Media Report Critique

This paper critiques a media report that states that Working Mothers Risk Damaging Their Child’s Prospects. The critique is based on this very statement which tries to examine how the work of the mother may influence a child’s success or failures and what really contributes to the success or failure of a child. The report was relevant in the content, the research methods, outcomes and the message it passed along. However, there are a few weaknesses that can be identified from the report.

Running head; media report critique 1
Media Report Critique
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation

Media report critique 2
Introduction
The media continually gives statements and reports on various aspects of human life.
Human development, learning and behavior is one major topic that that the media has always
given reports about. Some of these reports are not based on scientific truths and they therefore
gives a challenge to readers in contradicting the information that is already known about these
fields. This paper critiques a media report that states that Working Mothers Risk Damaging Their
Child’s Prospects. The critique is based on this very statement which tries to examine how the
work of the mother may influence a child’s success or failures and what really contributes to the
success or failure of a child.
According to Newman, & Newman, (2017), the topic of the report and the introduction of
the same, it is important to note that the study was successful in finding out that there is a
relationship between parenting and the success of a child in regard to learning and personality
development. Poor parenting results in adverse effects in the development of a child in terms of
learning, personality and general cognitive development. It is therefore true that the working
condition of a mother might result in poor grades in their children’s school work, have mental
stress and even end up being unemployed.
The truth of the statements can be traced to the psychosexual theory of Sigmund Freud.
According to this theory, Grusec, & Hastings, (2014), children develop in various distinct stages
which are the oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. These stages are driven by sexual libido
which is found in different parts of the body depending on the stage of development. These
stages usually directs a child’s activities towards various parts of their bodies. The role of the
parent or the care giver is in controlling the gratification of these ergogenic zones to prevent too
much or too little gratification. If the child experiences disapproval in the satisfaction of their

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sexual drive, the child may develop anxiety which is resolved by developing fixations. Fixations
refers to the preoccupation with certain psychological situations surrounding the relevant zone.
Some of these fixations continue expressing themselves up to adulthood in form of neurosis,
hysteria and personality disorders.
While focusing more on learning and cognitive development, psychological theorists
such as Albert Bandura have argued out that the cognitive development heavily relies on the
constructs that a child makes out of the environment he or she grows in. other theorists however
maintain that issues of cognitive development and intelligence quotient are also determined by
the individual’s genetic makeup. This has been mainly centered on twin and adoption studies
which suggests that identical twins raised in different environments still have the same amount of
intelligence quotient. However, their performance is also largely influenced by the environment
they grow up in (De Lange, Kooij, & Van der Heijden, 2015).
It is however important to consider that in both perspectives, the environment that a child
grows in which has been recognized to directly influence the child’s personality and cognitive
development dos not only rely on the mother. In these personality theories the theorists recognize
the role of the immediate care giver who may not always be the mother of the child. Narrowing
down to the report, it is also important to consider that again it is not the work conditions of the
mother, but the availability of the mother in helping to develop the child’s personality.
According to this perspective, it can be therefore argued that mothers going back to work if they
ensure quality care is provided to the child still stand a greater chance of helping in the cognitive
and personality development of their children.
Among the goals of the study includes finding out how the working mothers impact to
the life development of their children. The study therefore compares mothers who go back to

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work after weaning their children and those who devote themselves to bringing up their children
throughout by not going back to work. The study also focuses on the effect of the government on
the choices that mothers make to either extensively bring up their children at home or go back to
their jobs after weaning. This is following the government waiver plan that gives tax waivers on
women who choose to go back to work in an attempt of having a bigger work force by having
the couple at work and using institutionalized means of child upbringing. Lastly, the report can
also be interpreted as giving information about the impact of having a father in a child’s
development.
While there are valid conclusions drawn from the report, the data gathering strategy is
relevant in determining the validity of the statements. The data gathering strategy for this report
was based on interviews of different people born around the 1970s. The data was collected from
people of all walks of life. The information about the number of months that the mother worked
before the child was five years old was collected. The months were then used to compare the
performance of these individuals at school, employability and the stress that that person
encountered in their life (Briley, & Tucker‐Drob, 2017). The mode of work of the mother
whether full time or part time was also identified before making the various conclusions on the
influence of all these factors on the cognitive and personality development of the individual.
The main concepts that the study narrowed down to are the work of the mother before the
child was 5 years old, the education of the child, and the likelihood of employment or
unemployment in the child’s future and the level of mental health of these children. The mental
health of the children was evaluated using the level of stress or the likelihood of developing
stress or depression in the later life of the child (Sigelman, & Rider, 2014). The work of the
mother before the child was five years was evaluated in terms of the mode of employment

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whether full time or part time and the total number of months the mother worked before the child
attained five years. The education of the child was evaluated in the likelihood of the child in
attaining an A grade and the mental health evaluated using the risk of unemployment and
psychological distress in their adult life.
Some of the other concepts that were also considered in the study include the influence of
the father on the development of the child, the income of the parents and level of education.
Family break ups and the comparisons of the siblings of these individuals were also factors that
were considered before drawing the conclusions based on Lamb, Sutton-Smith, Sutton-Smith, &
Lamb, (2014). The presence of the mother before the school years of the child was interpreted as
quality care which reportedly had a positive impact on the child’s education, personality and
mental health.
From an in depth analysis of all the concepts and the factors the main findings of the
study are that the quality of care before a child is of school going age determines the level of
achievements the child has in their later life. This means that those children who spend more
time with their mothers before they attain the school going age do well in their class work, they
have more and better capability of handling stress and they also develop more employability
skills. This helps increase their chances of employment and the likelihood of sticking to their
professions (Berk, 2017).
Payne, & Isaacs, (2017) the government plays a major role in determining the likelihood
of quality care given to children below the age of five years as the government gives incentives
to mothers in order to go back to work. In case these families may have little in terms of income,
the mothers opt to go back to work. Therefore, the government plays a major role in influencing
the quality of care of the children. Lastly, the report pointed out that most mothers are on part

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time employment. The finding from this observation is that mothers prefer part time
employment.
The media article is extensive in that it is able to critique the methods used in the
research. The main criticism levelled against the study is that the study was conducted on people
who were born more than thirty years ago. The report goes on to point that during this period,
there was very little in terms of quality child care and nursery education. The report goes on to
argue that the government has since then made necessary changes by creating a large expansion
of childcare. Several spokesmen, Capuzzi, (2016) have also made contributions to the same by
arguing that the government is to blame as it can be implicated of creating the bias using the
taxes between mothers who wish to extensively bring up their children and those who wish to go
back to work. This has led to the conclusion that the decision of whether and when to go back to
work should be left for the mothers to decide when they deem fit.
The report was relevant in the content, the research methods, outcomes and the message
it passed along. The strengths of the report lies in the ability to extensively determine the
importance of quality care to children below the school going age, the factors that influence the
quality of care of children below the school going age which has been largely determined by the
availability of the mother during this period. A lot of insight on how the government has
influenced the quality of care of children has been discussed. In addition, the report has also
addressed how this can be changed to create an even more conducive environment to mothers
who choose to raise their own children as opposed to institutionalized ways of bringing up their
children (McAdams, & Zapata-Gietl, 2015).
However, there are a few weaknesses that can be identified from the report. This includes
the fact that the report has limited the environmental influence of a child’s life to the mother and

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ignored all other environmental influences. The report has also failed to provide enough evidence
linking the mode of work of the mother and the cognitive and the personal development of a
child. The report can be said to downplay other aspects of a child’s development that influences
learning such as personal attributes, health and genetic influences. Regarding to the
employability of an individual, the report has also undermined the personal attributes and other
employability skills as it has only largely focused on the education. According to Wrzus, &
Roberts, (2017) the author only recognizes the level and quality of parenting while ignoring all
other aspects that contribute to the child’s overall academic performance, cognitive development
and personality in the adult years.
There are also several bias that can be identified in the way that the author has presented
the report. This includes the fact that the author is biased in his definition of quality care. The
author defines quality care by the mere presence of the mother in the child’s early life. However,
in contrast to this, the presence of the mother does not guarantee quality of care as some mothers
still bring up their children poorly. In addition, the author does not recognize that quality care in
a child’s life goes beyond the age of five years as the years beyond five also determine the
success and behavior of children in their later years (Kail, & Cavanaugh, 2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is key to point out that the quality of life that a child has determines their
future success or failure. This is because it determines the capability of coping with difficult
situations, the constructs that people make of their environment and their definition of success.
However, the mere presence of the mother during childhood is not the only determinant of the
quality of care accorded to a child in their lifetime.

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REFERENCES
Berk, L. (2017). Development through the lifespan. Pearson Education India.
Briley, D. A., & Tucker‐Drob, E. M. (2017). Comparing the developmental genetics of cognition
and personality over the life span. Journal of Personality, 85(1), 51-64.
Capuzzi, D. (2016). Human growth and development across the lifespan: Applications for
counselors. John Wiley & Sons.
De Lange, A. H., Kooij, D. T. A. M., & Van der Heijden, B. I. J. M. (2015). Human resource
management and sustainability at work across the lifespan: An integrative
perspective. Facing the challenges of a multi-age workforce: A use-inspired approach,
50-79.
Grusec, J. E., & Hastings, P. D. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of socialization: Theory and research.
Guilford Publications.
Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2016). Essentials of human development: A life-span view.
Cengage Learning.
Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2018). Human development: A life-span view. Cengage
Learning.
Lamb, M. E., Sutton-Smith, B., Sutton-Smith, B., & Lamb, M. E. (Eds.). (2014). Sibling
relationships: Their nature and significance across the lifespan. Psychology Press.
McAdams, D. P., & Zapata-Gietl, C. (2015). Three strands of identity development across the
human life course: Reading Erik Erikson in full. The Oxford handbook of identity
development, 81-94.

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Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2017). Development through life: A psychosocial approach.
Cengage Learning.
Payne, V. G., & Isaacs, L. D. (2017). Human motor development: A lifespan approach.
Routledge.
Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2014). Life-span human development. Cengage Learning.
Wrzus, C., & Roberts, B. W. (2017). Processes of personality development in adulthood: The
TESSERA framework. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21(3), 253-277.