Entitled mothers

[MerryDeath]

mostly trying to avoid getting into it with the local mums on FB but this petition doing the rounds about extending mat leave, paid, by 3 months because of CV19.... AIBU to be incensed by the attitude of some new mothers?? not for the first time either. and i say this as someone on mat leave with a 4 month old.. i am mostly just thankful to be safe, with an income, in my home, with my baby. i couldn't give a flying frog about going to baby sensory. if that's your biggest concern then lucky you 🤯🤯

@grisen.

Firstly you clearly don’t have a clue as to the severity of this crisis. By some prognosis, gdp is set to shrink by 35%. That’s an unimaginable loss of employment and income coming our way, really soon.

Ultimately if you’d send those workers back you could have some money to help women who are running out of SMP

Secondly, this. Even if there was spare money (and there isn’t) I can think of a long list of people who deserve it more than mothers who have already had 12 months paid off work.

NHS nurses, risking their lives for a not great salary, other frontline workers earning less, mothers of premature babies who never got any extra paid leave, vulnerable children missing out on monetary aid and additional support during the crisis.

Honestly, the more people try to justify this, the more deluded and entitled they sound. If you’ve had 12 months off with your baby and the ability to pay your bills in the near future, you’re doing pretty well comparatively.

but people like me could have never gone on unpaid leave

I don’t expect the hoards of people about to be made redundant can afford it either, do you?

Just to put things in perspective a bit:

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/03/exclusive-fifth-of-uk-homes-children-hungry-lockdown?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

@HarrietM87 really hate that kind of "puts things in perspective" arguments. By that rationale none of us ever have the right to complain about anything because there are starving kids in Africa and people dying from wars in the middle east. We should just shut down all discussion

I havent signed the petition and don’t intend to but do think it is slightly delusional to refer to mothers on mat leave as being “paid” - you might get paid for a short time then it is SMP which is pitiful and then unpaid. The state aren’t paying my bills frankly, me and my husband are via savings and his income, so really another 3 months off even unpaid affects the taxpayer purse to a negligible degree.

@pocketem not at all. Yes there is always someone worse off. But this is about how best can the government use money from a very limited pot. Should they give it to all women on mat leave regardless of their situation, or should they spend it on helping vulnerable children (for example). This isn’t something far away in another country, this is in the UK right now.

I think funding childcare for 3 months would be more sensible.

Nobody needs baby groups, and that's what the petition is about.

As a mum with a baby, I don't think baby groups are necessary but I also think the ridiculous number of threads on this calling out women with babies during this time is also unnecessary

If you don't agree with it then fine, but the amount of unnecessary outrage makes me think that people need something else to do during lockdown. Lockdown is really bringing out the best in people

The government should fund needs - redundancy support, furlough to prevent redundancy, funding to keep businesses running etc etc.

It should not fund wants. If someone wants more time off work, they should find a way to do it, either by negotiating unpaid time off with their employer, utilising accrued holiday or opting to not return to work.

There will be very few people who haven't been touched by this virus in one way or another, whether it's health, finance or even things like missing holidays, having your final school year turned on its head, missing your exams, missing milestone events such as birthdays, birth of babies, weddings, funerals etc

Not one of those is any more important or special than any other. Having 3 more months off work won't turn back the clock, and nobody will get back the opportunities which have gone.

I'd suggest spending your remaining time off work learning to be more resilient if you honestly feel so hard done by after having your maternity leave that you think the nation should fund you another 3 months leave just so you can experience your dream mat leave.

@TigerQueenie

Well said

Unfortunately this kind of entitlement's the reason some employers do everything they can to avoid hiring women of childbearing age. It's wrong of course, but these attitudes don't arise out of nowhere

Sp for some, it's perhaps a case of being careful what you wish for

Once again just my opinion

But please continue..

What if we have another peak when you're still on maternity leave?! Will you be expecting another 3 months off? This virus isn't going anywhere quickly; it's bound to impact people on maternity for at least a year! Where will the cut off be?

@ballsdeep I've seen it on other threads like the school ones, people think come September it will be safe to go back to school as if the virus will just disappear.
I agree it isn't going anywhere and it will be peaks and troughs for many many months, where do you draw the line