CHAPTER ONE
1.0   INTRODUCTION
1.1   Background to the Study
Home is the point of support around which the early years of a child revolve.  The central figures in the home are the parents, especially, the mother (Adeleke, 1990). Child-bearing and child-rearing are inseperable. The type of child-rearing practice has tremendous impact on the entire life of the child including his/her academic, social and psychological, even moral life on his/her entire life or career.
As Adiele (1994) puts it, the social climate or environment in which an indjvidual finds his/her self, to a large extent, determines his/her behavior or personality development, parental guidance and discipline he added, usually influence the behavior of the child. At the apex of this parental influence is the mother.
Mothers’ love for their children is undeniable. Their feminine nature makes them wholesome, soft, passionate and sensitive to the plight of their children and a condusive atmosphere for problem-solving involved (Odomene, 1995).
Chukwuka (1999) opined that in this period of economic hardship, more women (wives or mothers) take up paid employment due to the fact that more women are exposed to the western education and there jobs or careers take them away from their matrimonial home and duties of taking care of their children and wards and the proper upbringing of these children.
In effect, children are often left in the hands and care of the hired care-giver(s) and maids who do not possess the requisite experience to train the child and inculcate maternal-morality and good behavior in the child. In support of this statement, Uzor (2000), points out that children of these days lack adjustment, because, they are mostly brought up by others instead of their mothers. He went ahead to claim that even when these children know the right thing to do, they fail to do them because, their learning to do good from the family (especially from their mothers) is faulty due to mothers’ absence to direct and inculcate the right attitude of children from cradle.
Nkemdirim (2001) states that, for the fact that mothers are absent from their natural duties of upbringing of the child in the right way, the resultant effect is the moral decadence that is prevalent in the society today. A situation where children no longer respect and observe the norms and values expected of them. Elders are no longer cherished and respected by the youths. The youth due to lack of proper and adequate home upbringing by their mothers, are maladjusted to the extent of upholding negative ideas and values such as fighting, drug abuse, examination malpractices, fraud, stealing, lying, promiscuity, disobedience to laid down rules and regulations and indiscriminate sexual relationships both at home, at school and general indisciplinary behaviours perpetuated by youths and the young ones in the society who lack mothers’ care and instructions.
Ayodele (2005), opines that, women in the contemporary society especially mothers, miss out in their daily routine and obligations to their families including the societal adjustment of their children, due to gainful employment either to augument the family’s income or to empower themselves economically in the society in order to be independent of their husbands. Anyanwu (2002) opines that most women who work usually leave very early in the morning and come back late at night, thereby leaving the upbringing of the child in the hands of the immature and inexperienced househelps in the home and in the day care centres. According to Ayo (2003, children left in the cares and upbringing of the inexperienced househelps tend to grow up misbehaviouring and upholding the wrong tenets or values of the society due to non-incuclation of the basic motherly care, directions and role-modelling.