early childhood
center can expose kids to easily that others will never be able to do.

So, if you have to go back to work when your baby is 9 months old and you are
worried about how this might affect them, rest assured. A good child care can
work wonders for children. If you are waiting for circumstance to dictate your
decision on whether to work or not, now you can make a conscious decision to
send your kid to a good child care knowing that it is definitely going to benefit
them.

Happy parenting,
Ronit

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.


1. What is the text about?
2. What is the summary of the text? (1 paragraph)
3. What is the author’s purpose? Explain.
4. Who is the author?
5. What is the author’s ideology?
6. Who do you think the author is? Explain.
7. What is the author’s tone?
a. Tone 1 ……………………………… Example ……………………………………………………
b. Tone 2 ……………………………… Example ……………………………………………………
c. Tone 3 ……………………………… Example ……………………………………………………
d. Tone 4 ……………………………… Example ……………………………………………………

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e. Tone 5 ……………………………… Example ……………………………………………………

8. Are there any verbal and situational ironies in the text? Provide examples
and explanations.
9. When do you think the text is published? Provide textual evidence.
10.Who gets benefits from the text?
11.Who is silenced from the text?
12.Provide an example of Fact and Opinion in the text by rewriting the
sentences.
13.Who do you think the target readers of the text? Explain
14.How does the text shape the world of the audience?
15.Find the statement you agree most and disagree most and explain your
reasons.

Thank you

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