So in Toronto, Canada they have come out with this “EXTENDED PARENTAL LEAVE” and since this will be my last child, I really wanted to do it. It means being able to stay at home for 18 months vs. 12 months however your weekly payments will be less. I’m already at their max weekly payment which is already LESS than 55% of my income so if I were to do their 18 months I would get their max payment of 326 before taxes which is supposed to be 33% of my income but in reality that’s less than that for me. How can parents enjoy a leave making only 300 a week? Who can survive off of that? It’s hard enough to survive off of their 55% weekly max much less to do it with only 33%. How can the government dangle such a wonderful deal in your face but yet strap it with such a hefty cost?
The only people who would be able to take this deal, will be people who have no debt, live at home with their parents, their spouse makes \good money or they have a company that does top up. Otherwise all the rest of us are out of luck :(. This is not fair! They say people who keep their kids home longer, have healthier, well-rounded children. Well, I want my children to be healthier and well rounded so what are you making me decide between? I feel like I’m being asked, money or children??
Option one: MONEY.
– I either get the most bi-weekly for 12 months so I can just barely make it through a week and struggle for the next week and can’t wait til I get money again the following week so I can go through the cycle all over again for a whole 12 months. Which means less time with the kids and putting them back in daycare at only one years old.
OR
Option two: KIDS
– I either take the longer time, so I get more time to instill the important fundamentals into my children before they get corrupted by other people’s children’s behavior and spoiled by daycare workers. I can get them started on the teachings of life and spend more time with them vs. having to learn how to balance the family and work life balance earlier. But with that, I’ll be looking at struggling and stressing for the whole 18 months. Not being able to pay bills and being miserable because bills will just keep piling up. So how could I possibly be able to focus on giving my child the best beginning of life if I’ll be stressing about financials?
It’s not fair to ask any mother/father to choose between spending more quality time with their children or being able to be financially stable. I’m hurt that the government has even put me into this predicament. The worse part about it, I really desire the time off. I’ve been working for 17 years straight took 3 years off for maternity leave but have never actually taken the full-time as I’ve always been forced to go back to work early due to financial hardship. I wanted to take these 18 months off as that means I’ll be able to be home for the whole grade 7 year of my son’s schooling and the whole Junior Kindergarten for my first daughter. NOTHING would mean more to me but financially it doesn’t look like I’ll be able and I HATE having to choose.
If anyone out there can tell me how I could maybe make money from home so I wouldn’t have to go back to the workforce please share. If you have figured out how it could be possible to live off of the extended parental leave please share that also!
I would love to be able to be more involved as a mother and not have to give my energy to the workforce environment.
GOD WILLING
The Struggles of a Mother of 4 