If money was no object how long would you like maternity leave to last?

[Malaleche]

If the gov. paid you 100% of your lost income while you were on maternity leave how many weeks or months or years would you take?

well DD is 4 and half and I haven't gone back to work yet

for ever

I think a year is good

for ever

Shall I be Xenia and say "2 days, 3 if you have a c-section"

I would prefer the option of working part-time for a period of time (hmm, poss til school age maybe!) rather than dedicated leave, I suspect this is because I find babies quite boring

Where we live you can have 3 years maternity leave (unpaid obviously) and that was great for me & dh as we both work at the school where ds is and they start school here at 3. I got my job back and didn´t have to worry about school runs, etc

If the government would pay you though I´d definitely say forever, with the option to work part-time if you wanted to

Well if the govt are going to pay 100% of my salary I would be tempted to stay on leave until the youngest turns 18.

I had a year off and went back to work just before ds turned 2, which I felt was a very good time for him to start nursery as he likes to have a wide social circle. So if I had a birth child (ds is adopted) then I think 2 years leave would be ideal, but I wouldn't expect to be paid for all that time.

First time, I was so lonely and unhappy on maternity leave I was racing back to work after four months.

I would have liked longer second time round.

Actually I'd like a kind of semi-leave - go back a couple of days a week and still get paid.

Having said which, if you're freelance you get very little money so you have to go back anyway, although as I say in my case that was not exactly a hardship.

As long as it takes to get fulltime childcare in place and dcs ready for it. Mine were crap nappers and ardent nursers so I took very close to a year. With ds at 8 months, I am thinking wistfully of commuting again ...

Not that I dislike being with ds, but I prefer to have a mix - some childcare, some grown-up work, and the space and time to do household chores and admin.

5 years, although I have a feeling I would want to go back earlier as I love my job. Being home sick for a week is making me anxious!

Depends how long you can hold out without the kind of adult conversation that doesn't revolve around statements like "you take him now, I'm flaked"

2 and a half yrs maybe 3.

5 years I reckon, until they start school. not going to happen...

til they at school >>>

Forever.

DUH!

Work's a crock.

a year would be perfect.

three and a half years (if you've paid enough contributions)

ds1 a year didn't seem long enough. ds2 16 months later, I was so glad to get back to my nice cushy desk job for a REST when he was 7m old. even though financially I could have taken the whole 12m again. (yes you can work out I went back to work already preg again but they didn't mind, I did say it was cushy!)

6 months -- beyond that the career itself (apart from income) begins to suffer. Of course, if I didn't need the money, I'd prbably would care a lot less about the career.

i'd take forever and pay someone else to look after the kids whilst i went on luxurious vacations.

I love the work and would hate to be out of it. I work for pleasure and don't enjoy spending long periods with children so I'd be back quick, a few weeks as with the other children.