Home & Garden0 min ago
Paid paternity leave for fathers
I'm a young married, not yet with kids but wonder what everyone thinks about the government's newest proposal to extend paid paternity leave to fathers so that they can take up to 3 months off?
i think its good that they are encouraging fathers to take more responsibility for parenting but what about people who don't have kids - because they can't or won't? Is this unfair to them? and what if businesses start limiting benefits or change hiring practices to accomodate this change? is this the beginning of "father discrimination" - ?
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.As for being fair.... life isn't and never will be. Those that WON'T have kids seem to be the worst at this sort of whinging. They seem to think that having a kid is a walk in the park and us parents get some kind of special treatment on top of it. Oh so little they know.
Isn't that a bit like asking isn't it unfair to people who have been fit all year that they haven't been able to take sick leave?
People are entitled to benefits on a basis of need not a basis of equality.
I dare say there'll be the usual cry of how it will cripple the economy - you remember when the minimum wage was introduced how the four horsemen of the financial apocalypse were arriving at the gates of British industry.
But in the long term I'd reckon not many people will take it up - unpaid leave is of use to a very limited few
benefits are intended to support people in situations that they could not help!!!
In the NHS when someone takes parental leave, there is no backfill and no reimbursement of the salary which the mother or father continues to receive, the rest of the staff just have to pick up the extra work or patients just don't get seen. grrrrr!!
Just to add a spanner to the works, think of all the people who have 4 fag breaks a day, which gives them effectively a day a month off! If fater's could also have two working weeks off without anybody asking, then that might be nice too!
Economically it's all very complicated and of course the costs of bringing in temporary staff or of burdening colleagues while fathers are off is a problem.
What must be borne in mind is that raising a child is a productive activity that brings economic gain to the country in the long run. Therefore, when putting it down to cold hard cash, the benefits, as well as the costs, of paternity leave must be remembered!
They want careers ,the big house,the latest gizmos and so on and then the kids After the novelty wears off the children are bunged in a day centre or creche.If the government want to promote family values they should make it easier for women to stay at home and look after their children properly.Unless you are really money oriented it must be heart rending for a new Mum to have to put her child in a creche and go back to work to feed the exchequer. As for paternity leave how would the main breadwinner be able to survive on this paltry sum for three months.
And on a lighter note I think my husband was glad to be able to escape back to work away from the all the chaos that a new baby brings .
Usual crap - january bug is too young to have an opinion!
I slated NO ONE as a mother - read what I said before patronising me PLEASE!
First - the thing about "tell your kids to drop out of school" - I meant daughters. It's clear that you think people are incapable of high career achievement AND motherhood.
Second - I never ONCE commented on anyone's abilities as a mother (I'm repeating myself because I need to get tht through to you)
Third - why won't any of you even CONSIDER that people have a RIGHT to parenthood, and that children have a RIGHT to have their parents around them. We're only talking about 3 months for the father here.
I hope you treat your grown up children with more respect than you treat me and my opinions. And I hope you listen to them before judging them - something you're not bothering to do to me.
I haven't yet worked out if I'll have kids myself, but I would like the option. I would like a career, I'd like that choice too. And not ONE of you lot is going to take that choice away from me.
Have I mentioned rich poor or catholics..I don't think so.People cut their own cloth according to their coats.My parents managed to bring up five children up without resorting to hand outs and mollycoddling by the state.
We will have to agree to disagree.Different generation,different views.I am entitled to my opinion as much as anybody else. My children have had more opportunities than I ever had and for your information I treat my children with a great deal of respect and they in turn respect us.
Trouble is with you janb when someone dares to disagree with you ... you can get quite spiteful.
Perhaps I ought to give Ward-Minter a shout.