Parliament debate to extend maternity leave

[ejmay90]

Not sure if this has been posted already but please see this debate to extend maternity leave for 3 months.
Please sign if you agree :)

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/306691

Whether standard maternity pay is high enough has nothing at all to do with this issue. This is about how long you are given maternity pay for.

I have posted about this already but I’ll say it again. I’m on mat leave myself but this makes me so cross. Absolute bollocks.

Mat leave is for physical recovery from labour and birth and bonding with the baby. Lockdown hasn’t impacted this.

I’m missing the friends I had made, the baby groups etc but they are non essential and not the government or my employers problem.

Ridiculous petition by a bunch of women throwing their toys out of the pram (ironically)

I didn’t do baby groups with either of my children and I’m currently off with a three year old and eight month old. Yes, I’m very disappointed I haven’t been able to do a lot of the things I planned with them but a lot of groups of society are suffering from a lack of socialisation. This just makes mothers look whiny and self absorbed.

Whoever thought this up could have come up with better reasons for wanting 3 extra months than cancelled baby groups

It seems to have been started by a man? I'm suspicious of the motivations, tbh. It's such a ridiculous, blatantly greedy and out-of-touch petition that it almost seems designed to mock the entitlement of some middle-class mothers.

Baby groups are not essential for development. They might make you think they are, but that's in order to get you to pay them your maternity pay money.

I'd have some sympathy if this was about employment protection for mothers who were unable to find childcare places to return to work at the end of maternity leave due to Covid-19 (i.e. an extended period of (unpaid) parental leave that could be tacked on to mat leave, whilst retaining employment rights as per standard mat leave).

But this petition, as it stands, is the most ridiculous, self entitled pile of shite, and I simply cannot believe how grabby and self centred some people are. Maternity leave is predominantly for mother to recover from birth, to allow breastfeeding as a choice and for parents to bond with their babies. It's not about going to effing baby groups!

I can't believe anyone would sign this. It does not deserve debating but should be laughed at. Such greed and entitlement

“ I simply cannot believe how grabby and self centred some people are”

This.

I did no baby groups etc at all and we've suffered no ill effects. They are definitely not essential.

Self indulgent grabby nonsense And a Total waste of everyone’s time

It’s catastrophically short sighted given the circumstances and imminent job losses, company closures and economic hit we are about to sustain.

All I’m hoping for is that they extend the free dental

It's a pass from me too, I'm afraid.

Absolutely laughable

We are going to be paying for COVID 19 in our taxes for years to come

3 months unpaid ok but

Why do new mums feel the need to have paid maternity leave extended

Absolute disgrace.
Shame on those who sign.

Everyone is missing out on life experiences because of coronavirus. Why do new mums think they should get special treatment?

Wow its a petition if you don't want to sign it don't sign it but save the debate for parliament ffs. Some people need to get off their high horse. You're all talking about taxes but any woman on SMP has been paying taxes. Also what about women who want to breastfeed for longer than 9 months, I agree we shouldn't just on the covid grabbing band wagon but maternity allowance does need looking at overall

Eh, naw, I'll pass thanks.

Wow its a petition if you don't want to sign it don't sign it but save the debate for parliament ffs.

Did you miss that this is a discussion forum?

@PurpleDaisies no I didn't miss that. But did you miss the part that says it's a parliament debate?

You can have as long as you want on maternity leave...it's called quitting your job.

So that means it can’t get discussed here? I think you need to stop posters what they can and can’t post here.

Stop ^telling posters what they can abc can’t discuss her

I give up.
Ignore the typos!