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Thanks for the parenting tips. It’s helpful to be reminded of what I shouldn’t be doing. Although I know it, when I am in the moment, anything can happen. I have a mouthy 6 year old I am dealing with! Also, just to let you know, I can’t go to the bathroom either in privacy, haven’t for years! To my husband’s dismay, I don’t even close the door anymore due to this fact!

HA! So glad to know that I am not the only one!

Hi ladies.

I am also Canadian, and it saddens me when I hear about the US maternity leave.

Although we do not draw a full wage while on mat leave the 55% makes it POSSIBLE for us to stay home for a full year. I am not sure if the gentleman also stated that this leave is JOB PROTECTED, meaning that the company must take you back at your old position or the equivilant whether it is an official position or a perceived position. It is the responsibility of the Company to call you back at the end of your leave, not the responsibility of the person on leave to contact the employer and request to come back to work.

The one thing that is difficult with our leave (although my complaint pales in comparasin to the complete lack of benefits in the US) my one complaint is that in my case, when my 1 year leave ended with my first child, I was already 24 weeks pregnant with my second child. In order to qualify to receive benefits for my second child I would have to have 600 hours in my 16 weeks back to work (you need 600hrs in the year prior to birth to qualify for benefits. Becuase I had been on mat leave for the entire year I had to get that 600hrs crammed into 16 weeks). Let me tell ya…….that’s pushing it. LOL. I did manage to make it in, but it entailed many long days and long stretches with no days off. I worked up until 3 days prior to my delivery, and the last week I was working in a neighbouring town 90 minutes away form home, driving back and forth daily.

I feel bad complaining about it though becuase we are SO fortunate here in Canada. SO SO SOOOOOO fortunate.

Best wishes
cheryl