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Jealous y'all actually get any paid parental leave. over here in freedom land we force new parents to show up to work sleep deprived and neglect their babies. And Americans wonder why the birth rate is falling.
Edit: adding that if it's available, childcare for infants is as expensive or more than rent or mortgage payments. So you have to work to afford that
I thought I would put my comment here to avoid ridiculous Guardian censorship which they call "moderation":
Actually this is a year off work so very much a "year off".
Probably bcz you don't know what raising a tiny human entails.
If I take a sabbatical from my career and go work for a charity, I'm still taking a year off from my original job. What you do with the time is irrelevant to the language used.
Should people get parental leave? ... absolutely. Is it "time off" from your job? ... Yes. Are they taking a holiday? ... No.
It might be a time off from employment but it's not time off. It's not a fucking holiday.
That's what they said... It's semantics. People associating "time off" with holiday for no reason when they don't mean the same thing.
holiday = time off work where you spend your time watching after your children
Don't worry, we're quite good at censorship here too 😇
(Actually the policy is that genuinely awful content gets removed, other things get left so that the community can respond/vote up/vote down)
It's a legal entitlement and it's work.
How is it "work" sweetheart? 🙄
Babies are work. They are constant, screaming, pooping, work. Not even 9-5 work, because a very young infant requires around-the-clock care, so really it’s worse than work.
At least in a regular job you can punch out and leave work at the office and go home and relax, or call in sick if you don’t feel good. None of that with a baby. You have to always be there for them, all day, all night, no matter what, no matter how you feel.
I think we’re also running into an issue of language, however. ‘Time Off’, as in, not being in the office for an extended period of time, yes, maternity leave is that. ‘Time Off’ as in, a rest, relaxation, vacation, no. Maternity leave is most definitely not that.
I looked after a baby. First two weeks were very difficult. After that you get used to the routine and I definitely wouldn't call that time "work" - it was a pleasure being able to spend time with my child. It was definitely a time off - I didn't have to go to work every day, I had time to get some more time for myself etc.
Yeah, but you couldn’t just hall off to the Bahamas or whatever; you were still glued to the kid. Still looking after them 24/7.
Yes, it becomes routine, but It’s still a routine, you still have a lot to do, and again, no call-outs, you’re on-call all day. It may not be a ‘job’, but it is still work.
you couldn’t just hall off to the Bahamas or whatever
You absolutely can, with a child.
It may not be a ‘job’, but it is still work
Nope. Of course you can define "work" as anything you do, including brushing your teeth and watching telly if you want - but looking after the baby is not something I would ever describe as "work".
You get maternity pay to feed/wash/whatever another human being.
Carers have been doing this for years. It’s work. It’s even a career for some people.
American Heritage Dictionary; Work, definition:
Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something. ”Cleaning the basement was a lot of work."
Such effort or activity by which one makes a living; employment. ”looking for work."
Again, kids are work. And since, as another lemming pointed out, some people do it as an actual job, it counts under both definitions.
And if you do hie off to the Bahamas, you still have to bring that work along. You can’t just leave it behind and just have a relaxing vacation with nothing to do. (Unless you find a babysitter, but then you’re not doing the work of childcare anymore; now you’re using maternal leave for something that isn’t work).
Again, kids are work
Again, you are wrong.
And if you do hie off to the Bahamas, you still have to bring that work along
What work sweetheart, since you just took a year off work?
All right, honey. What would you call the constant care an infant needs, if it isn’t work?
Infant care, silly.
parental leave is quite the concept, you choose to procreate, so the company then needs to cover your responsibilities by assigning your duties and tasks to other workers, increasing their work load, so you can stay home and raise your child, and at the end of that leave, you, the worker whose been forced to increase your workload, gets no additional compensation or paid leave, but should simply enjoy having been a small unpaid part of others child rearing, while the company still makes as much profit, and pays as many bonuses to their management as they always have. sure, sounds fair.
You're blaming the wrong person for your woes. If your employer decides to redistribute the new parent's workload amongst existing staff without compensation rather than hire maternity cover then they are the problem.
Yeah, it's awesome for the society and leads to increased health, happiness and workers who enjoy working for their employer.
/Swede
The stupidest take I have read today, and I even read OP comment here too.
Yeah, why encourage people to have more children when you can instead have other countries pay for them and we pick and choose the best to lure in as immigrants?
medical leave is quite the concept, you choose to get a surgery, so the company then needs to cover your responsibilities by assigning your duties and tasks to other workers, increasing their work load, so you can stay home and recover, and at the end of that leave, you, the worker whose been forced to increase your workload, gets no additional compensation or paid leave, but should simply enjoy having been a small unpaid part of others medical care, while the company still makes as much profit, and pays as many bonuses to their management as they always have. sure, sounds fair.
Ideally a temp would fill the position while the parent is on leave. At least that's how my company handled it recently. We still couldn't wait for our coworker to come back because she was really good at her job, but the work got done regardless of any hiccups due to the temp learning her position.
I don't have kids by choice, so this has zero effect on me, but parental leave is kinda important and companies that shove the workload onto everyone else is what causes this resentment.
I agree. This idea that people who choose not to have children should be burdened and punished by those who do is upsurd. There are plenty of people on the planet, having a child dies not make someone a matyr.