Communication Strategies

Throughout evolution the roles of women and men have been predetermined. Men are generally the financial and physical security providers while women are suppose to take care of their homes and children. Even cartoons that depict prehistoric lifestyles, for example The Flintstones, portray the same image. But times are changing. Men are not the only ones who have to go out and earn now.(kishore, 2008) Working parents is becoming the norm these days. So has this affected the image of women as better parents in our society
Why are women considered better parents The most logical conclusion that we all jump to be is that, its the woman who bears the child in her womb. Thus the time that the child is inside the mother she forms a very emotional and strong bond with the fetus. The process of delivery is another form of sacrifice that a mother makes for her child. The nursing period is also a time when the newborn is completely dependent on the mother. Women have developed a natural instinct which allows them to sense the needs of their children even when they cannot verbally communicate them. This is why they say that a mother has a sixth sense about her childs needs until the child moves on into another relationship in which he or she can find someone to take care of them.  Motherhood is no more an easy task. The challenges that the mother has to face today are much greater.

Handling jobs and the responsibility of managing a house and not letting the children come under the corruptive influences of the media and peer pressure. This is why if you look at some polls today, people consider the fathers of today to be doing a better job than the mothers.(Publications, 2007)
Another reason why a mother is linked to her children is due to the greater fitness ceiling of a father. Fitness ceiling means how well an individual can do reproductively.  Moulay Ismail who was the last Sharifian emperor of Morocco had the greatest number of children ever recorded, one thousand and forty-two to be more precise. The greatest number of children that a woman has ever had is sixty-nine. She was the wife of a Russian peasant in the eighteenth century(Folkard, 2004). The reason that this was possible was because she never had any single births and all but two of her children survived till adulthood. All these facts prove one thing. The man has a greater power to reproduce then the woman. If a woman has had 6 pregnancies till she is forty and none of the children survive she has lost all her chances of passing off her genes to the next generation. A forty year old man can go on to reproduce all his life. This means that since he has a greater chance of passing off his genes he thus has lesser attachment to each child. The mother also has lesser chances of abandoning her children and this is another reason why the father becomes more reckless. He expects the mother to always be there for the child.

The father also has a very major role to play in a childs life. He is usually the earner and provider of the family (Gorgan, 2009). Defends and provides security.(writefix)  The father normally also provides the stricter discipline. Thus the children with a short-tempered father are more unlikely to become disobedient since they fear the wrath that this might bring on. Since the time that he spends with the children is more limited the children tend to respect and stay in awe of his position for a greater period of time. With the mother they know how much nagging it will take to convince her for something. Religion and society also sets this role onto the male species. If the father does a commendable job at parenting he can also be considered a good role model for the male child to look up to. The female child will also have a clearer idea about what kind of men they should associate with. It is generally in the fathers nature to be protective to the childs physical security. Unlike the fathers of the eighteenth century, the dads of today have much more time to spend with their children. Where as a farmer of the previous century would be up and off to work at dawn break, thus getting much less and limited time to spend with his children, the dad of today on average has a more lenient schedule and thus is more involved in his childrens life.(Diemer, 1949)

In the end this whole argument boils down to the fact that which parent is fulfilling their responsibilities. Even though a mother is normally considered the better parent many facts can work against her. If she is an alcoholic or does any other form of drug abuse, leaves the child alone or with someone unfit to provide care.(Alandlord., 2010) If she cannot tackle the childs health issues or provide a security, be it physical or psychological, she will be deemed a bad parent. With the number of both working parents climbing each day we cannot just base our judgment of the better parent by the role that society assigns to us. The only way to determine who the better parent is is to see who takes better care of the needs of the child because parenthood is only about how well the child is cared for.