The Walkerville Weekly Reader

National Desk: Hard-hitting journalism from your completely un-biased (pinky swear!) reporters in Walkerville, VA.

Walkerville, VA
Monday, March 25, 2024
Carolyn Purcell, Editor

Mothers’ hopes fade

Poll shows mothers feel quality of children has plunged as offspring age. Hopes for their child’s future are lowered as children approach adulthood.

More than six in ten mothers now say that their children are growing badly—double the percentage who said so in late 2002, and about half say that increasing age will make the rebellion situation worse.

“We thought it was bad when he turned two,” said one mother. “Now he’s thirteen and he never listens to us.”

The survey, released Monday, shows that mothers’ assessments of the quality of their children and the future of their children have plunged in comparison with similar polling done in November 2002, February 1998, and in 1994.

Interestingly, for all the negative changes in attitudes and experience, one result has remained essentially stable: mothers still divide, now by 48-52 percent, over whether it was right or wrong to give birth in 1994.

In 1994, mothers hopes were for “a great college” and “high-paying jobs”. By 1999, hopes had dropped to “tie his own shoes” and “successfully use the restroom”.

As the children age, college expenses loom more and more heavily on mothers’ minds. Today financial worries are a serious concern for once-hopeful mothers.

“My biggest hope now is only one thing: I wish I had more money so I could offer to send them to college, so they can have a better life and a better education—just like every kid ought to have.”

“And get the hell out of my house,” added another mother.

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