Saga To Offer Employees Paid Leave On The Birth Of A Grandchild

You can just imagine the interviews can't you?

Interviewer: so you have adult children, I presume now, looking at your age range?

Potential employee: yes I do

Interviewer: are any of them likely to be giving you grandchildren in the future?

You can guess where this conversation would be going

I had a home help when I had a C section with my first born. My then husband wouldn’t help as he’d taken his paternity leave during my five weeks in hospital. My second was also a C section but I was only in hospital for two weeks and not nearly so poorly. I managed quite well that time and think it would have been useful but not essential. My friend’s DIL just has the babies and hands them over to granny while she ‘sorts herself out’ . My eldest sister did the same. Some balance and common sense needed.

I took holiday kiternity leave when one of my cats was having pedigree kittens! Poor mum had 8 and I took over the two hourly feeding of the larger ones so the little ones got their share. Went back to work and my boss was delighted. Mind you I did work at the vets, but all the staff learnt how to feed them and all survived.

A certain Monty Python sketch comes to mind, reading some of these comments!! 'luxury' ?‍♀️?

At the risk of repeating myself...goodness me, the things people get exited about!

It's an extra, one-off week's holiday for people who have just become grandparents. Nobody's forcing them on the new parents. Nobody's suggesting they move in and help the new mum. Maybe they live hundreds of miles away and would just appreciate having an extra week's holiday so they can go and see the baby.

Its a private company, they can do what they like. What is so ridiculous about that?

rediculous and if I had to take up the slack of the person off I'd be very annoyed

Whilst I can see the advantage of grandparents being given paid leave can I ask who will do their work whilst they are absent? I didn't have children but worked with many women who did - you would be amazed at the number of "family emergencies" that occurred on a Friday afternoon - guess who was left to pick up their work (and usually having to work late).

I don’t recall referring to an OB Oofy and my experience is over 40 years ago. (1973,75, 77 and 81)
Many aspects of post-natal care have changed over the last 40+ years, as indeed they did in our mothers’ day.
However, I still don’t think anybody should criticise mothers today and it is perhaps less a case of a matter of “coping with a baby” as of post- natal care for the mum.
If grans choose to pitch in and help, good luck to them

Forgive me if others have already said this, but some DDs and DILs might regard help from DM or DMIL as interference. DIL in particular might prefer help from her own mother. Also if offering help I suggest that this would be more useful after the DS or DSIL has gone back to work. New families in particular need time to themselves, and second or subsequent children are not such a shock to the system!

Either way, I think that to make the offer and then back off is always the best way. Then they want help they can ask for it. I have a great relationship with my DIL because I don't push help on her.

The naysayers remind me of older women on the bus who used to complain about today's mums bringing baby buggies onboard.

Muttering, in my day we used to have to fold-up the pushchair or walk, blah blah. So much resentment that things have progressed.

Saga and Mars are private companies and if they want to give a bit of a bonus to any grandparent employees, what's the problem?

MaybeMaw, I take it OB is the obstetrician? Follow-up appointments with an obstetrician don’t happen in the UK unless there is a major problem. The midwife would see to this. And the majority of Caesarean wounds these days are closed with a dissolvable suture, so stitches or clips wouldn’t need removal. Caesarean incisions tend to be much neater in most cases than they were years ago, along the bikini line, less painful than an up and down incision for the mother to get over.
At the risk of getting into an “I had it worse than you” bidding situation, having been in hospital for 8 days after my Caesarean, back at home, husband and daughter were both ill with high temperatures 2 days in, he had a bad cold, she hadn’t read the book that says newborns don’t get ear infections. So I ended up driving with her a few miles to the hospital. Only found out afterwards that car insurance is void if you drive so soon after a major op. Mum would have happily helped but wasn’t arriving till the next day to see GGD1, and wasn’t well or mobile herself and well past retirement , that’s the trouble with having first baby at 40! MIL had died.

I think it would be a ridiculous idea,
when I had my children there was no such thing as paternity leave so the dad had to take annual leave and when he went back to work the mother got on with things.
I think new mums expect to much help these days.
The couple should be left alone with their newborn to make their own mistakes and bond as a family like we all did

I had C sections forty years ago. Yes, we stayed in the hospital longer but when I went in for the second { Christmas time] no help was offered by either set of parents" We were silly for having a baby at that time".
DH had to take leave to look after the toddler while I was in.My little toddler was my helper and the first day back at work DH had to sleep at work. We muddled through and somehow although most of us were younger than when couples have babies these days we appeared to get on with more maturity,

Ellegran. Exactly, you can't leave a dog all day and especially not a puppy.

Reply to Calendargirl.....

I'm with you on this. Had to turn off Jeremy Vine when he did a session on this. I think the world is going mad. How did our parents manage eh?

I think it's a lovely gesture but don't see it as something we must have as a society. Quite useful though if Mum is struggling when Dad returns to work. As for the puppy leave, I don't think a week is enough and I question whether you should be getting a puppy if you are working so it is going to be left on its own. Mind you, with a dog food company which promotes unhealthy eating for animals rather than a Biologically Appropriate Raw Food for dogs, what can you expect!

Does it cover great grand parents too?

Of course they are paying for it. Saga must have a good profit margin to be able to offer it.

The pet food manufacturers must have a good profit margin too, to offer pupternity leave.

I hope Saga customers are not paying for it - their cruise holidays are expensive enough already.

I had 3 cesarean sections between 1977 and 1980. I managed perfectly ok looking after my very young children. Husband took a weeks leave each time. My daughters have both had cesarean sections....youngest 4 and eldest 2. Both have managed perfectly ok with husbands taking a bit of leave. So my answer to the question is that it would be an utter waste of money. We are becoming too much of a take take take society.

welbeck, I can certainly see why any new parent would look at this nervously. I can also see why a new parent would look at this with delight. It all depends on the individual family really.

Bibbity: I don't think estrangement makes a difference in this. If you are estranged then it is highly unlikely that the grandparent would be helping out after a birth, making it a moot point. And if the estranged grandparent takes the time off work to help knowing that they are estranged, that is on them.

At first I rolled my eyes at it, but after thinking more, why should it bother me? If a new parent welcomes help from a Grandparent, then it is very helpful that a Grandparent would be able to take leave in order to do so.

It's their money and they can do what they want.
But I'm curious how they will prove the pregnancy. Women need to show a MATB1 form.
What about families where the relationship is estranged?

i can see some DILs looking nervously at this ...

agnurse

Maybemaw

These days, most women are discharged 3 days post C-section. (Sometimes two if they are itching to go home and have had a previous section, occasionally four or more if there are issues.)

Staples/sutures are usually removed on Post-op Day 7, typically as part of a follow-up appointment with the OB.

At least, that's how it was when I was providing postpartum care and teaching maternity nursing.

That would be why I got my 7/8 days then! I certainly appreciated it as I was in a lot of pain and even getting out of bed was painful. Getting over a GA can also take a couple of days. I didnt see it as needing support with my baby- just welcome rest before WW2 kicked off with my 2 year old!