Parental leave-what ????

[motherearth]

I have just returned from maternity leave following the birth of ds1.I retirned to work on the understanding that i could take 1 annual leave day a week until ds1 was a year old.It is his birthday in 6 weeks and so far i have mostly worked my full 3 shifts a week and several 'on calls " (i am a community midwife.There is never any cover for my leave.
I feel stressed anyway but everyone expects me to cope, and actually i am very much not !
I wrote a letter to my boss requesting a weeks parental mleave next month.I wanted to take my full 4 weeks every year. My boss knows of know such statutory right and says the leave it at her discretion.She also wants to know what the leave is for in writing.
Did i really misunderstand the new parental leave rights.
I thought, and planned , to take 13 weeks over 54 years, because i thought it was there to help working families spend more quality time together, and therefore make for a better work/life balance.Was i completely wrong and do i need specific reasons every time i request this leave-i had all the weeks planned out and feel dissappointed and quite silly.

[motherearth]

Sorry i didn`t check my punctuation-its terrible !

[LunarSea]

The details are here . They can postpone it for up to 6 months if it will "disrupt the business", but the only justification they can ask for is proof that you have a child. And even asking for that could be deemed unreasonable as you've just returned from mat leave so they effectively already have that proof.