Making family meals happen: Working mothers' work–family boundary management strategies in Singapore

Objective

We examined how working mothers, who often juggle paid work and family meal preparation, manage work–family boundaries to optimize their family meal practice.

Background

Despite the well-established benefits of family meals, reconciliation of work demands with family meal preparation represents a challenge for many working mothers. A better understanding of malleable antecedents of family meals can be instrumental in enabling more families to have meals together.

Method

Full-time working mothers of young children (aged below 12) in Singapore were individually interviewed (N = 34). In addition to the information about their typical family meal arrangements, we explored work and family factors that shape family meals and the strategies working mothers use to manage work–family boundaries. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

Working mothers adopt various work–family boundary management strategies (temporal, behavioral, and communication) to achieve desired family meal frequency and quality of mealtime interactions. Mothers' broad views on work–family management and thoughts about family meals undergird their choice of specific strategies.

Conclusion

This research revealed working mothers' active management of work–family boundaries as a novel answer to the critical question of how working mothers of young children make family meals happen.

Implications

Our research has practical implications for working mothers' ability to facilitate family meals.