Book asks mums: Do you really need to work?

WORKING mothers need to step off the treadmill and start questioning whether they really need to work outside the home, a conference at University College Cork (UCC) will be told this weekend.

Founder of newly launched mummy.ie website Meabh Smith has called on mothers to question what their children need and what they need themselves and then make “an educated decision” on who will look after their family.

The cost to you and your family of commuting, childcare, income tax outlay, damaged family time and work-related stress need to be calculated, she said.

Former engineer and full-time-mother to three children under 10, Ms Smith is arguing that the Government’s economic policy, whereby dual income families pay less tax and which actively encourages women in the workplace, is “taking from mothers their right to choose”.

In her book, When the Penny Drops: An Irish Mother’s Guide to Not Working, she urges people to sit down and examine if they really need to drive an ’08 executive car and have two foreign holidays a year.

“In a culture that measures worth and achievement solely in terms of money, the intensive work of rearing responsible adults counts for little. The cumulative effect of economic policies is a heavy financial penalty on anyone who chooses to spend any serious amount of time with children,” she said.

Joining the chorus coming from childcare experts such as Steve Biddulph and Penelope Leach, she said: “It is my belief that parental care, indeed maternal care, is the best care for children.

“I believe that many women would prefer to care for their children themselves because it is the care which matches children’s needs best, but also because there is an immense and immeasurable return from motherhood,” she said.

“I have spoken to women who do not particularly enjoy their job, and who tell me they would like to stay at home with their children, but they need to work because they need the money.

“Some of these women are driving very big, very new cars and go on several holidays per year. Those women do need the money for the lifestyle, but they could adjust their needs, they could limit their luxuries if they wanted to spend more time with their children. They have a choice.”

Ms Smith says that staying at home may not be the best decision for many parents as they may be “happier parents” while working but that the key to avoiding “carrying around a crock of guilt” was to examine your choices so you can happily stand over them.