Todays Guardian re parental leave for father's

[vict17]

whatdoyouthink?

forgot to add my own opinion! I thik it's a good idea to make working available to more mum's by doing breakfast clubs abd after school clubs but i dont think we want to be in a position where we're forced to go back to work because the benefits arent there

mmh - may be well intended or just blatant electioneering on both sides. As Stephen Burke said in the article, how exactly are they going to honour the pledge for wrap-around childcare in what 5 yrs without sufficient centres/staff/training courses etc etc to do this? I think there would have to be a radical change in the status/payment/training of childcare professionals and therefore SERIOUS gov & public commitment financially to make this anywhere near viable on such a vast scale. It would be nice not to be disappointed but v cynical about this.

Re: parental leave for fathers.

In theory, it's a good thing.

However, in practice it's a different matter. One of the DHs colleagues is currently taking extended leave after the birth of his baby recently.

The extra workload is being shifted onto the other workers in the office - so whilst the new father is spending time with his new baby, the other fathers in the office (one of which is DH) are having to spend extra time in the office to get the work done.

Just because our kids are older, it's just as important for them to see their father in the evenings, but it's not happening because they are having to cover the extra workload.

Re: Breakfast clubs/after school clubs.

Again, good in theory (although I personally won't be using them) and if they are implementing them - then they should NOT be relying on teachers/teaching staff to "staff" them. Teachers have enough on their plates as it is without having to "babysit".

I think fathers should have the same parental leave and rights that mothers have. Why are we still stuck in an age where Fathers should go to work and earn the money and women are expected to take time off and care for the little ones.

It is a step closer to equal rights for women if fathers' employers regognise that their parental responsibilities are just as important as mothers.

I think the government should do more to support those who choose to work.

Oh, forgot to say that I agree that in practice, I don't really see how the goverment is going to fund this initiative. And, let's face it, how many fathers are going to stay home for £150 / week. That would do little more than buy our groceries.

Let's be honest the whole maternity provision is a joke so extending it to fathers as it stands doesn't, IMO, help. I am the main breadwinner - thus the £100 a week I got went nowhere (didn't even make the mortgage)- I funded my tme off. SO hey fathers you can take time off (if you can afford it...)

I like dthe idea of paying maternity leave for the full year (I think it was the Tories?) but it looks like that has been backtracked on. Can't see how they can afford to do all of this either...

We're on a pretty low income already but even we wouldn't be able to cope with just £150pw to live on. Our rent alone would cost almost half that amount.

After-school/breakfast clubs are hopeless if you have a child with SN. The club has no funding whatsoever to give extra support, even to a child who for the rest of the day has 1:1 help. You only need to look at Batters' thread to see the kinds of things that can happen when a child with SN is in one of these clubs with no support.

This is yet another policy where only those with money and no other difficulties will get any benefit from it.

Personally, I think it would be more helpful if they would help fund the day care that we already use, hence helping more mothers and fathers get back to work. I think there are a fair number of people who just don't return to work because the outrageous costs of daycare would take their entire income. Hence many parents simply don't see the point in going back to work.

Well at least it's better than what fathers are entitled to at present, i.e. nothing. And £150 a week may not be great but it's better than £100 a week. I'd like to see that extended to a full year rather than the current 6 months.

My concern is the lack of costing of this - so where's the money going go come from? And will it mean parents are worse off in other ways.

Of course it will mean we are worse off in other ways. They money has to come from somewhere.

What about the 90% of pay for the first six weeks? I could take six week soff the DH could. That would be so much more useful to us. Neither one of us will ever stay home for £100 or £150 per week. We somply could pay our bills on that. I can't imagine anyone can.

I totally agree that it's not good enough - but it has improved - with my dd I effectively got £70 a week till 4 months, now it's £100 a week till 6 months. It needs to be more, and over a longer period, but it is heading in the right direction.

And it makes sense to extend those rights to fathers - a friend of mine returned to work at 4 months and her dh looked after the baby. If she'd stayed at home she would have got £100 till 6 months, as it was her dh they got nothing. That's madness.

Do you mean 90% for the first 6 months? Wouldn't that be great.

I meant that fathers should get the same 6 weeks of 90% salary that we now get. That way together mother and father could have 12 weeks of 90% pay. That would be equality.

And yes, it would be nice if it was longer than 6 weeks... but that's a different point.

Aha - I see what you mean!

grumble grumble don't get any sodding thing at all if self employed grumble grumble

grumble, grumble, grumble...

Poor you. I can sympathise, as I was working contract when DD1 was born. Plan to enjoy my whopping 6 weeks this time though!

It's humbug isn't it.