Parents experience more meaning in life, study confirms

I once heard someone saying, “Having a child is like outsourcing an important organ that revolves around everyone and climbs the trees.” Having a child is as attractive and meaningful as it can be worrying and tired.A new study on Parents satisfaction Confirms this clear contradiction. Compared to those who are childfreeParents feel that their life is more fulfilled. However, parents are not more satisfied than their lives than non-parents. Conversely: They are often more dissatisfied.These are the findings of sociologists Marita Jacob And Ansgar Hud From University of colonThis month was published in the journalist of marriage and family. Researchers based on their studies on European Social Survey data, with more than 43,000 respondents from 30 countries.Jacob and Hud determined that, regardless of nationality or social status, both mothers and father felt that their lives had a deep meaning.But he was not true about his satisfaction with his life. It not only depends on the stay of the defendant, but also to a large extent on it. Family policy In their country. And the difference was gender: mothers’ Life satisfaction The father was less than the father.

Scandinavia: There is hardly any difference between parents and child:

“Parents challenging life situations are less satisfied,” says Marita Jacob, a sociology professor at the University of Cologne. For example, challenging may mean that they are a single parent, with young, low educational qualifications. Hardly surprising, you can think that they are less satisfied.But Jacob says that it is not unavoidable. “In Scandinavian countriesThe differences between social groups are very rare, “she says. In these countries, the difference in the satisfaction of life between parents and child-free people, for example, is very low in Central and Eastern Europe.Childcare, Financial Assistance for Parents, Parents Holiday -These family policy measures work very well in Scandinavian countries, says Jacob. “My speculation is that these measures are overall affect the society, which means that children are not only seen as their parents’ problems, but are seen as a responsibility for the community as a whole.”This attitude is also reflected in Scandinavian business culture, says Jacob. She explains that it is more common for parents to start and leave work, as well as to determine important meetings around the rhythm of family life.

Greater gender equality causes more satisfaction:

Family life is still mainly taken care of by women. In Germany, one in two women reduce their work hours to be able to take care of their children. Only 6 percent of German men who work part -time do so for family reasons. Most of the parents’ holidays in Germany are also taken by mothers.Another factor that can help explain that parents in Finland are more satisfied than parents in Germany, there is gender equality. Jacob says that equal pay in Scandinavian countries, and a small gender pay interval, means that women are more satisfied, say Jacob. She says that it also has a positive impact on partnership, and thus on the family.

“A child is not a project that you can manage by yourself”:

Marita Jacob says that when her children were young, she tied up with other parents. “We always raise many children of kindergarten.”Whatever young children are there, they know whether an additional half an hour, or half an hour less, it can determine whether the day will end in the nervous breakdown. This is why Jacob recommends that parents should not only support each other, but should also accept it even when introduced.Children are important – not only to retaliate our aging society, who will not be able to take care of all their senior citizens without younger generation. As Marita Jacob has insisted: “Children also have internal value. They bring livelihood, new ideas and innovations in society.”This is why the sociologist believes that responsibility for them is with the wholesale policy makers. “Children should not have their parents’ problems when childcare is incredible or has problems with school,” she says. “Children are the responsibility of society overall.”