Long hours, stress and emotionally demanding jobs can undermine parental confidence and contribute to emotional withdrawal from children, according to details from a new report. And the negative impact is as strong on parents in well-paid but stressful middle-class jobs as those in low-paid, low-skill occupations. When both parents work, the result is too often a “double shift” for mothers and a disengagement from family life by fathers, said Jen Lexmond, author of the report for thinktank Demos. Rather than pay, the keys to maintaining parents’ confidence in their ability to bring up children were flexible hours and the ability to be creative at work.
Shropshire Star, January 2011
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