To think this petition is actually ridiculous?

[SkaLaLand]

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/306691

@AnnaC2020
Have you spoken to Acas? I don’t see why your employer has refused. This seems brutal.

Goos lord they need to get a bloody grip . Bloody silly just wanting money beastly and grabby

Noooo! I can't do another three months! Already going back to work earlier than originally planned.

I spent most of my paid maternity leave with my baby in hospital and had to take further unpaid leave because she needs extra care. These people just have no idea.

@Mummyoflittledragon going to call them and maternity action tomorrow. I’m 27 weeks and planned to take my 5.6 weeks holiday in a few weeks then go off after that, but I can’t work because I’m high risk and they’re not letting me take my holidays either. So it’s either £95pw sick pay or maternity pay but means I’ll have to go back earlier :(

I went back to work full-time when DS was 5 months, for financial reasons. As much as I wanted to take a year off like pretty much every other new mum I met, I couldn't. Effectively I missed out on 7 months of his development. I'd like 3 extra months maternity on full pay, please, because my experience wasn't fair compared to others.

...No, thought not.

@ScarfLadysBag I disagree, baby groups have been amazing for my boy (for me too, not gonna lie), but been great for her to socialise and acquire new skills.
Not sayign I agree with the petition, but there are loads of benefits for children from groups even at a young age (and even more if you calculate the benefits of having more confident parents who alo learn new skills).

Blimey, it's jumped by five thousand in the time it took me to read this thread.

As I'm writing this almost 95k have signed, I can't believe that unfortunately this isn't the first stupid petition I've seen relating to Covid-19 and I doubt it will be the last.

Yep, it is utterly ridiculous. I’m on mat leave, it’s a bit shit. But shouldn’t be extended. It’s nonsense.

Same people are probably anti vaxers 🙄

Bloody ridiculous, I’m pregnant and all being well like my last maternity leave, I’ll only be taking 3 months leave anyway due to my job.

I'm on mat leave with a 6 month old baby and a 2 year old who's nursery has been closed for a month now. Not going to lie, if someone offered me an extra three months paid mat leave I wouldn't say no, I'm in no hurry to go back to work. But there is no way I'd sign that. Its entitled crap. Mat leave is to recover from the birth, and to care for your baby. It's not for socialising, mother and baby groups or coffee mornings (none of which I bothered with last time, so I'm not missing them this time.) Petitions like this are one of the things that make employers wary about hiring women of childbearing age. Frankly being on leave has been a godsend for me, I dont know how on earth I would work from home around a toddler.

I think I'm very lucky to be on maternity leave right now - don't have to worry about work for now and unlikely to get made redundant. My DS (8 months) is loving it as he has my undivided attention all day every day plus more time with DH. It's been a joy to watch him develop over the last month without getting sidetracked by all the crap I felt I should be doing with him but which was clearly more for my benefit than his as he, frankly, couldn't give a shit.

I'm more likely to sign this petition to increase the pay for NHS workers than I am that one.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300073

Ridiculous that they can't spell "parent" WTF is a "patent" - a shiny parent?

Started by a bloke too - was he bored?

I wouldn't dare say anything publicly because.. I know people that have signed.. but I agree with a couple of points on here.

Coming to the end of my mat leave (still have a couple of months backdated holiday) so I'm grateful I'm not having to juggle working from home with a baby.

I'm a little sad that our groups have been cancelled and our last few weeks together has been and will continue to be pretty uneventful

I also agree they're more for parents at this stage

I am currently on maternity leave i am
Actually glad thia happened now and not while am working !

Does anyone know if the signatures from other countries count?

You can sign if you are a UK citizen living abroad.

What a load of crap! I know plenty of parents who never went to any groups like that and yet, somehow, they still have totally happy, healthy, balanced children. Do they not know all of us and our kids are missing out on things we enjoy and see as important at the moment.?

With 95k signatures and counting you will soon see them getting excited that
'parliament will consider it at 100k'

I’ve signed. Would I like women to have 3 months extra maternity leave? Yes.

Plus I do think it’s valuable for first time mothers to get opportunities to meet and make friends with other mums. I didn’t get this chance with my first 2, and I had pnd.

Waste of time. Never going to happen.

The but I haven't been able to go to baby groups it's so unfair brigade need to get a grip. Some key workers are having to live apart from their kids for weeks due to not wanting to pass Covid onto their families. Yet they are crying about no baby groups . Get a fucking grip.

I really don't think it's that outrageous. Good for you if you never went to a mum's group - however having a small baby is an exceptionally lonely experience and I've often though how happy I am that I'm not going through my maternity leave in lockdown - for some it may be what is keeping their sanity afloat.

Plus, surely having other women's backs when it comes to maternity rights, no matter how silly you think they are, is never a bad thing right?

Some people are shocking! As if there isn't more important things going on. Absolutely no words