In 2001, the federal Parental Benefits Program in Canada increased the length of sharable paid parental leave benefits from 10 to 35 weeks, combined with 15 weeks of maternity leave.
My children were born in 1997 and 1999; I did not plan to have anymore children. I figured words like “parental leave” and “maternity benefits” were not a part of my future, or so, I thought.
In the September edition of Canadian Business magazine Jasmine Budak wrote an interesting article about the ”dark side” of maternity leave, here, in Canada. In it, Budak highlights some of the difficulties that Read more…
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Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
We live in Canada right now but Egypt is a second home for us as well. I was born in Jamaica.
What language(s) do you speak?
I’m a passive bilingual. I speak English & some French…I’ve been learning Arabic since ”forever”.
When did you first become a mother?
My oldest daughter is 13 years old…I have been a mommy for a very long time. Read more…
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“You get a year of maternity leave?!”
Her tone, and rightly so, was incredulous. I – a Canadian – was in Washington, DC, speaking at a conference. I was six months pregnant and the topic of maternity leave, for some reason I no longer recall, came up during the Q&A.
In the hall afterwards I ran into one of the women who had attended my session, and, as she was a new mom, we got on to the topic of babies and maternity leave in Canada versus the US.
I didn’t know anything then about what having a newborn was like. I dreaded sleep deprivation (oh, how little I knew how much I should dread it) and was in awe that this new mom, her baby only six weeks old, was already back at work. After she described her new routine – sleepless nights, pumping at work, and all that fun stuff – I had to ask.
“How do you cope?!” Read more…
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Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but I’m not from here, originally. I was born in Ontario, and I spent a lot of my childhood in the Caribbean on an island called Curacao. When we moved home to Canada, we moved East to Nova Scotia, which is where both my parents’ families hail from, originally. I spent my teenage years there, and I went to university in New Brunswick.
My husband and I moved out West for the jobs and the mountains back in 2007. I love the mountains, but I miss my family, my old friends, and Halifax Donairs. I am slowly putting down roots out here, though. Read more…
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For most of us, it is impossible to predict what it will be like to juggle the responsibilities of life, work and family until we’re actually in the trenches. Looking back, I really had no clue.
At around 26-weeks pregnant (with twins), I clearly remember my supervisor’s reaction when I explained my post-maternity leave plans. I would take the maximum allowance of 12 weeks unpaid-leave (yes, I know…don’t get me started), return to work part-time at three months, then full-time at six months.
My supervisor at the time – a supportive mom of three – proceeded to laugh at me. “What? You don’t think it’s realistic?” I responded. She smiled knowingly and gently suggested that I wait and see how things go.
But the truth is, I hadn’t really thought it through at all. With so many practical things to focus on, the theoretical aspects of impending parenthood had escaped me. I had no idea how life would change once the babies arrived, so it seemed safe to stick to what I knew and assume that I’d keep working. Read more…
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My little lad is almost one year old, my maternity leave is over, and the paternity leave will be over in a month. So, after lots of “to-ing and fro-ing”, we decided to apply for a nursery.
Although many parents decide to stay at home, it is also quite common here for both parents to go back to work when the child is one. However, this article is not meant to start a discussion as to whether or not a one year old is ready to go to nursery, as that would be a whole separate article in its own right.
In Norway the government has introduced a policy called “Full Nursery/Kindergarten Coverage” – meaning that all children who wish should get a space in nursery (at a reasonable price) from the time they are one year old.
One of the reasons for this is so that parents would not have to take on child minders they don’t necessarily know and find other temporary solutions to child minding.
This sounds great doesn’t it? Read more…
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In 2001, the federal Parental Benefits Program in Canada increased the length of sharable paid parental leave benefits from 10 to 35 weeks, combined with 15 weeks of maternity leave.
