When I fell pregnant with my first child, my partner and I made the decision that I would leave work to look after him or her. Because I had a my own business at the time, I also made the decision to sell it so that I would not have it hanging over me while i was trying to juggle parenthood in another town several miles away from my business. When my maternity leave began, Burton arrived just a few days after it started and at the time his daddy only took two days off work because, being a contractor, he was not eligible then for paternity leave, whereas I took my full maternity leave quota.
Of course, in the (almost) six years since Burton was born, a lot has changed with regards to paternity leave and parental care for a new baby in those first months of its life. In fact, from the 5th April 2015, Shared Parental Leave (SPL) legislation will come into effect here in the UK. This new policy will give eligible parents, partners and adopters the flexibility to decide who will care for their child during its first year of its life. This means that maternity cover can now be divided between a mother and the father (or the mother’s partner), enabling them to choose whether to take time off together to care for their child (beyond the current two weeks paternity leave that is currently available to fathers), or split the leave so that the mother can return to work. Thus, allowing the partner or new father to spend extra quality time bonding and looking after their child.
The infographic below created for Citrix GoToMeeting , explains this new legislation in more detail:
Would this change in legislation make you re-think your shared parental leave?
Would it have made a difference if it had existed when you had a baby?