It is extremely common this day and age to find families in which both the mother and the father are employed. Females are tending to get married at a later age and therefore, have children when they are older because they want to pursue their careers. This also coincides with the idea that after a woman does have a child, she eventually goes back to her job. If a mother and father are both working, who is raising their children? What does that child do while their parents are working? Does having these working parents affect the child developmentally? These are all questions and concerns that parents may have when they are working and raising adolescent teens simultaneously. This summary is intended to answer these questions and provide parents with information that will help them to better understand their own specific working situation.

Concerns

It has become an all to familiar scene with the recent phenomena of teen violence. Instances of shootings, such as the one in Columbine, have made many wonder if parental involvement is non-existent these days (Shellenberger, 2000). How could these things happen, not to mention happen over and over? It is a common belief that if parents were to pay more attention to their kids, this would never happen. However, parents have become seemingly obsessed, focusing all their attentions to their careers, and leaving little attention for their children often out of economic necessity. Parents seem to have the feeling that once their child is old enough to stay home alone by themselves, they are then grown and the parents work is done. This however is not the case because adolescence is a time of critical growth.

"Millions of school-age children in the United States get out of school each day before their parents get home from work (Belle, 1999)". What these children do in these hours of solitude may be unbeknownst to their parents. Some participate in after school programs, some are looked after by others, but many are by themselves (Belle, 1999). It is this relationship between working parents and their children that may ultimately lead to struggling, troubled teens (Shellenberger, 2000). These teens may become rebellious and unruly.

Parents play a major role in the development of their children and when their focus is not all present, their teens tend to do things to make them pay attention. Teens become disobedient and defiant based on the lack of attention and care that they naturally crave at this stage in their lives. This in turn, creates a hostile home environment. "Many working parents of troubled teens are finding family problems like theirs are surprisingly common (Shellenberger, 2000)". This however, establishes more trouble because unlike problems that are associated with younger children, problems with teens are not widely acceptable reasons to be distracted from work or other like priorities (Shellenberger, 2000). Adolescents do not want to let on that they need their parents, but they in fact do. Parents are slowly but surely realizing that they need to change how they are balancing work and their family life, because in the end their adolescent teens are the ones who are suffering the most.

Solutions

"Now work-and-family specialists see growing interest in career adjustments that allow parents to keep closer tabs on teens (Gardner, 2000)". Parents are realizing that their adolescent children need more supervision than they had been previously receiving. This may mean coming home from work earlier or creating special meeting times to talk (Gardner, 2000). They are also realizing that just because their child is older, does not necessarily mean that their job of raising their child is done. Adolescents may say that they do not want there parents to come to a special event, that it "doesn't really matter", but in actuality the teen is thrilled when the parent takes off from work and takes the time to spend with them.

Working adults are finding that the period of adolescents is one of the most crucial and critical as well, and it is during this time that teens struggle with their own identity. They are coming into a period of maturation and development that is scary and uncertain. They need guidance and strong support features that come from their parents (Gardner, 2000). Adolescents need their parent's reassurance and direction to help them form other normal, functioning relationships and healthy ideals.

"More parents are also asking for workplace seminars on parenting teens. At employees' request, employers are booking 50% more information sessions on adolescent issues than a year ago (Shellenberger, 2000)". Parents are realizing the importance of their involvement with their teens. They have come to an understanding that they are in fact able to work, but that this means their adolescents require some extra care and attention. They realize that they must give their children more "focused" time (Lewis, 1999). Closer supervision and parental involvement are also instrumental in guiding their teens along the right path.

Conclusion

It has become a trend for parents to both be holding down careers and a household simultaneously. This is true in both households with two parents, and especially in single-parent households. This may be because of the increasing rate of females wanting to have their own career or simply because the family is struggling financially, and needs two incomes to stay alive (Lewis, 1999). No matter what the reason may be, it almost always has an affect on the couple's teen. Working parents are dividing their attention between their career and their adolescent, and in many cases the one that suffers is the adolescent. A working parent is prone to become over-worked, stressed out and chronically tired. This all leads to a lack of focus on their home-life. When a working parent comes home, many times they are to exhausted, mentally and physically, to devote the needed amount of their attention to their adolescent.

Concerns arise when these teens become deviant, which in many cases they are apt to do. Parents are now coming to the realization that their careers do have an affect on their child, because this period of adolescence is one of critical growth. Now more than ever, these parents are asking for help from the workplace in order to put the focus back onto the lives of their children. They understand that it is possible to posses both a career and raise a family, but they are now recognizing that there is work to be done in both areas. There has been literature that supports the idea that balancing time and focusing energy when need be, is important for the healthy development of their teen.