Would you offer ££ to DS as new father?

[NanGranOrNain]

DS has only been employed in his current job for four months. He needed to change jobs due to his girlfriend being pregnant and his previous employer cutting his hours.
Because he’s worked in his new job for less than 26 weeks he isn’t entitled to paternity leave/pay. The baby is due at the beginning of February. He has arranged to take one week as leave and the next week unpaid.

I think it would be nice to offer them the week’s salary to make things easier. I just asked DH his thoughts on the idea and his reply was the question ‘hasn’t he saved anything in preparation?’ I don’t know whether he has or not.
What would you do if you can afford it? Offer the week’s wages or let them get on with it when the time comes.

100% I would offer.regardless of if they’ve saved it or not it’s a lovely thing to do to help them out.

I would too.

If I could afford it, and they needed it, I wouldn’t think twice. You can’t take it with you.

um i'm generous to my adult children especially during times of transition between jobs or with life changes.
i might gift them 1K but include the "baby gift" as part of that??
i equally might go as high as 5K should there be extenuating circumstances.
sit down and ask what his plans are and if there is a serious need at this time.
do you think the relationship will last?

I wouldn't offer - I'd either give them money regardless, or offer things for the baby, or practical things like preparing meals.

DS has chosen to take the week off unpaid, I think that offering money in case they can't afford suggests that he isn't being sensible (a bit like what OP's DH said).

That’s good advice, I’ll have a chat with him. They’re solid as a couple, I don’t have any concerns about their relationship.

He’s been prepping food for the freezer for weeks, so they’re all set there. I don’t know but I reckon he has put some money by in preparation for the unpaid week. I’ll shoehorn the question into a conversation.

My dh has his paternity unpaid as he was classed as self employed at the time. We did prepare, however if this was offered to us at the time it would have been very much appreciated

Don't ask, just give it. Asking him puts him in on the position where he feels he has to say no.

I help my kids when they need it, but I just do it/tell them I'm doing it.

When my children were tiny, my grandmother asked if she could help financially. I'd have loved that help, sad things were incredibly tight back then, but I felt obliged to say 'that's very kind, but we're fine'. It felt wrong to take money from an elderly grandmother.
I only found out after she died that she'd been hurt that I refused. She wanted to help, she wanted to be needed.

So I don't ask, I just give. Yes, my kids have been at palms to check that I can afford it, but they've accepted with grace and gratitude.

If you can bc afford it do it - having read the earlier comments it may be nice to perhaps buy an expensive item eg travel system or whatever they are after and maybe gift some cash for them to use as they choose - I think it's lovely and hope everything goes well for them

Yes I would offer this. Even if they have prepared for the unpaid leave, it'll be a nice little bonus for them. Especially if his gf is only going to be receiving statutory maternity pay as well.

Just give them the cash, you don’t have to explain that it’s to cover his unpaid leave or anything like that. Money is always a useful gift for new parents.

My son is working all hours and my lovely DIL is on maternity leave with their 7 mth old. At Christmas I had saved for a few months and gave them £1000 to include the next car seat. I thought about it a lot but in the end I thought that they needed it more than me at this stage.

Definitely give them the money. They can either put it towards stuff or place in baby’s savings account,

Clearly it is going to depend on how affluent you are / how much you'd miss the money, but, as others have said, if you wouldn't miss it, then a large cash gift would be very much appreciated by any young couple with a new baby.
I probably wouldn't say "to cover your pay", more along the lines of "We know it's an expensive time, you can use it for whatever you want - if you want to buy a pram or cot with it or you want to use it for general expenses, it is up to the two of you"

That’s a good way to put it, thank you for your reply.

If you can afford it why would you not?

It would be lovely. As some of you may know, we helped DD & DSIL through the early years. We did it because we could, and they put the effort in. Fast forward 9 years, they're established in their careers and still behaving like newly weds.

Kindness first and foremost.