Articles and essays which have no systematic evidence and are purely based on anecdotal cases allege that the migration of parents creates emotional displacements among children left behind. Many of the newspaper writing about the OFW families assert that the children are prone to delinquency and declining moral values. Church authorities, social workers and teachers/counselors who equate good parenting to physical presence of both spouses can have biased perceptions on the students with migrant parents.
The problem is when one journalist who may not have an OFW member in the family writes about his negative opinion based on his observation on one family; another picks it up and bloggers may write and discuss about the issue like it is the TRUTH that should be accepted, the perceptions are erroneously validated.
But did they ever look at the studies conducted? Nah. Sabi nga ano ba talaga pare ang katotohanan?
In my opinion, it seems that there is a gap between perceptions and findings on social costs of Pinoy Workers Migration.
First we have the motivations of the OFWs. It is true that workers are economically motivated but it is interesting to note what children say about it.
Most of the articles published in the newspapers point to the “escape from poverty” as a main reason for the labor migration when in fact, not all who migrated are necessarily poor.
From the studies conducted, most of the children responded that the fathers decide to migrate either to provide for the families or to seek career advancement.
As to the mothers, findings are on agreement that women migrate because there are no labor opportunities in the Philippines especially if you have no college degrees or you have already reached the age limit of employability.
Escaping poverty may be true for single parents for the reason that they were abandoned by the husbands or are unfortunately married to irresponsible-drunkard-no-good-womanizer head of the family.
First let us take a look at the study conducted in 1987 where a few researches were made to find out whether the perceptions on children of migrants are valid and true.
Cruz, Victoria Paz (1987). Seasonal Orphans and Solo Parents: The Impact of Overseas Migration. Scalabrini Migration Center and CBCP Commission on Migration and Tourism.
This is one of the earliest researches on children of migrant workers. The findings showed that there was no significant difference between children of migrant and non-migrant workers as to students’ performance. Majority received good ratings in terms of conduct and discipline in class from the teachers (78% children migrants, and 81% children of non-migrants).
After almost ten years another study pointed out to the same findings.
Battistela, Graziano and Conaco, Ma. Cecilia G. (1996). “Impact of Migration on the Children Left Behind” in the Asian Migrant, Volume 9 Issue No. 3
This extensive research in 1996 when cell phones were still not popular means of communication between migrants and children, the findings showed that the parental absence creates a sense of loneliness and abandonment.
However, it did not become a reason for laziness and unruliness for the children of migrant parents except for a few. For others, it made them, more self-reliant and responsible.
Although some felt confusion and anger, the overall findings of the studies revealed that the absence of the parents did not have a decisive negative impact on spiritual and motal formation of the children. “. This can be attributed to the regular communication of parents (particularly the mothers) with their children where they continue to monitor and guide their children thru letters and long distance calls.
The research paper argued that “family separation does not necessarily lead to extreme cases of emotional disturbance and delinquency among children.
Ten years after, another study belied the negative perceptions on the children.
Asis, Maruja M.B. (2006). “Living with Migration: Experiences of Left-Behind
The key findings here were:
(1) On average, children of migrants are better off financially than children of non-migrants.
(2) Children of migrants are more likely to attend expensive private schools than children of non-migrants, so children of migrants receive higher quality of education.
(3) Children of migrants reported the same levels of happiness as children of non-migrants, with the exception that children whose mothers had migrated reported slightly lower scores than other groups.
In-between these ten-year gaps, there were studies like 1) Nagasaka, 1998; 2)Anoneuvo 2002; and 3) Parrenas, 2005 which showed evidences that children of migrants being lonely,materialist, selfish, anxious, and resentful–
however, many children of non-migrants in the Philippines also face difficult lives and experience social and psychological problems
With the technological advancement on communication, a different level of intimacy strengthens the bonding among children and migrant parents.
The Filipino parents who are used to not demonstrating their care and love for children personally become less shy of expressing I love yous to their children by means of letters, texts and video conferencing.
What do you think made the phone cards very in demand?
Whether labor export is a good development policy or not, I believe that it is here to stay because the seed has been planted. These children of migrant parents will themselves migrate in the future whether because their career choices are what are in demand abroad or because the parents have opened the doors to the global labor markets.
Pag nagkaroon ng isang Pilipino sa isang isla, asahang maraming Pilipino pa ang darating.
Now let’s rumble by sharing OFW experiences and parenting.
Contributing Writer: Cathy
She blogs at Now What, Cat?
Embarrassed again, benigno. Tssk tsssk.
You read his musings in mlq3’s blog and in his own blog and you will find out who he is.
That’s really how simple it is.
And btw, benigno, you got to change your resume in one of of the social networking so it would reconcile for what you’re claiming here in FV.
It is really that simple benigno.
It is relevant because you claimed that you LEFT LAwyering in the Philippines because you would not like to be an absentee parent. How noble.
First you have a problem in the court before 2000, the year you migrated.
Second, your children are not exactly young when they migrated to the US, unlike those who were respondents to the studies.
If you’re claiming that migration creates emotional imbalance, are you referring to your children too?
That’s what I don’t like with Filipinos. When they say Filipinos are stupid and hopeless, they exempt themselves. Parang si Benigno.
hahaha
Well, Ca_t, I continue to be a bit flattered by your fixation on my personal circumstances.
Maybe it’s because nobody is really interested in yours.
benigno, as always, you’re bitter. i like it when i see that you are beaten. care to archive again our discussion here.
Oh was this all about “beating” people to you?
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First you have a problem in the court before 2000, the year you migrated CAT
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I don’t consider my case a problem because it is a garbage. Never occured into my mind as one of the reasons why I must leave lawyering. The complaint against me was filed in 1998. It took the Court 7 years to resolve it and had resolved it when I have already migrated. If you don’t consider my leaving my law practice for my family my kids being older compared to infants being left by one of some othe parents, that’s not my problem, that’s yours. We have different value judgment and maybe that PhD credential has turned you into some callous individual and I am luckier because I am just a plain individual with only a Bachelor’s degree.
Again my personal issue has nothing to do with my claim that small kids can be traumatized by an absentee parent.
Case 1:
I have cited a nurse who left his two daughters 3 and 4 years old to wife, married another woman in the U.S. Last time we saw the kids our heart melted, the kids showing signs of insecurity and anti-social behavior by not talking to anyone and holding and hiding behind the skirt of their mother.
Case 2:
Court stenographer in Quezon City Metropolitan Court who left her job and worked as DH in UK.
About two years working in UK she found out through relatives that his husband where she left her 3 minor kids was keeping a mistress. She stopped sending the money to her husband and would channel it to her sister to give it to the kids. Husband retaliated by removing the phone in the house, the only link the wife with the kids. Wife claimed that husband told the young children their mother was living-in with a UK man so she can continue working even without a visa.
Now, tell me Cat if the two situations have no effect on the children left behind by a parent?
Don’t interject my personal issue unless you educate yourself of my issue because you are bound to mislead FV readers again.
You story is also anecdotal as a migrant Filipino. now just answer me my question, are you not pursuing another career because you cannot practise law in the US. Don’t be embarrass. I am not even shaming you. It is just that you are afflicted by dementia that you wrote it sometime ago.
Two anecdotes against sample sixe of thousands.
Do you know how to count?
What!? Another article on OFW and their families? Binasa na iyan. What is needed is a way out for Philippines. A way out of the policitians sucking our country dry of its economic resources.
pag pumunta ka sa America or anywhere in the world, one thing you have to prepared for is the culture shock, kung OFW ka meron contract so if you are a nurse, you will be working as a nurse, dito sa US if u are a migrant, maraming graduate ng pagka doctor sa Phils, pero theyre working as nurse,nothing to be ashamed of, most imprtant sa america is you have a roof over your head, marami din lawyer na nageend up as security guard or salespeople, they need to survive
anak ako ng OFW, im very proud to be one of them, nobody’s perfect, but one thing I’ve cherished is knowing that my Parents wanted me to have a better life so they had to go abroad. wala pang immediate solution to make our economy better, for now the short term solution is to give advice, training/guidance and moral support to the OFWs and the children they have to leave behind, from the Church, the education system, and maybe bills from the politicians you have put in charged to make your life better by formulating rules and regulations
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“You story is also anecdotal as a migrant Filipino. now just answer me my question, are you not pursuing another career because you cannot practise law in the US. Don’t be embarrass. I am not even shaming you. It is just that you are afflicted by dementia that you wrote it sometime ago. CAT
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You are pathetic. I cannot practice law in the U.S. because I have not passed their licentiure exam yet. If I pass it then I can practice it here. I never said that I cannot practice here. If you have me on record that I said that, go ahead post repost it here.
Other bloggers here who do not have PhD credentials had realized that separating a mother or a father from the kids could have some traumatic effects on the kids. But we tend to gloss over those effects because the kids have some trade-offs, their being able to attend good schools and being able to enjoy the convenience that money can bring but “people do not live by bread alone”.
The extreme of these traumatic experience is where mom and dad go separate ways because of their being away for long from each other. I have cited two cases because I do not have actual data of other OFW’s who could have suffered the same fate as my two models, while you have limited your punditry on what you read online.
You are arguing in full circle and I could not quite comprehend your infatuation over my personal circumstances. My life is not in issue here please get over it. It is my position that OFW migration has a deleterious effect on young kids left behind that is the issue. Some young kids could have gotten over their emotional imbalance brought about by an absentee parent/parents, but as a whole, I believe that dual parenting is the fundamental key in developing in every child a wholesome emotional make-up.
The questionable statement was you left lawyering when you migrated.
then, your letter to the justice puno said otherwise. Liar?
it is really that simple.
Cat,
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hello, i’m a h.s student and i’m researching on the same topic, emotional effects on teenagers, when their parents are working as an OFW.. But then… just wnat to ask any links related to that issue?? thanks!