Orglethorp
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I'm Canadian, so we get 1 year (or now 18 months if we choose) between maternity leave (17 weeks) and parental leave (the rest; 35 in the 1 year case). If we've worked 600+ hours in the 12 months prior to going on leave and paid into EI (Employment Insurance), the EI office pays us 55% of what we earned in the last 12 months up to a certain limit. (People taking the new 18 month option get 33%, so it's the same amount of money spread over more time).
The 17-week maternity leave portion can start (paid) up to 8 weeks before your due date (32 weeks pregnant). You can get medical leave earlier if you have complications, but 8 weeks early is the earliest point for plain mat leave. Parental leave starts after maternity leave ends (or any time after the baby is born if you're splitting it with your spouse).
Originally I was thinking I'd work as long as I'm able, provided my OB clears me when I get to 32 weeks. But now work is completely re-structuring, and I'm really stressed about it. I work for Walmart (Canada) as a morning ("First Shift") stock room associate. Starting July 29th, we switch to a teams system where instead of having a department (and stock is a department), we have a task team. I've applied to 3 teams, but only 1 of them really works in terms of scheduling. There's a 6-2:30 team (I currently start at 7) that is basically what I do now plus price changes, minus set-up for the unloading shift. That schedule wouldn't be too bad, but I hear whisperings that there have been twice as many applicants as there are positions, and I'll be 29 weeks pregnant when we do this switch, so maybe I'm not in the running. The other 2 teams I applied for have 3 start times (7-3, 11-7, 2:30-10:30) and you must do a 2:30-10:30 twice a week. That's a huge problem for me. OH and I live 20 minutes away, we only have 1 vehicle, and he needs it while he's working (7:30-5, construction). This means any day I work, I'm coming into town in time for his start time. So on closing shift days (working until 10:30pm), I would be leaving the house at 6:30am, and getting home at 11pm. I would also have to find something to do with myself in town and not at home until my 2:30pm start time, and that would probably involve using public transit. All while being 29+ weeks pregnant. The thought of doing this for 2 months give or take just kills me. Then today I did the math and realized I'll be 32 weeks on Augst 18th. That means if I start mat leave as early as possible, I only have to deal with the new system for 3 weeks. On top of that, I still have 2 weeks vacation time to use. At the expense of my last full paycheck, I could use my vaca time August 5th-28th, and only deal with the teams system for 1 week. Suddenly I SO want to do this. Thoughts? Advice?
Then there's plans for after mat/parental leave ends. At Walmart pay, even as a full time employee, I honestly don't think I can afford to go back when that would mean finding childcare for an infant that'll take the child at 6 in the morning. We'd also have a terrible time trying to establish a bedtime routine if the kid had to come with Daddy to pick me up at 10:30pm twice a week (since no one would be at home). So I'm not planning to go back. Work doesn't know that, and they don't need to know until I'm well into my leave, but I'm not going back.
Instead, I've been looking into how to get licensed by the province as a home child care provider. It seems like a pretty straight forward process. Update my first aid and take the government's free childcare course, then they'll assign me a social worker to get site approval & insurance set up. Boom. Can provide full time daycare for up to 6 kids, maximum 3 infants under 24 months. I can literally get paid to be a stay at home mom. (From what I understand, the limit of 6 kids does not include my own, but the infants cap does.)
My house is split level, so there's a semi-underground basement area (windows completely above ground, ground-level exit on one end thanks to odd lot sloping). The basement is a large open wreck room with an adjoining spare bedroom and the laundry room, which is also a half-bath, and 2 storage closets. Thanks to the open-concept design with a banister instead of a wall, I can see from my main floor kitchen down into the basement. It's a half-flight of stairs up from the basement. If I gate the stairs, I can contain daycare to the basement area and just bring infants with me to the kitchen when getting food to bring back down. There's also a school bus rout on this street, and it currently stops right beside our front yard, so if I'm a licensed care provider, school aged kids could register for that route and come to/go from my front door, no driving or group walks required.
I'm really excited about this potential solution, but also nervous. Anyone else done something like this? Tips? I'd especially love to hear from anyone else who's done it in Canada, especially if you're in my province (Newfoundland).
The 17-week maternity leave portion can start (paid) up to 8 weeks before your due date (32 weeks pregnant). You can get medical leave earlier if you have complications, but 8 weeks early is the earliest point for plain mat leave. Parental leave starts after maternity leave ends (or any time after the baby is born if you're splitting it with your spouse).
Originally I was thinking I'd work as long as I'm able, provided my OB clears me when I get to 32 weeks. But now work is completely re-structuring, and I'm really stressed about it. I work for Walmart (Canada) as a morning ("First Shift") stock room associate. Starting July 29th, we switch to a teams system where instead of having a department (and stock is a department), we have a task team. I've applied to 3 teams, but only 1 of them really works in terms of scheduling. There's a 6-2:30 team (I currently start at 7) that is basically what I do now plus price changes, minus set-up for the unloading shift. That schedule wouldn't be too bad, but I hear whisperings that there have been twice as many applicants as there are positions, and I'll be 29 weeks pregnant when we do this switch, so maybe I'm not in the running. The other 2 teams I applied for have 3 start times (7-3, 11-7, 2:30-10:30) and you must do a 2:30-10:30 twice a week. That's a huge problem for me. OH and I live 20 minutes away, we only have 1 vehicle, and he needs it while he's working (7:30-5, construction). This means any day I work, I'm coming into town in time for his start time. So on closing shift days (working until 10:30pm), I would be leaving the house at 6:30am, and getting home at 11pm. I would also have to find something to do with myself in town and not at home until my 2:30pm start time, and that would probably involve using public transit. All while being 29+ weeks pregnant. The thought of doing this for 2 months give or take just kills me. Then today I did the math and realized I'll be 32 weeks on Augst 18th. That means if I start mat leave as early as possible, I only have to deal with the new system for 3 weeks. On top of that, I still have 2 weeks vacation time to use. At the expense of my last full paycheck, I could use my vaca time August 5th-28th, and only deal with the teams system for 1 week. Suddenly I SO want to do this. Thoughts? Advice?
Then there's plans for after mat/parental leave ends. At Walmart pay, even as a full time employee, I honestly don't think I can afford to go back when that would mean finding childcare for an infant that'll take the child at 6 in the morning. We'd also have a terrible time trying to establish a bedtime routine if the kid had to come with Daddy to pick me up at 10:30pm twice a week (since no one would be at home). So I'm not planning to go back. Work doesn't know that, and they don't need to know until I'm well into my leave, but I'm not going back.
Instead, I've been looking into how to get licensed by the province as a home child care provider. It seems like a pretty straight forward process. Update my first aid and take the government's free childcare course, then they'll assign me a social worker to get site approval & insurance set up. Boom. Can provide full time daycare for up to 6 kids, maximum 3 infants under 24 months. I can literally get paid to be a stay at home mom. (From what I understand, the limit of 6 kids does not include my own, but the infants cap does.)
My house is split level, so there's a semi-underground basement area (windows completely above ground, ground-level exit on one end thanks to odd lot sloping). The basement is a large open wreck room with an adjoining spare bedroom and the laundry room, which is also a half-bath, and 2 storage closets. Thanks to the open-concept design with a banister instead of a wall, I can see from my main floor kitchen down into the basement. It's a half-flight of stairs up from the basement. If I gate the stairs, I can contain daycare to the basement area and just bring infants with me to the kitchen when getting food to bring back down. There's also a school bus rout on this street, and it currently stops right beside our front yard, so if I'm a licensed care provider, school aged kids could register for that route and come to/go from my front door, no driving or group walks required.
I'm really excited about this potential solution, but also nervous. Anyone else done something like this? Tips? I'd especially love to hear from anyone else who's done it in Canada, especially if you're in my province (Newfoundland).
