Well, she appears to have eaten a football (the one that Henry handled, in order to destroy the evidence) but somehow it seems not to hurt her much.

I think she is looking forward to her 6 (probably it will be 7 actually) months of maternity leave, starting on 12th January. Not because she can't cope though: she's still walking to the office most days, she's having a very smooth pregnancy.
Although we have a very bad-mannered son who kicks women (well, a woman at least) many times a day, with increasing force. Whatever happened to chivalry?


Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

Pretty much. Quite a number of women I know have gone back to work after having a kid and paid most or all of their salary on childcare - especially if it's number two. They felt they couldn't afford to stay off work too long because then they'll lose career progression or become unemployable. Prices might be dropping now - though I haven't heard they are - with the econocalypse but so have wages.

We're very lucky to be able to get by with a combination of family, daddy working from home and mommy changing hours.

Childcare costs are obscene all over the UK and the Govt wonders why women can't go back to work.  

My brother and his partner can only afford the childcare because he works days and she works nights so it minimises the time my niece is in nursery.

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The international team on the start-up concluded, privately: Brits hate their children.

To be fair, the attitude is a reasonable effect of trickle-down socialism [writ large, real estate].

and

To be precise, I also engaged a sitter half day who I sourced from the local library bulletin board @ GBP 10.00/hr.

Lesson: Bundled convenience does not come CHEAP.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

And the govt makes it so expensive to enter the child minding market, what with insurance and criminal record checks and ofsted reports and all other stuff that you have to be totally oriented on the business of child minding to enter the market with a lot of financial resource behind you. Looking after a couple of kids in your front room is impossible

keep to the Fen Causeway

"So I take it children count as luxury accessoires in Dublin and London? "

Oh yes -although I may still object to the word accessoires, meaning something you can easily dispense with.

The thing is, a few years ago I made an estimate on how much it would cost us to have a baby, in order to know how much we may want to save prior to that. I came up with 1300€/month, which people reckoned was extremely high. I explained that I came to this high number because we were rather well off, so that, for example, an extra room would be extra surface in a not too cheap part of the town, ditto holidays, food and even clothes, where we'd probably want to have quality stuff... This was based on some serious studies by INSEE, and used a ratio of parental income to come up with the costs, expressed as how much you'd need to maintain the very same standard of living for you and your child as you had before.

So, it appears that even in Paris 1300€ per month is  easily enough to do so.

Now in London, ALL of it and maybe more is likely to go into being able to leave the house to go to work -and that is not proportional to income, it's something anyone working is likely to need.

Of course, in France you get tax reduction when you have children, and a lot of state help, and there are more public creches (although not enough of them)... You also get a lot of help if you want to employ someone at home. You know, socialism ;-)

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

The UK government has a perverse way to use common law to encroach on everything. It seems like the principle is that, if something can be construed as something else covered by the law, then it is covered. Hence

A childminder is self-employed and has to be registered with the appropriate Government regulatory bodies. When registered, a childminder is checked for references, training, police record and health, and their home is inspected to make sure it's a safe and suitable environment for children.

After registration, a childminder is checked every one to three years to ensure they're continuing to provide a safe and suitable service.

All childminders in England and Wales (although not yet in Scotland and Northern Ireland) are required to complete a basic registration course, including first aid training. They may also have other childcare qualifications (eg, an NVQ in Early Years Care and Education, a vocational qualification at Level 3).

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

There was a recent case in the UK that hit the news of two police officers who would look after each other's children after school whilst the other was at work.

Somebody reported them and ofsted launched an investigation and told them they were no longer allowed to do this.  This was because it was an arrangement where they were 'rewarded' ie by having their child looked after in return for looking after the other child, and because it amounted to over a maximum limit of hours per year. Absolutely ridiculous.

The Education Minister has since clarified that such arrangements can take place once the legislation is amended but it does show you how highly regulated childcare is.

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