Being on a 2 Year Maternity Leave

In my country, I am fortunate enough to be on a 2 year paid maternity leave — yes, it sounds ideal, however, there are some drawbacks to this as well.

I am happy that I am able to be with my baby all the time when she is so young, since babies this small usually need a primary caregiver, not a creche, so 2 years with her mama it’s very good for her emotional development.

How does this work in our country? These 2 years are paid 85% of the net salary that the mom had before entering maternity leave — which sounds quite alright financially wise. However, our state does not spoil us since we have a ton of taxation as a simple employee — about 45% of all earnings in a regular month go to the state, and in return we get next to nothing — really bad healthcare so most people who can afford choose to go to private clinics, very bad infrastructure, small pensions (i.e. medium is about 400 euro after 30 years of work, and minimum is 200 euros — yes, in an European country in 2022 — and most people have the minimum pension).

So, it’s a small benefit we moms have. We also have no deductions for children expenses or any sort of deductions anyway, so in the long term, we pay a lot more to the state than a US/Western European citizen and this is just one small benefit that we working moms have. I’ve read that in the US taxation is about 25% percent, which sounds frankly a lot more decent. Also, there are a lot of people working minimum wage — which is, no joke, 300 euros. So, most moms have, during these years, a payment of about 200 euros per month, calculated from the minimum age.

Also, we moms are a bit protected work wise, in terms that once we go back to work, the employer is obliged to receive back the working mom and unable to fire her for one year after returning to work from maternity leave.

However, 2 years it’s a long time to be removed from professional life, also it’s two years that you are on the job 24–7 taking care of the baby so it is not very relaxing. Part of the reason I started this blog is to continue practicing my English in an online environment, since that is what my main job is about (online marketing) and I do not wish to go back to work completely brain dead :D

In addition, you are basically stuck in the house for 2 years with a baby who cannot communicate and you do not have grown up conversations. It’s hard for people, it is a long time, always putting your needs on second place. Luckily, I am an introvert and I’ve always felt good being lonely or surrounded by just a couple of people. I am not fond of large groups so for me it works out, to have peace and quiet and be alone, as peace and quiet as possible with a small babe :) However I do have extroverted friends who were desperate to go out and go back to work.

For us, usually leaving the house takes a lot of planning and a lot of luggage. I am entirely dependent on a car, so it is not so easy for me to go to the city. We usually drive stick cars, so I bought an automatic car, much simpler to drive but I am still afraid of the big city traffic, especially with a small child in the back of the car :)

We live about 20 miles from the big city, and the infrastructure plainly sucks. The suburbs in my country are not like the ones we see in the movies in the US, or even like the ones of Western Europe. They are fairly new, after the pandemic people really wanted to live in a house with a garden, us included, so they moved outside the city and made do however they could. We do not have ok bus connections, no metropolitan train, taxis are not feasible since they do not have baby chairs and they cost a lot. My husband is on a one hour commute each day. It is expensive, with the gas pricing increasing, plus all the maintenance, revisions, fees for 2 cars. So, we spend most of the days at home, playing in the garden or taking walks around the neighborhood. However, I still think it’s better than living in a 2 bedroom apartment in the city.

Also, we do not have creches outside the city — usually they receive children when they are 2 years old, but since we do not live in the city, only childcare available to us is from 3 years old. So we will have to pay for private childcare since I return to work until she is 3, childcare which is a lot more expensive than the minimum wage in the country.

We will see how that goes, I still have almost one year of being with my baby and I plan on enjoying this time to the fullest. For the moment, I do not wish to be separated from her for the entire day, so I am honestly afraid of the moment that time comes.