Are current paid parental leave provisions adequate?

6:46 AM Tuesday Mar 22, 2011

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The Children's Commissioner has called for a review of paid parental leave, suggesting it is time to help parents to stay home for the first year of their children's lives instead of subsidising care elsewhere.

The suggestion, one of several in a report looking into the care of under-2s, has been welcomed by many - especially parents who want to stay at home but are struggling financially.

Commissioner John Angus said an increasing number of under-2s were being enrolled in childcare and for longer periods than before.

Are the current paid parental leave provisions adequate? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:

ordinarykiwi (Northland) | 08:36AM Tuesday, 22 Mar 2011

Paid parental leave should be at least year like the UK, across Europe it varies between 1 and 4 years, which is awesome, NZ is miles behind in realising the importance of the role of a parent in early childhood. It's not a choice for most mothers, I work nights and weekends to keep afloat, as we can't afford me to stay home with our 9 month old and 2 year old and my husband earns "too much" to get any decent assistance from working for families (his earning too much covers the mortgage and bills and some of the food only). If I didn't have night work, we would have lost our house just after my baby was born.

Douglas (Whangarei) | 08:36AM Tuesday, 22 Mar 2011

Yes the paid parental leave is definitely adequate, if you can't afford to stay home and look after your own children, don't have them!
It is not the tax payers responsibility to finance your children's upbringing.
Thats possibly the reason for so many poorly behaved children these days, the parents are putting more time into careers than into their children.

Kit (Albany) | 08:36AM Tuesday, 22 Mar 2011

No they are not! Paid parental leave is (after tax) only 1/3 of what I earn now working full time, and I earn a good amount under 100k! Paid parental leave needs to either be full pay based on what you earned in the two years before giving birth for 6 months, or this reduced amount for a full year.
As it stands now we're having to save for two years so we have enough money to pay the mortgage when we start a family. And those savings make us ineligible for the accommodation supplement or childcare assistance. So much for being rewarded for doing the right thing.