Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!
It appears that Germany is about to begin offering increased benefits to new parents - an incentive for working moms to have more children in a nation with a declining birth rate.
While, personally, a slumping national birth rate is not about to change my mind when it comes to having more babies, not having to worry as much about finances while caring for my child for 14 months would certainly make a desire to have more children an easier reality. I have 12 months maternity leave with a portion of my income provided, in Canada, and my husband is entitled to an additional 37 weeks without pay - but it’s not matching the offered 67% of salary that Germany is implementing.
Here’s hoping Germany also sees fit to ensure sufficient quality childcare for their planned baby boom.
Now, will any more countries follow suit??
Hooray! I left a comment! I’ve been trying with Firefox and IE since October with no luck. Success with Opera!
Whoop for Germany!
Am looking forward to my second mat leave partially paid for my the government of Canada. I joke with my husband that I AM getting paid for my work as a mother, although only slightly more than I pay at daycare regularly. (And twice as less that what I’d pay the daycare for the two kids.) Hope you’re following this.
Anyways, just wondering if people caught the Oprah show yesterday on the great SAHM/Working Mother debate.. any thoughts on how the women/the debate was portrayed?
Personally, I just wish that the debate would end and we could support one another’s choices. Everyone’s just trying to do the best for their kids.
I sure wish the US had some sort of maternity compensation in place. With as bad as it is, many moms are having to go back to work within 6-8 weeks of having a child. Not nearly enough bonding time and/or recovery time. I was fortunate enough to have saved enough leave that I was able to take 11 weeks, but I struggled with leaving my child in the care of a stranger.
And the war Megan was talking about is ridiculous. Some mothers (myself included) have no choice in the matter. They must work to support their family. I don’t think we should faulted for that. As long as you are caring for your child the best you can and letting them know always that you love them and will be there for them, then the rest shouldn’t matter.
I’m glad to hear to fathers are included in the benefit. Let’s imagine for a moment a fairy-tale-type United States where an extended parental benefit was put into place. You can be sure it would apply only to mothers. So what would it accomplish but to ensure that employers do everything they can to avoid hiring women of childbearing age?