Mother's work 'bad for children'

Spending time with children helps their development

Children of mothers who return to work when they are small perform less well at school, researchers have found.

A report from the Institute for Social and Economic Research said having a working mother also affected a child's emotional development.

They say the effect is more pronounced in children of poorer mothers.

The researchers said they did not believe mothers should stay at home - instead employers should look at more flexible working arrangements.

For many parents, particularly in the south-east, they simply have no choice but to both go out to work National Family and Parenting Institute

The team looked at the research which has been carried out into the effects of parental employment on children's development.

The children had been assessed throughout their childhood.

It was found that children of mothers who had gone back to work before they started school developed more slowly emotionally, and performed less well in reading and maths tests, than children of mothers who had stayed at home.

The effect continued into the children's teenage years, with a mother's early return to work reducing a child's chance of progressing to A-levels from 60 to 50%.

Time and money

But the negative effects of having a working mother were found to be less severe for the children of better educated mothers.

The researchers said the beneficial effects of a higher family income may 'cancel out' the negative effects of having a working mother.

They add that other factors, such as the amount of time mothers spend with their children were also important in influencing development.

Professor Marco Francesconi, one of the report's authors, told BBC News Online: "Whether or not a mother works is just one dimension of family life.

"There are other things that are directly relevant to children's development, such as money and the time parents spend with them."

He added: "There are many families where both parents need, or want, to go to work, but this doesn't preclude them from having lots of constructive, rich experiences with their children."

Culture change

Professor Francesconi, said he did not want the findings to be used as evidence that mothers stay at home.

"Rather than worrying about them, or dismissing them, we need to look at how we could actively think about how we could give more choices to working parents.

"We need to change the culture in the workplace, and policy makers could learn from the experiences of other countries."

A spokeswoman for the National Family and Parenting Institute said: "The research is perfectly valid. But the way it might be used is to say to mothers 'get back in the home' - which is not useful to anybody.

"For many parents, particularly in the south-east, they simply have no choice but to both go out to work."