Christmas leave priority

Yep. Neurotic parents like this often raise anxious kids who can’t cope with life or any disappointment.

Many NHS workers can’t spend Xmas day with their kids. But as decent parents, they help their kids develop a sense of perspective and celebrate with gusto on a different day. It’s fine. I work in mental health and no patient has ever said they have been traumatised by a loving parent working on Christmas Day.

Why are you blaming a mother for the failure of your workplace to get adequate maternity cover

You sound nice too 😂

Fucking hell, Drama queen 😂

I worked 9 Christmas and NY in a row. I mean the Eve, the day, Boxing Day, nye and NYD. The 10th year I got picked for the whole lot off. What happened? Complaints. That I had the whole lot off and had the audacity to not even have children
my manager told them all to work 9 in a row then come back to her and they could get the full time off

I used to do favours for people with DC and it never got reciprocated. People bang on about oh yes children shouldn’t miss Christmas with their parents, anyway let’s nip in the pub Christmas Day… I missed every Christmas with my parents as they were running the pub but people don’t see that

(no choice but to open, mandatory from the brewery)

It's crap. I had a friend who had a mum that had to work and it was crap for her. Yes, children would accept it because they have to but that doesn't make it any less rubbish. Most adults are capable of waiting a while to celebrate Christmas and aren't desperate to see if father Christmas has been and what he's brought.

She sounds sick to fucking death of being a second class citizen in jobs compared to mothers frankly

It's another good argument for a diverse workplace. If you have more people who aren't from white Anglo-Saxon backgrounds, you might have more people who don't celebrate Christmas and so will work over those days - and conversely your white British people can work over their festivals.

I’m sorry to say but as a society, yes parents are more important than childfree individuals as we are producing future taxpayers, which is pretty essential for the continuation of society as we know it. That is why parents in many countries get tax breaks and other huge incentives for having kids (Hungary scraps income tax for mothers if they have multiple children, for example).

My comment was in response to you saying the children wouldn’t know what day it was and you could choose to celebrate a different day. I’m explaining that they absolutely would.

Whoever worked last Christmas should get first priority this Christmas. The only other time I think it's fair to consider someone's priority is for single parents who also have no family childcare available, as it's unlikely they'd be able to find paid childcare on Christmas day, or for those who are carers for a disabled or elderly relative. I appreciate you know the terms of your job when you take it, but people's circumstances do change.

What are you talking about? I have covered for women that have gone on maternity leave and I'm a parent myself. Lots of mothers do this alongside all other employees in a workforce. It's not like they declare all parents are exempt from covering the extra work that might arise from someone going off sick or on maternity leave.

I also think the bitterness you have towards mothers demanding things is sad. It is in everyone's interests that mothers are supported in the workforce when they have children. It's also in all our interest that lots of women do have children otherwise we simply can't function as a society

Can I ask why you don’t think ‘first come, first served’ is fair?

You sound nice…

So saying “mummy has to go to work” harms them how?

I’m pretty sure my children would see their little friends out on the street playing with their new toys and wonder why Santa didn’t come to them.

I do think this would be less of an issue with decent management. Perhaps I’ve been lucky, but I’ve never worked anywhere this would actually be an issue.

Tended to work in teams with people at all different life / family stages and from different cultures, so that probably makes a difference to everyone wanting the same time off, but a lot of it has also been management making sure nobody feels overlooked.

First dibs on a house with a garden when it comes to SH Or do you actually think the childless/childfree gets offered those.

People will always find a way to play victim. Why can’t people just out the child (/dying relative etc) needs first and accept they’re more important than “just waiting a day off”.

particularly as we’ve all been children once and may all be the dying relatives whose last Christmas it will be sometime…

Also worth mentioning that it is the people who don't have children who cover for the mothers off on maternity leave. I worked in healthcare, we were in a small team. Colleague came back from maternity leave pregnant then had to go off early on maternity leave with pregnancy issues. For the best part if 3 years I was expected to pick up most of her work. She is of course entitled to get pregnant as much as she likes, but the icing on the cake is then being told when you can or can't take your holidays to accommodate the people with family. My compassion for what mums demand was depleted a long time ago.

There’s also this wonderful thing called the other parent. I was a single parent, but the girls’ dad always had them for the Christmases I couldn’t. If a person is totally alone, then yes, they need the day off, but most of us aren’t in that situation.

It's not a case of being second class citizens. All adults are equal. Being child free doesn't make your elderly parents more important than mine. It doesn't make your need to see wider family more important than mine. Parents have everything going on in their lives that everyone else has and they are raising children who depend on them for everything including making Christmas special for them.

What emotional nonsense. You really wouldn’t cope in one of the thousands of jobs where people (including parents) work every day to keep the country going on days like Xmas day etc. Looks like you would not be able to support your children to handle it in a supportive and healthy way either.

That’s awful.

How vile for someone struggling to conceive for years. Surely this can't be legal. People have all sorts of caring duties that don't fit with this. And prioritising the grandparents of a 7yo over an actual parent of an 8yo? Gp has already had their lovely Christmases with their own kids. Batshit nonsense. What a pity you are going to be so poorly that week....