Purpose: The purpose of this study was to have a more in-depth understanding of what experiences the working mothers giving birth to and rearing their firstborns would undergo and what implications such experiences have. Method : For this purpose, the...
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to have a more in-depth understanding of what experiences the working mothers giving birth to and rearing their firstborns would undergo and what implications such experiences have. Method : For this purpose, the researcher applied Max van Manen's analytical and phenomenological research approach to perform this study through a total of 10 steps including focusing on the essence of working mothers' child-rearing experiences, existential survey of them, analytical and phenomenological reflection on them, analytical and phenomenological writing, and the like. Result: Based on the results of analyzing working mothers' statements, the researcher categorized 30 sub-themes under 9 themes: "I should readjust of my life for work and child-rearing in parallel," "the firstborn would give me both senses of happiness and burden," "conflict between work and child-rearing," "child can be reared together with all the people around him/her," "I have to study my parents' mood, while not feeling confident in myself as his/her mother," "I feel really alive at my workplace," "since I am a working mother, I should put emphasis on quality than quantity," "I feel hurt as working mother," and "I run hard to be a good mother." Conclusion: As a result of analyzing the essential themes and their sub-themes about working mothers' firstborn-rearing experiences, the following conclusions were drawn; First, working mothers' firstborn-rearing experiences provide them with an opportunity to reestablish their identity through physical, psychological and social child-rearing experiences. Second, working mothers' firstborn-rearing experiences focus on quality rather than quantity of the time spent with their children. Third, working mothers' firstborn-rearing experiences would be richer with a positive cooperation from the supporting system.