Is it worth it?

I quite liked this post on the Sola Panel about the new paid maternity leave scheme.

I'm not sure that the paid scheme is really all that great - it's not much more money than the baby bonus already available, and it does seem to have at heart the idea that a mother and baby only need 14 weeks together full time before the mother can get back to the office.

It's unfortunate that our society generally works on the principal that it's normal for mothers to go back to work when they have a baby, because I think that fundamentally, babies and paid work don't mix.

There are two main reasons for this - the first is that looking after a baby, especially a young baby, is a fluid, unpredictable, round the clock commitment. A job (usually) has set hours and responsibilities that require a level of performance that's hard to sustain on broken sleep and the stresses of looking after a baby.

The second reason is that it's not all that practical to work and have your baby in day care, because they get sick really regularly! This is what happens - you have to go back to work, so your baby goes into care for a day or two a week (if not more). Here they get exposed to germs and catch everything under the sun. This means you a) don't get enough sleep as they are restless and unwell overnight, and b) you have to take time off work to look after them. Not to mention the expense of doctors and medication!

So who does this benefit exactly? Not the mother, who is stressed at home and stressed at work, trying to juggle it all. Not the baby, who is unwell more often than not. Not the employer, whose employee is missing half the time and barely awake when they are at work. Not the husband, who has a sick baby and tired wife.

At least the mortgage gets paid.